"If you could read my mind" - Oil painting

Gorilla Oil Painting on canvas (40×40cm)

When I first saw this gorilla, I was immediately struck by what I perceived to be sadness. He looks so deep in thought and I wondered what this beautiful creature was thinking… of family lost, freedom lost and what we humans do in our endless arrogance and greed to other animals on this planet.

I hope that one day, we will realise that they are just as worthy of life and freedom as we would like to believe ourselves to be.

I love painting eyes. However, what I like about this painting is not being able to see the gorilla’s eyes. His posture tells the story.

Gorillas, the largest of the living primates, are ground-dwelling herbivores that inhabit the forests of Africa. The DNA of gorillas is 98%–99% identical to that of a human, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after the two chimpanzee species.

Gorilla’s are highly endangered, and have been subject to intense poaching for a long time. Threats to gorilla survival include habitat destruction and the bushmeat trade. In 2004 a population of several hundred gorillas in the Odzala National Park, Republic of Congo was essentially wiped out by the Ebola virus.

A 2006 study published in Science concluded that more than 5,000 gorillas may have died in recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus in central Africa. The researchers indicated that in conjunction with commercial hunting of these apes creates “a recipe for rapid ecological extinction”. (Wikipedia)

My thanks to Rocketchook for his kind permission to use his photograph as reference for this painting!!!

Old paintings, new life!

I started painting one of my favourite animals, the gorilla, a few days ago and its keeping me quite busy. While the layers were drying, I tidied up my studio and came across a few old paintings that I did a long time ago!

"Somewhere in Ireland" was done in acrylics - not my favourite medium as you really have to add dollops of retarder to prevent if from drying too fast and thus getting that flat, dull look that I dislike about acrylics. You also have to add medium to the paint in order to give it a sheen as acrylics is water-based.

But the painting is quite beautiful, despite all the additions. "Somewhere in Ireland" is a place that I imagined I would like to be... a quiet, tranquil little spot, 'far from the madding crowd' and possibly a great fishing getaway too!

The foreground and more colourful areas were eventually touched up with oil paints to give it a more brilliant and softer look.

My paintings are also available as cards, matted prints, laminates, posters, mounted prints, framed prints and canvas prints from one of my gallery websites: Paintings by Avril Brand