Wild for Painting

Megan Elizabeth, an animal and pet portrait artist from Holmfirth, might not need any more publicity. She appeared in our March/April edition earlier this year, and her work was endorsed by none other than northern royalty Amanda Owen, otherwise known as The Yorkshire Shepherdess.

But now she has reached the final 100 of the international Sketch for Survival competition for the third year. Nearly 4,000 people from almost 100 nationalities entered Sketch for Survival – an annual art competition hosted by Explorers Against Extinction.

The entries were whittled down to 115 finalists (100 endangered species artworks and 15 wild spaces artworks), including Megan’s pastel painting ‘Hope for the Future.’ These finalists will be displayed in Edinburgh in October and the Oxo Tower Gallery on London’s South Bank in November. Megan’s painting features the critically endangered blue-eyed black lemur. As with all lemurs, the blue-eyed black lemur is found only in Madagascar and has sadly made its way onto the IUCN Red List of Critically Endangered Species due to the loss of their island habitat. Blue-eyed black lemurs are the only other primates (apart from humans) to have blue eyes, and the eyes were very much the focus of this artwork. Megan says, “The lemur looks to the sky but has a serene and hopeful expression. I chose this image to paint as I think it conveys the feeling that, with the help of conservation charities like Explorers Against Extinction, there is ‘Hope for the Future’ for this endangered species.”

All of the artworks on display will be auctioned off to raise funds for the charity’s work supporting wildlife conservation projects across the globe.

Read more about Megan Elizabeth and her wildlife portraits in our exclusive interview from March/April this year.

NorthernLife Nov/Dec 23