Wild Things Artwork
by Patsy Lindamood

This piece, a 24" x 36" pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord, was included in the 48th Annual Exhibition of the Society of animal Artists at The Neville Public Museum, Green Bay, WI, and then selected for the Society of Animal Artists National Tour in 2009.

This piece was included in Art of the Animal XIII, The Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT.

Most recently, "Palmetto Contemplation" is at The Mattatuck Museum,Waterbury, CT, as part of Renaissance in Pastel 2009, the 16th Annual National Exhibition of the Connecticut Pastel Society.

The painting is based on my photography of the Silverbacks at the Jacksonville Zoo, Jacksonville, FL, in January 2006. I have already completed several different silverback paintings based on my observations there. These guys just captivate me with their oh-so-humanlike gestures and behaviors. When one looks directly at you, you can't help but sense a high degree of intelligence and a certain distant kinship with these magnificent creatures.

With this piece, I was captivated by the silverback's handling of the palmetto frond, and the lighting that spills across his shoulder onto that frond is just makes me shiver every time I look at it. Besides the palmetto frond, and that slump against the trunk of the palmetto, I found this creatures hands fascinating - so human-like. Again, the way the light just barely illuminates a portion of each hand, epsecially those "fingers" that appear to be scratching the top of his head, were special points of interest for me.