June 21st is a day to celebrate the lanky, kinda goofy, and uniquely beautiful giraffe.  This is an annual event to raise support, create awareness and shed light on the challenges giraffes face in the wild. By supporting World Giraffe Day (WGD), you directly help save giraffe in Africa. With only approximately 117,000 giraffe remaining in the wild, we need to always be vigilant on increasing their numbers in the wild (source: https://giraffeconservation.org/world-giraffe-day/​)

I created this painting with a fun, carefree vibe in mind.  This is how all animals should be able to live, be free, in the wild, as they always have, without constantly battling extinction and loss of habitat.  Once we are aware of how we can help and preserve and rewild animals to their natural lands we can prevent species from becoming extinct and bring them back from being endangered.  

Some fun giraffe facts to share: 

1. They are the tallest mammals (and land animals) on the planet, just their legs along are taller than most people, averaging around 6 feet.
2. This one really surprised me!  Whenever I see a video of them running, they look a bit awkward, haha, but, they can run up to 35mph!!
3. A giraffes spots are unique to each individual, it's like a humans fingerprints, or a whales tale.  Not two animals spots art the same.
4. They never sleep for more than 30 minutes in 24 hours!  And only through several quick little naps.  Giraffes also mostly sleep standing up, they rarely ever lie down for anything, even giving birth they stand up.
5. They only need to drink every few days, they get most of their water from leaves.  When they do drink from ponds they have to spread their legs out in an awkward looking pose as their long neck still isn't long enough to reach the ground.

This painting is now being enjoyed in it's new home, a nursery for a baby born last year.  I hope it will always inspire him to love animals and be an advocate for kindness towards our fellow planet dwellers of all kinds.

A portion of the proceeds from my MAD wonderland collection sales, is donated to Re:wild (formerly know as Global Wildlife Conservation), an organization I have collaborated with, and continue to contribute to. "We believe that together, we can protect and restore those ecosystems critical to the health of our planet—from the Amazon to Australia and from Borneo to our own backyards. We are excited to embark on this journey, because we believe that, together, we can rewild our world.." (Co-founded by Leonardo Dicaprio.)

My brother Robin, who splits his time between Ketchikan, AK and Meyers Chuck, AK, our two Alaskan hometowns, wanted me to paint a special painting of his boat the "Sultan".  Hope I did it justice!

​My brother who lives in Ketchikan, Alaska, and works at the local shipyard in the winter months, also has a Salmon troller that he fishes out of in the summers in our little hometown village of Meyers Chuck, AK called "Sultan". He is an avid San Francisco 49ers fan, so of course he had to give ode to them with his boat, haha!! Hence the colors and the flag proudly saluting fellow 49ers fans...or taunting their rival Seahawks fans, all who pass him by on the Alaskan fishing grounds.

​The "Sultan" is the oldest troller in Ketchikan, and is being recognized by the Ketchikan Historical society for it's long standing history of fishing the Alaskan waters for almost a century. The wooden boat was built in 1926, in Seattle, WA. Some of the characteristics of the Sultan are: it is a double ended fir planked power troller, OAL 43'' long with a 10' beam and has a 6' draft. It is documented with the USCG, number: 226195, and more information on the boat can be found by entering the doc number on the Coast Guards website.

​Of course with a boat that is almost a century old, and made of wood, living in the harsh climate of Alaska the boat requires continuous maintenance and costs to keep it seaworthy, but my brother is up for the task and regularly spends 300 hours, and $5,000 a year to keep her running. But, it is worth it to live out his dream and join the ranks of all the other Alaskan fishermen in our family.

Interesting side note, it is the 2nd red power troller boat in the family that is unmistakeable in Southeast Alaska.  Our uncle and aunt, Rory and Marion, also fish the same grounds with their boat the "Isis".  Maybe our brother James, and cousin JoDean and her jusband Joe, need to paint their trollers red now too, hmmmmm.

Looking forward to seeing the colorful Sultan pass by in front of MAD Island while I am working up there this summer, building my dream artist retreat and seeing his dream boat fish on by.  

Click on the photo below to watch the making of the original painting on YouTube

As you can see from my art I have a slight color obsession, haha! And MAD Island will be no exception, you may spot a few pink flamingos already inhabiting the island, gotta have a throwback to my Florida life too. As much as I possibly can the retreat will be built with beach combed items and whatever other recycled, upcycled materials I can find. It's important for me to live a sustainable lifestyle, and MAD Island will be an ode to just that. So, it may take a little while as I hunt down what I need, which won't be an easy feat as MAD Island is in one of the most remote places on the planet, the Tongass National Forest. Everything there is completely off grid, and the only way to get there is to know someone who has a boat or to find an available flight on a float plane, which most of them rarely fly into Meyers Chuck these day.

​Luckily I still have a lot of family that live either in Meyers Chuck or Ketchikan and can help me with travel and also have supplies they've collected over the years just in case it is needed. Will be fun to see what all I can scrounge up to make my little retreat. ​

​I have my tickets booked to go up there later this summer, and will be documenting the whole process of whatever I can get accomplished on my island and will post it all here on my Youtube channel once I get back to Miami civilization. The internet is spotty at best up there, and obviously no wi-fi, so impossible to do much video posting. In the meantime I will be sharing some videos from a recent visit I made up there while stay with my sister Tara, who lives on a floating house, ties up next to my parents floating house, about a 10-15 minute skiff (small boat) ride from where my island is located in The Chuck (how locals refer to Meyers Chuck). My sister even has a book out on us and our three brothers and parents growing up in a nearby old burned down cannery...check it out on Amazon, "Raised in Ruins: a Memoir" by Tara Neilson, lots of fun and amazing stories about real Alaskans living off grid.

​Hope you enjoy this first look at MAD Island, will share more soon! In the Meantime, I will be uploading other videos of having fun in Alaska under my "Alaska" playlist, just my sister and I goofing off, haha!

I love colorful animals, and the purple Harlequin frog just happens to display all it's fabulous glory in my favorite color!  I couldn't resist featuring this beautiful species in my newest MAD Wonderland painting "Joyous World". 
​ 
Five Harlequin Frog Facts:

• Commonly called the Purple Fluorescent Frog, it was only discovered in 2007.
• They are found only in Costa Rica, but due to loss of habitat, and disease linked to climate change, have become critically endangered.
• They live to be around 10 years old.
• The males have no vocal sac, so they communicate to females through head and leg twitches, stomping the ground and hopping.
• They are a land frog, and only go in the water during mating season.

​Conservation efforts and constant monitoring of the species for disease, habitat protection and genetic studies have helped to keep the population stable.  

15% of the proceeds of this painting will be donated to Re:wild (formerly know as Global Wildlife Conservation), an organization I have collaborated with, and continue to contribute to. "We believe that together, we can protect and restore those ecosystems critical to the health of our planet—from the Amazon to Australia and from Borneo to our own backyards. We are excited to embark on this journey, because we believe that, together, we can rewild our world.." (Co-founded by Leonardo Dicaprio.)

As an artist I always feel the need to grow with my art and find a subject that resonates deep in my soul.  I've found this with my MAD Wonderland, artivist collection.  It's all about our natural world created through a fantasy land in my mind.  I get up every morning, excited and invigorated to start painting, I haven't felt this way in as long as I can remember.  I can always paint something, and never get artists block, but something has been missing, and I finally realized why.

I used to use my art as a means of escape, and I mean that literally.  I was in an abusive relationship for a very long time, and my art was the only place I could get away from the abuse...most of the time.  But, only because it was a source of income for the relationship and my abuser "allowed it".  So, I painted to escape and to make money, because it provided the means to be free, to just be myself and follow my passion, (and a small bit of financial security). Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the painting process, and always will no matter what, I HAVE to paint as it's a huge part of who I am as a person.  But, the "why" I painted was skewed from just the pure joy of it to having to survive.  I look back on that period of time in my life and those paintings as having saved my life in so many ways, but mostly mentally and emotionally.  Art was my escape...but now it's me, the artist, back to just painting whatever I want, for just the absolute pure joy that it gives me.  Yes, I still make a living with my art, and always will as it allows me to be able to paint, and to share my joy of art with all of you and support conservation awareness.  

It's only recently that I even admitted to myself that my art was a form of escapism for me.  Recognizing this and allowing it to rest in the past, has helped me to separate that part of my life from my current art and get back to creating for the absolute pure enjoyment of it, I feel freed from chains of the past that have always held me back, but no longer.  

I first discovered my MAD Wonderland series the end of  2018, when I created four huge paintings for a Miami Art Basel charity auction event.  My daughter had worked with the conservation company Re:wild and set it up for me to offer my art at the event, with all proceeds going to help conservation efforts around the world.  I've always loved nature and feel a close affinity to it having grown up in the wilds of Alaska, so I jumped at the opportunity to give back through my art.  I wanted to create art with a fun, uplifting vibe centered around the beauty of our natural world. Was thrilled when all four paintings sold, even had Leonardo Dicaprio bidding on my paintings!!  He is the cofounder of Re:wild and does amazing conservation work.

When I was painting these I felt so inspired and motivated to create more, and I did paint several animal/nature paintings in this style over the next couple of years; then I started to fall back into old habits of painting the art I always had.  But, I felt something was missing and looked fondly at the MAD Wonderland paintings and wanted to create more of them, but something was holding me back.  I realized it was the old chains, what was familiar, kept me rooted in place, and instead of moving forward and challenging myself as an artist, I gave in to what was quick and easy.  

Normally my abstracts and landscapes only take an hour or so to paint and I love the feeling of seeing something come to fruition so quickly and can move on to the next painting to see what I can come up with next.  The MAD Wonderland paintings however take me several days to complete because of the detail that is in them, and this was just not what I was used to and it kinda scared me, haha.  But, this year I wanted to commit myself to stepping outside of my comfort zone, so I started a blue Macaw painting in January with lots of detail, and elements I had never painted before, like the bubbles you see in the painting.  I didn't finish it until May...why, because I was still holding back, not allowing myself to just freely delve into my fantasy world of nature and animals, and who I am as an artist.  Old habits were dying hard, but then one day I made myself just start on the painting, not let fear control me any longer, and be immersed by the art, and myself as an artist...being true to who I am.  All the past hang ups and fears just melted away.  This was probably the most liberating moment for me as an artist, it opened up the flood gates to finally just feel the art on a soul level, and embrace who I truly am as an artist.  I've moved beyond a past that no longer serves me, and moving into a future of beautiful, inspiring and uplifting art that gives me purpose and dreams for a better future, for myself and this world we call home ~ through my MAD Wonderland fantasy land.

​A portion of the proceeds from my MAD wonderland collection sales, is donated to Re:wild (formerly know as Global Wildlife Conservation), an organization I have collaborated with, and continue to contribute to. "We believe that together, we can protect and restore those ecosystems critical to the health of our planet—from the Amazon to Australia and from Borneo to our own backyards. We are excited to embark on this journey, because we believe that, together, we can rewild our world.." (Co-founded by Leonardo Dicaprio.)

This art palette painting, "Florida Wild", was custom made for my daughter who lives in Florida, near me in Miami, and wanted something fun and colorful for her new apartment.  She decided on the Beautiful Florida Panther, and requested it have burning green eyes.  I was happy to oblige and create this fun, whimsical portrayal of a tropical scene with the panther front and center.  It is painted on one of my actual art palettes and coated in resin to create a beautiful shine that makes the colors really pop and come alive.  The back side of the palette has textured paint from using it to create other artworks, and also has a resin coating.  So, this two sided work of art can be displayed with the panther or the other side as a purely colorful abstract.  As a cat person this was a lot of fun to paint, and being that the Florida panther is native to Florida, where I call home, made it even more special.

The Florida panther has been on the U.S. endangered species list since 1967, but through conservation efforts since, the panther is making a strong recovery.  It is the most endangered cat in North America, and used to roam as far flung as Arkansas, but now are only found in Florida.  They are the only subspecies of mountain lions that exist in the eastern U.S. They are solitary creatures that only come together to mate, or, when raising their litter of one to three kittens.  Florida panthers live to be about 12 years old, but with such a small population their lifespan has declined due to genetic disorders, disease and car accidents.  They are actually a subspecies of mountain lions, and can be distinguished by having a slightly crooked tail and a "cowlick" of hair on their backs that doesn't conform to the rest of their coat.

There are currently around 120-130 Florida panthers left in the wild, and are mostly found in South Florida in the Everglades or Big Cypress.  Efforts to rewild the panther population came from a breeding program in 1995 that introduced eight Texas female cougars to breed with the remaining male Florida Panthers to broaden the gene pool and help prevent genetic abnormalities due to in-breeding from such a small population.  These efforts helped to more than double the current population of Florida panthers.  Without this program the panthers would likely be extinct in the wild, and shows that through conservation efforts, and thinking outside the box, species can be saved from extinction.  But, the panthers still have a long way to go before they can be safely removed from the endangered list, and efforts to protect them and their habitats will be crucial to making sure these beautiful, wild and elusive creatures survive for generations to come.