Mom, Wake Up!

Someone dear  once told me that I should use color in my drawings. So, I am starting to use colors. She also told me to draw happy scenes. Most of my images are derived from my own happy experiences, but I am a realist, so I draw what is real and sometimes they are painful. I do, however, draw satire (mostly political) and that's when I try to be subtly sarcastic, if there is such a thing. There is no satire on this one, not yet that you can see. Rhino poaching is real. The extinction of some species is real. There is no covering up for this. 

The image above is what happens to a rhinoceros when a poacher or poachers remove its horns. I tried to be kind here, I left the eyes intact. Most of the time poachers carve out the entire face of the rhino so they do not leave any horn fragments. They leave the faceless or headless rhino to die in the hot sun. Rhinoceros horns fetch a hefty price in several thousand dollars, where they end up as ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine or relics in the belief that a rhino horn affords passage to heaven because of its location and hollow nature. The economic boom in Southeast Asia, affords people in from Indonesia, Thailand, India, Vietnam and most especially China, the ability to purchase illegal rhinoceros horns up to $35,000.00 per horn. The Indian, Javan and Sumatran rhinoceros once roamed these Asian countries but were heavily hunted. The depressed economic states of African nations turn the native guardians of these species to willing poachers and enablers of their massive destruction and eventual extinction. In the US, a raid of traditional Chinese medicine shops yielded a bounty of illegal rhino horns sold in the states of Oregon and Washington. 

Rhinoceros horns have no medicinal value. They are they same material as human fingernails and toenails. 

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Merry Christmas To Y'all

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Bad Medicine

Now on Behance

Last year, my son inspired me to draw a rhinoceros, one of his favorite animals. I ventured to study the animal and was horrified to learn about illegal rhino poaching. The images of decapitated, scalped, tortured and macerated rhino heads and faces for the purpose of harvesting their horns for Chinese Traditional Medicine just horrified and angered me. Instead of illustrating "cute" and "charming" rhino drawings, I decided to express my disgust for the abomination of illegal rhino poaching. There are only 5 extant rhino species and in 2010, the last Vietnamese Javan rhino was poached, rendering it extinct in Vietnam. 2013 was the bloodiest year for rhino poaching when 700 rhinos were killed in Africa. More bloodcurdling information is this - "A survey of 720 people in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City published earlier this month, found that typical buyers were "educated, successful and powerful individuals" and use rhino horn as currency in networking." Yet, above all these are the efforts of many organizations and individuals who work hard to save the rhino. 2013 was a very good year for Nepal, there was zero poaching of rhino, elephant or tiger. This is remarkable considering that Nepal borders China and is near Vietnam. God save these sentient animals and help those who help save them. These individual pen and ink illustrations measure 14"x17" on Paris Paper. 

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Peek

Oh my goodness!!! It has been so long since I blogged from my own personal computer, over a month!!!. Actually my friends think mine is not a real computer, it is just an Apple. Pfft. Here is a sneak peek of a completed pen and ink drawing while I figure out how to scan it because the new Mavericks OS just rendered the scanner part of my multi-functional printer obsolete, but allows the printer to work. Grrrr. Darn right, it is not a real computer. Sigh. 

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World Wildlife Day

Killing For Longevity
Pen and Ink on 14"x17" on Paris Paper

This image may be confusing to those who may not be aware that in rescuing rhinos from poachers, they are sometimes transported by helicopters in such manner. Cranes are a symbol of longevity in China, Vietnam, Japan and Korea. Turtles are also symbols of longevity, especially in Thailand. Incidentally, the firefly is a symbol of impermanence.

Cranes, as a symbol of longevity is hypocritical and meaningless at best if the the people of those cultures behave like ravenous wolves in their quest for longevity and economic profit; pillaging the earth and driving animals to extinction because of their horns, scales or tusks.  Such behavior is against the presets of life and human decency. 

Series: The Plight of the Rhino, Number 4
I know I have not posted Number 3 yet. :)


World Wildlife Day
#WorldWildlifeDay

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Ignorance, Greed, Hypocrisy and the Irony of Longevity

Ignorance, Greed, Hypocrisy and The Irony of Longevity. Pen and Ink on 14"x17" Paris Paper.
Series: The Plight of the Rhino, Number 2

RHINOS HAVE NO VOICES

Wise Ones: So let us unite in our belief and pursuit of longevity. That which enables us to achieve such by ingesting powdered rhino horns. We shall consume vast amounts so that we may empower ourselves with the virtue. Yes, we shall hunt and kill, maim and torture the rhino in Africa, Java, Sumatra and Indonesia for we have already rendered it extinct in Vietnam. So what if the rhino becomes extinct? It is part of the cycle of life and we have the means to pay the ignorant hungry guardians of such beasts; to satiate our greed for longevity beyond and above all means.

Rhino horns grow back, don't they? They will grow back after we hack off their faces, just like humans when their faces and skulls are hacked and scalped."

What do you mean they don't grow back? You mean, they die?

Remember reading in history how the people burned women at the stake because they were accused of witchcraft? People were scared of the power of those women so they burned them alive. That lasted awhile. Who was it among the wise and brave ones who wanted to rid society of witches who said "You know, if we burned every witch, we might run out of women."

BECAUSE THEY ARE BEING SILENCED FOREVER!

The descendant of every man and woman who ingests rhino horn should wear these images of killed and maimed rhinos as their medallions. The hope for a renaissance lies in the strength and ability of humans to eradicate ignorance and superstition; to rise above greed and selfishness; that we lead a life cognizant of the welfare of every living matter. We must protect those whose welfare and well being have been entrusted to us in the circle of life. The idea of living well has nothing to do with being well off. Avoid buying products from nations and people who rape and pillage the earth. They may sell cheap stuff, that is because they have no regard for the production of merchandise, even their own people are abused through inhumane labor practices. 

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Jane Goodall: China Is Pillaging Africa, Cares Little For The Environment

From a the series "Requiem to the Rhino"

China is a wrecking ball, it is pillaging Africa and the world's natural resources, decimating animals into extinction. Please read this article: Jane Goodall - China is pillaging Africa

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What I Fear

Drawing, painting or coloring everyday, one soon finds oneself with many pictures. The greatest enjoyment for me is the act of  "doing". Sometimes, before I am done, I start a new one, just in case the idea escapes my mind. In fact for this project, I have already made rough sketches for 5 drawings and inking in different stages. When I am done with a drawing, I immediately move on to the next. I am drawing a series. When  one does a series, there is usually a theme, something that holds together the individual pieces. When I look at the finished drawings and the new sketches, I sense a sort of apprehension  as I ask myself, "does this drawing look the same as the other?", "is it kitsch?", " most of all, "is it relevant?"

I hope people will feel great discomfort if not ill at ease with this series. I do.

Did you celebrate Valentine's Day? My husband and I had to work on Friday, so after a pre-Valentine's Thursday bouquet (he said he was avoiding the crowds), we spent Saturday together, doing ordinary things, running errands and talking about the solar system, the milky way, the cosmos, universe, earth, sun and moon, stars, God, atheism, religion... all because I told him I read an article where 1 in 4 Americans does not know that the earth revolves around the sun!

On a separate note, my hard drive crashed yesterday. I am restoring the backed up files... So far the count is 39,465 out of  535,441 files. This is going to take days, perhaps more than a week. While my professional job involves computers and computer programs, I only blog with my personal computer. I tried blogging with my phone and even a tablet as I did with this post. My brain revolts

The joy of being quirky.

I am using color!

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So, The Elephant And The Rhino

It was a cold day.

A very cold day.

I put on a black turtleneck,

black corduroy pants,

white socks,

slipped in a pair of burgundy mules.

and went to work.

My feet were cold

so I put on a pair of black riding boots.

I was still cold

so I put on a merino wool sweater over my turtleneck.

During the day, it got colder,

so I put on an orange hoodie over my merino wool sweater

and put on sweatpants over my corduroy pants.

I put on a pair of thick red socks

but my feet won't fit in my mules or riding boots

so I wore a pair of black and red Nike slippers.

I continued working.

The air was cold and my ankles were cold

so I put on a pair of Harley Davidson motorcycle boots.

Later The Viking saw me and asked if I was cold.

I said "yes"

so he raised the thermostat temperature.

I was hot

so I peeled off the layers of clothes I had on.

I drank coffee.

I finished work and logged off.

I was cold

so I decided to go to bed

and covered myself with a soft furry blanket.

It was sooooooo soft and warm.

I stared at the ceiling. It was only seven PM

so I drew...

I fell asleep while drawing 

and I made errant scratch marks.

so I covered the entire foreground with grass.

So boring.

The Elephant And The Rhino. Pen and Ink on 14"x17" Paris Paper.

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Prehistoric

White Rhinoceros. Pen and Ink on 14"x17" Paris Paper.

I was so delighted to finally find a pen, ink and paper combination that makes me feel as if I am drawing with charcoal or pencil. It is an expensive and tedious combination but quite satisfying. However, while I am excited to talk about drawing, my mind is heavy with the thought that the cruel murders of these descendants of prehistoric animals continue today to meet the insatiable desire for rhino horn, through ignorant medicine and superstitious beliefs. I pray to God that such people will one day wake up and believe that cockroaches  have the same power if not more and also realize that cockroaches are a source of protein. (Cockroach Farming)

Curse be unto nations and people
who selfishly slaughter and maim
majestic animals
tendered to their care.
Woe to the guardians chosen by God
to protect them
but instead deliver them as bounties.
Anyone who thinks that the rhino horn
will cure their cancer and other ailments
are fools who hasten not only the demise
of the rhinos but theirs.
One cannot choose to live
through the death of another.
Of king or man who uses its horn
as drinking cup
they ingest the elixir of death
borne though generations of their children's children.
The horn will not lead you to heaven.
Curse be to the selfish cruel being
that is human who scalps a rhino
Death and destruction
is your only legacy.
Murderer of humanity.
Go to hell!

Excerpts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rhinoceros

Illegal poaching for the international rhino horn trade is the main and most detrimental threat.^[2] The killing of these animals is not unique to modern day society. The Chinese have maintained reliable documents of these happenings dating back to 1200 B.C.^[59] The ancient Chinese often hunted rhino horn for the making of wine cups as well as the rhino's skin to manufacture imperial crowns and belts and armor for soldiers.^[59] A major market for rhino horn has historically been in the Middle East nations to make ornately carved handles for ceremonial daggers called jambiyas. Demand for these exploded in the 1970s causing the black rhinoceros population to decline 96% between 1970 and 1992. The horn is also used in traditional Chinese medicine, and is said by herbalists to be able to revive comatose patients, facilitate exorcisms and various methods of detoxification,^[59] cure fevers, and aid male sexual stamina and fertility.^[60] It is also hunted for the superstitious belief that the horns allow direct access to heaven due to their unique location and hollow nature.^[59]The purported effectiveness of the use of rhino horn in treating any illness has not been confirmed or even suggested by medical science. In June 2007, the first-ever documented case of the medicinal sale of black rhino horn in the United States (confirmed by genetic testing of the confiscated horn) occurred at a traditional Chinese medicine supply store in Portland, Oregon's Chinatown.^[60] With rhino horn selling for nearly US$30,000 per pound, it has been argued that legalization of trade would allow horn from captive-bred rhinos to reduce the price and thus the incentive for poaching. However, most doubt that this would be successful in reducing the number of rhinos killed.^[61]

• Southern black rhinoceros or Cape rhinoceros (D. b. bicornis) – Extinct. Excessive hunting and habitat destruction around 1850.^[13]
• North-eastern black rhinoceros (D. b. brucii) – Extinct. Relict populations in northern Somalia vanished during the early 20th century.
• Chobe black rhinoceros (D. b. chobiensis) – Nearly extinct, possibly only one surviving specimen in Botswana.^[12]
• Uganda black rhinoceros (D. b. ladoensis) – Black rhinos are considered extinct across most of this area and its conservational status is unclear. Probably surviving in Kenyan reserves.
• Western black rhinoceros (D. b. longipes) – Extinct. Once lived in South Sudan, northernCentral African Republic, southern Chad, northern Cameroon, northeastern Nigeria and south-eastern Niger. The range possibly stretched west to the Niger River in western Niger, though this is unconfirmed. The evidence from Liberia and Burkina Faso mainly rests upon the existence of indigenous names for the rhinoceros.^[4] A far greater former range in West Africaas proposed earlier^[14] is doubted by a 2004 study.^[4] The last known wild specimens lived in northern Cameroon. In 2006 an intensive survey across its putative range in Cameroon failed to locate any, leading to fears that it was extinct in the wild.^[6][15] On November 10, 2011 theIUCN declared the western black rhinoceros extinct.^[6]
• Eastern black rhinoceros (D. b. michaeli) – Had a historical distribution from South Sudan,Ethiopia, down through Kenya into north-central Tanzania. Today, its range is limited primarily to Tanzania.
• South-central black rhinoceros (D. b. minor) – Most widely distributed subspecies, characterised by a compact body, proportionally large head and prominent skin-folds. Ranged from north-eastern South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal) to northeastern Tanzania and southeastern Kenya. Preserved in reserves throughout most of its former range but probably extinct in eastern Angola, southern Democratic Republic of Congo and possibly Moçambique. Extinct but reintroduced in Malawi, Botswana, and Zambia.
• South-western black rhinoceros (D. b. occidentalis) – A small subspecies, adapted to survival in desert and semi-desert conditions. Originally distributed in north-western Namibia and southwestern Angola, today restricted to wildlife reserves in Namibia with sporadic sightings in Angola. These populations are often erroneously referred to D. b. bicornis or D. b. minor but represent a subspecies in their own right.^[12]

SAVE THE RHINO

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Step By Step, Little By Little and Love

I found a pen, ink and paper combination 

that feels like drawing with pencil. 

So smooth, 

so airy, 

just like feather. 

This is part of a drawing I started today for IF's "Prehistoric". 

Yeah, baby! 

I want to talk about love, 

but then I will find myself rambling.

Love is overwhelming,

as overwhelming as the fullness I feel in my heart as if my chest will explode,

or the lump in my throat that makes it hard to breathe.

I am in love.

Wonder what my oxygen saturation will be if one measured it while I find it hard to breathe,

but then again,

I take a deep breath to relieve the fullness of my chest,

so it evens the oxygen level and gets rid of the carbon dioxide.

Today is my eldest sister's birthday.

That makes me very happy.

I love my sister very much.

Today is my father's thirteenth year death anniversary.

Two days from now,

will be my sister Leah's third year death anniversary.

The latter two makes me sad.

Such is life.

I love my family very much.

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Exotic... Exot... Ex... Ex... Extinct!!!

Exotictinct
Requiem to the Western Black Rhino
(Diceros bicornis longipes, Status: Extinct)

A Crash of Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) On The Move. Now Still, Extinct, Erased.
Pen and ink on 19"x24"  Bristol Board. 

The Western Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis longipes) was recently officially declared extinct. Read here.

All things to nothing descend,

Grow old and die and meet their end...

Nor long shall any name resound

Beyond the grave, unless 't be found

In some clerk's book, it is the pen

Gives immortality to men rhino

(Master Wace (1100 - 1175) - from his Chronicles of the Norman Dukes. Found on the Chart of Harold F Umstott (1907-1922 ) ...and modified by Ces Adorio :)

It was on the same month last year when I posted the above poem. Then I was lamenting the decline of the Northern White rhinoceros and all other extant rhinoceros species due to illegal poaching. Their horns are ignorantly believed by the Chinese and Vietnamese, to have medicinal powers, thus fetching as much as $35,000.00 per horn in China and Vietnam. Since then the Western Black rhinoceros has been declared extinct. The rhinoceros' horns are exactly the same materials as human nails, keratin and have no medicinal value. If they do those who chew their fingernails would have been cured of whatever ails them!

What a shame. 

This is a crash of black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) which I started drawing last year on a 19"x24" Bristol Board. I completed it a while ago but never shared it because I have no means of scanning the large finished drawing, so I just took a photo.

I still hope that future generations will be able to see live specimen of the extant rhinoceros, instead of just reading about them in books (or the Internet).

This 19"x24" pen and ink illustration is a part of a series of 4 large drawings I intended to give to my son and daughter. I have only drawn 3, so far. Slacker... :)

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