Gary says “Baby Love is inspired by a touching scene I
witnessed in the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. I excitedly observed
the mother and baby Hippos wallowing in the water for at least 45 minutes, gliding
like fuller-figured catwalk models from one great pose to the next. Quite a few
drawing ideas came that day.
“For
Baby Love, I wanted the feel of the piece to be intimate, serene and set in the
gentle morning light. In actual fact, I wasn’t feeling at all serene as my
camera had just stopped working, it had just started raining and it was around
midday! That is one of the many joys of art; reality can be moulded to whatever
your imagination desires.
"Besides
that it fitted the mood of my drawing, I chose the title Baby Love for a few other
reasons. Two couples who are great friends of ours, Rassy and Begonia and
Bronnie and Ed, had babies recently, Marius and Julia. So I was thinking of
them all when choosing the title and in fact drawing as well. It was also in
dedication to one of my favourites, The Supremes. Their song, Baby Love is one
of the first songs I can remember hearing my parents playing at home on their
record player. I still regularly play Supremes music when I’m drawing as it put
me in a great uplifted mood.”
