This is the latest update of the third wild cat portrait in the series - "Power" - a jaguar. Gary is really pleased with how he is looking, although he is taking his time! 

Those of you who have been following the progress will see how Gary has changed some of the spots and he's now looking even more powerful and jungle-like. See the previous version below.

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BORN FREE AT THE SWLA SHOW 30th SEPT














GARY WITH TV AUCTIONEER ERIC KNOWLES PHOTO: LAURA ZAULI

From Gary:  “The Born Free Foundation evening during the SWLA exhibition at the Mall Galleries went really well, with around two hundred guests attending. It was great to see so many familiar faces amongst them. On top of all the beautiful art surrounding us, we were entertained with wine and chocolate tasting, canapés,  a fun and fast-paced auction fronted by TV's Eric Knowles and heartfelt speeches by Virginia McKenna and Coronation Street's Helen Worth. The auction alone raised almost £7,000 for Born Free and included three of my framed prints. “Sabu”, generously donated by Anna and Kevin Jenkins, went for an impressive £490; “In Dreams”, £900 and “Cheetah Cub” an amazing £1000! The last two were helped along by being co-signed by Virginia, Rula Lenska, Jenny Seagrove and Pam St Clement; many thanks to them and indeed to all the enthusiastic bidders for these great results.

“The evening made me think more seriously about my next solo exhibition at the ultra stylish Mall Galleries! If you’ve been collecting my drawings for years, you may remember my last one person show at this gallery in 1994. I’d like to try and improve upon that event. I hope to have enough originals within two or three years to make for a good one. I will also have copy (or two, or more) of nearly all my past limited edition prints available for sale. I’ll keep you posted about more details as they happen."    

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NEW WEBSITE

Gary's partner Dave Currey has launched his new photography website at www.wild-photos.co.uk. Gary and Dave travel together and you will see many photos taken at times that have inspired Gary's art as well as Dave's photography. This wonderful collection of wildlife and landscape photographs spans over thirty years while Dave worked first as a photographer and then as an environmentalist having co-founded EIA. Later this month Dave launches his first novel - an eco-thriller set in the rainforest of Borneo.

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THIRD UPDATE OF  JAGUAR - "POWER"























The drawing "Power" has progressed since it transformed itself into "Fire" (see below) but is still some way from being finished. Gary has been working on his new book which has left him less time on "Power". However, he is very pleased so far. He will be showing "Power" either finished or unfinished at his Nature in Art retrospective show (7th Sept - 10th Oct). If it is unfinished then the showing will delay its completion. However, if that is the case, Gary is ready to start on his fourth wild cat portrait, the snow leopard. Watch this space!

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BRAND NEW PRINT “FIRE”



































AVAILABLE NOW IN THE SHOP

This is an unexpected surprise! Gary explains: “I realised many weeks ago my jaguar drawing was evolving into something special for me – a different image to the planned portrait. So I kept certain areas faint to emphasise his intense eye and surrounding swirling patterns, creating an emotive design. I’ve worked on this, a stepping stone to the portrait, but unique in itself.

“I have decided to bring out a small edition on paper and canvas and I hope you love it as much as I do. I’m very excited about it.”

It is a Mayan traditional belief that the Jaguar God becomes a fire-eyed Sun God every sunrise. Because of this, Gary felt “Fire” was a perfect title for this unusual drawing.

You can order “Fire” now through the shop. The paper edition was published on 20th July and the box canvas will be on 27th August.

The paper edition is only 195 copies with 19 APs. Image size: 288 mm x 137 mm, paper size: 386 mm x 213 mm. Price £95 (inc. VAT).

The box canvas edition will be only 30 copies with 3 APs. Size: 330mm x 155 mm. Price: £195 (inc. VAT).

Gary says: “I will now continue my journey with this drawing until it evolves into “Power”, the third in my series of four wild cat portraits. This should be published in early September to coincide with my major retrospective show at the renowned Nature in Art Museum.”
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MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE OF GARY’S DRAWINGS














Nature in Art is the world’s first, and Europe’s only, museum dedicated exclusively to art inspired by nature. Established 21 years ago, it has only staged 8 solo shows by living artists, including David Shepherd, Keith Shackleton and Anthony Gibbs. Other shows of late artists have included the works of Sir Peter Scott, Simon Combes and Pablo Picasso. Gary is the first pencil artist to be honoured with a solo show.

Please note: this museum has borrowed originals for this show - exhibits will not be for sale. Limited edition prints will be available from the museum shop.

PRIVATE VIEW 11th SEPT

















A wonderful evening was organised by Nature in Art for the private view of "Drawn to the Soul", the retrospective show of Gary's art. Opened with a very heart-warming speech by Virginia McKenna, Rula Lenska and Simon Trapnell added their voices to praise Gary's creativity, generocity and gentleness. A full capacity crowd of over two hundred enthusiastic admirers and collectors attended the evening. The new book "Drawn to the Soul" was warmly received with queues developing for personal comments and signatures.



















VIRGINIA MCKENNA, GARY & RULA LENSKA AT NATURE IN ART JUST BEFORE THE OPENING   PHOTO: DAVE CURREY

FELLOW COLLECTORS VIRGINIA MCKENNA & WILDLIFE TV PRESENTER NIGEL MARVEN WITH ELSA  PHOTO:  DAVE CURREY

Gary says  "For me, this evening at Nature in Art was by far the best event I’ve been a part of since my solo show in 1994 at the Mall Galleries. Everything was just perfect, from the lovely vegetarian canapés to the wonderful speeches and of course, the grand setting of Wallsworth Hall.

"A massive thank you to everyone who came and helped create a warm, friendly atmosphere for me to feel more comfortable in. I was definitely miles away from my comfort zone, being the centre of attention amongst so many people! I had intended on making a thank you speech myself on the night, but just wasn’t able to…I came out in a hot sweat just thinking about it! I left that task to the professionals, Virginia, Rula and Simon who excelled themselves."  














VIRGINIA MCKENNA, GARY & RULA LENSKA WITH GARY'S 9 FOOT LONG UNFINISHED CROCODILE  PHOTO:  DAVE CURREY























GARY WITH TATTOO, RULA LENSKA & VIRGINIA MCKENNA OUTSIDE NATURE IN ART
PHOTO: DAVE CURREY
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BORN FREE EVENING 30th SEPT AT SWLA


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TATTOO SELLS IN AUCTION

Gary's fiberglass elephant "Tattoo - Born to be Wild" was auctioned on July 3rd for £12,500 in aid of the Born Free Foundation. It was a wonderful day and so far the Elephant Parade has raised £1.8 million for Asian elephant conservation. It was a fantastic innovative project that Gary was thrilled to involved with. It created a colouful and exciting public awareness campaign along with successful fundraising. Pictues to follow soon.
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ARTICLE ABOUT GARY IN WILDSCAPE MAGAZINE

The latest issue of Wildscape magazine has a great four page interview with Gary. It is illustrated with his drawings and is available from Wildscape for £4.

The magazine is published quarterly and focuses on wildlife art, artists and conservation news. The last issue had an interview with Canada’s finest, Robert Bateman and past issues had articles on David Shepherd, Simon Combes and Keith Shackleton amongst may others and EIA and Born Free have also been featured.
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ELEPHANT "TATTOO" DATES IN LONDON

This event has now finished - new pictures to follow.




GARY WITH TATTOO AT GREEN PARK   PHOTO: JACK MURRAY

On Sat 22nd May Gary took part in "meet the artists" with Tattoo. Virginia McKenna joined him to raise publicity for Born Free and the Elephant Parade. The sun shone and the public turned out in large numbers - a good day was had by all.






















GARY WITH VIRGINIA AND TATTOO IN GREEN PARK   PHOTO:  SHIRLEY GALLIGAN






























VIRGINIA WITH TATTOO





















VIRGINIA BEING INTERVIEWED WITH GARY    PHOTO: MARY RICE


























TATTOO WITH (L TO R) ASHLEY LEIMAN, FOUNDER & DIRECTOR ORANGUTAN FOUNDATION, FAITH BRUNSKILL, SENIOR CAMPAIGNER EIA, ENYA, MARY RICE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EIA
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FORGERIES WARNING

In the last few days one Green Turtle and two Narwhal Greenpeace prints have appeared on ebay advertised as limited edition signed prints. Thanks to collectors we were informed. The signatures and numbers are forgeries and since the edition was limited, the print breaches Gary's copyright. The seller has removed the prints after we sent notification of infringement to ebay. But she says that due to considerable interest she will still try to sell them. Please beware and let us know if they reappear.

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DSWF "THREE GENERATIONS & GUEST ARTISTS"

The overall standard of the third "Wildlife Artist of the Year" competition proved to be the best yet! The winner, sculptor Adam Binder was a unanimous choice with all nine judges. As Gary said in his quote, "Essence of Polar bear. The sculptor has pared this down to perfection". To see this and all the other selected entrants visit the DSWF site. The private view was attended by over 500 people who eagerly waited for actor Robert Lindsay to announce the winners.

Gary put one original and three limited edition canvas prints into the "Three generations and guest artists" show which ran in conjunction with the "Wildlife artist of the year". The original, "Baby Love" sold as well as a few canvas prints. The total profit for the DSWF was well in excess of £50,000 - all going to help wildlife.

Gary is pleased to have been invited back as a judge for next year's competition.
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ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 2010

As usual, Gary had a wonderful time with his 18th Artist Residency at the Nature in Art Museum. He saw so many regulars and also met many new admirers of his art. He really appreciates the effort people go to to visit......some even bearing gifts! Many thanks to everyone who made his stay so enjoyable.

One visitor who made a return visit after 11 years was Belinda, an Asian small clawed Otter. She came with Daphne and Martin Neville.
Gary first met Belinda when she was a small, very inquisitive pup. She loved examining his open mouth to check for fillings!




















BELINDA, AN ASIAN SMALL CLAWED OTTER WITH GARY  PHOTO: DAPHNE NEVILLE

Daphne and Martin regularly travel the country publicising the plight of otters for the International Otter Survival Fund, recently featured on the Alan Titchmarsh Show.

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SECOND UPDATE OF NEW JAGUAR DRAWING

This is the second update of Gary's third wild cat portrait in the series of four. It is slowly taking shape and this detail gives you some idea of his thoughts. We will update this page as the drawing progresses. It will be the same size, edition size and cost as the others in the series.





























SECOND UPDATE















FIRST OUTLINE

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OXFAM

The 1991 "tall" Cheetah print for sale in Oxfam's shop was sold for £850.
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GRACE

The second in Gary's wild cat portrait series, Grace, is now finished and available to order from the shop. The paper signed limited edition was published on 20th November with the box canvas signed limited edition published a week later on 27th November. See below for the final image and earlier versions.

This beautiful cheetah portrait is for sale now with free delivery after the published date. If you buy both Majesty and Grace together we can ensure you receive the same edition numbers. We can also offer the same for the last two wild cat portraits to be published in 2010. The next will be a jaguar.

































GRACE




















CHEETAH DRAWING THIRD UNFINISHED UPDATE

SECOND UNFINISHED UPDATE

FIRST UNFINISHED IMAGE

You can see the first three unfinished images from Gary's new cheetah drawing above. This is the second in his series of four wild cat portraits and will be published the same size as Majesty to work on your wall as a set.

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The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation have a great gift idea of "postcards for wildlife" - 18 different images on postcards bound together in one booklet. Some of the winners from last year's Wildlife Artist of the Year are included along with others including my orang-utan drawing Plea for the Rainforest. £6 each incl p&p from DSWF (see links).
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Gary had a wonderful time at two 25th celebrations.

The first was at Cafe Spice Namaste in Central London in aid of EIA's tiger campaign. A special meal was prepared by top chefs Cyrus Todiwala MBE, Paul Gayler and Andrew Bennett OBE. Donal MacIntyre, investigative journalist and TV presenter, gave a speech showering praise on EIA. Gary donated a box canvas edition of Soulmates which was auctioned for an amazing £1,150. A framed paper edition of Angel Eyes, kindly donated by Jenny Seagrove sold for £350.

The second was a spectacular concert "Wild and Live" at the Royal Albert Hall, Central London, in aid of the Born Free Foundation. The star-studded event was headlined by Bryan Adams with an incredible international line-up including Peter Andre, Graham Norton, Joanna Lumley, compared by Martin Clunes. Virginia Mckenna was given a standing ovation for her dedication and tenacity saving wild animals as she praised her son, Will Travers, for building the Born Free Foundation to what it is today. Thousands of people in the audience enjoyed the music and comedy which led up to a rousing finale of the song "Born Free" led by Kiki Dee and Bryan Adams with participation from all the cast.

CARMELO LUGGERI, KIKI DEE AND BRYAN ADAMS LEAD THE FINALE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL




























PETER ANDRE, RULA LENSKA AND KIKI DEE SING "BORN FREE"



GARY WITH THE WONDERFUL VIRGINIA MCKENNA



GARY WITH (FROM LEFT) DAVE CURREY, KIKI DEE, RULA LENSKA



GARY WITH JENNY SEAGROVE

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We have added a new page Original Sales which will keep you updated on any of Gary's originals coming on the market.

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The Orangutan Foundation (OF) have produced a fine bone china mug - a great stocking filler or gift - using Gary's drawing Plea for the Rainforest. All proceeds go to OF and it can be bought from
their website (see links).

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Check out the new page on Ibiza.

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Gary was recently a judge for the annual Wildlife Artist of the Year organised by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation. Gary has this to say about it:

“I felt the overall standard of this year’s “Wildlife Artist of the Year” show at the Mall Galleries was even better than last year. The eight judges, including myself, spent quite a few hours deliberating before finally deciding on the category winners and the coveted main prize-winner.

DAVID GOWER TALKS TO A CAPACITY CROWD AT THE MALL GALLERIES, LONDON

"The private view was buzzing and filled to capacity with 500+ art lovers. I was there with my great friends, sisters Anna Lubienska and Rula Lenska and met up with many old familiar faces from the past. A surprise guest was the ever youthful Rolf Harris who I compared beards with: he won by a mile!

ROLF HARRIS AND GARY COMPARE BEARDS WHILE DAVID SHEPHERD WATCHES  PHOTO: ANNA LUBIENSKA

"In the same Gallery was also hung “The Three Generations” exhibition, David and Mandy Shepherd and David’s equally talented grand-daughter, Emily Lamb. Her paintings are so full of vitality and colour.

RULA LENSKA AND GARY AT THE WILDLIFE ARTIST OF THE YEAR SHOW 2009  PHOTO: ANNA LUBIENSKA

"The combined two shows raised in the region of £30,000 for wildlife and plans are already underway for next year’s event. I’m excited to have been asked back again as a judge for 2010.”

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Three of Gary's older drawings have been added to Gallery Two - they are Polar Bear Swimming, Sabu and Heat and Dust. The Polar Bear Swimming is a personally signed UNlimited edition and sells for just £30 in the Shop.

Gary's latest drawing "Majesty" - a Royal Bengal Tiger portrait is now finished and Gary has signed and numbered both the paper and canvas limited editions.  You can read more about this drawing here and order in the shop. The lower numbers will be sent out first and delivery is now available for  both paper and canvas editions. This is the first of a series Gary is drawing of wild cat's heads. They would look wonderful on a wall together! Keep an eye on this page for the first glimpse of the next drawing.

See below for the first two "unfinished" updates just a week apart.

Gary has just finished the drawing of cat's eyes - a snow leopard's eyes - that he has created especially for the banner for this new website. He has also spent considerable time overseeing the design and content of the website and added his own personal bits in the gallery.

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Gary has been Artist in Residence at Nature in Art and wants to thank all those people who visited him. It was great meeting you all and thanks for the support.

The museum is home to an extraordinary collection of art inspired by the natural world. Besides Gary, artists include Sir Peter Scott, David Shepherd, Simon Coombes, Pablo Picasso and the art of 600 artists from over 50 countries. Well worth a visit.

To find out how to get there:

www.nature-in-art.org.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1452 731422 (Mon-Fri) or +44 (0)1452 733946 (Sat/Sun).

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Gary's drawing George Adamson with Boy and Christian is reproduced in Virginia McKenna's just published autobiography "The Life in My Years". This beautiful book will inspire anyone who cares about the future of the planet and all the creatures dependent on it, including human beings. It is available from the Born Free Foundation.

Christian the lion, shown in Gary's drawing, has become world famous in recent months largely due to a heartwarming You Tube film "Christian the Lion - Reunion" which , with other similar films has received over 50 million hits.