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A couple of chimp sketches in biro, Lika and Zac, both from the "Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden" in South Africa.

This is Abu, a recently deceased chimp from the "Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden" in South Africa. The staff there were all saddened by his loss, dieing of congestive heart failure on August 1. Abu was rescued as a youngster from Angola about 12 years ago, and because JGI SA had no sanctuary then, was cared for at the Johannesburg Zoo, until the Eden was opened by Dr Jane Goodall in March 2006. Abu went on to become the alpha male in the first family group at the Sanctuary, which had grown to eight by the time of his death. Sanctuary manager Phillip Cronje has known and looked after Abu since his arrival in South Africa aged about four. He had been rescued from living in a cage at a business in Luanda. At Abu’s postmortem Dr Andre Beytel discovered that the chimp’s heart was abnormally small and one of his valves was malfunctioning. When Abu picked up a cold, his heart could simply no longer cope.

Meerkat, 5" x 7"

Another cheetah commission to a great person who said this about it - "I recieved the cheetah today, it arrived safe and sound. Plus it took my breath away. Its just so much more awesome when you see it as artwork not just an image on the computer. I'm totally in love with it." (Many thanks Helen)

This was my 'demo piece' on the opening day at my Monarto exhibition, a cheetah in scratchboard, 8" x 10", and below, another piece called "The Stare". For my piece at right I gratefully received this comment from the client "I have received the cheetah and he is absolutely glorious!! I can't thank you enough for him as he is unbelievably spectacular. I am sure I will contact you again if thats ok, to get another masterpiece." (thanks Fran). I also received this for "The Stare". "Well done, I have forwarded the cheetah to Vicki and I know her response already. She will be over the moon with it. It looks sensational, again well done." (thanks Chris)

Orangutan, a miniature scratchboard coloured with watercolour. I wanted to try an experiment. I knew from bitter previous experience that marker pen on scratchboard bleeds when you spray it with varnish. It mucked things up before, but this time I wanted to see if I could make it work 'for' me. I went over the background with marker pen, then fuzzed it out a bit just to get the look of bushes (hard at this size) and then sprayed with varnish in the hope that the marker would bleed and create some bush shadow over the animal. I think it worked to a certain extent, though it's something you have no real control over.

Something a bit different for me, a clown in scratchboard with the goal to make him look a little sinister. I've used watercolours to colour where I've scratched.