Snow Leopard Conservation Through Wildlife Art

Jennifer

with Wild Life Drawing

I am still battling my cold (plot twist: it might be Covid) and haven’t been out apart from to walk the dog, and I also can’t really talk as I start coughing unless I am really careful with how I breathe and speak and – heaven forbid – laugh as my windpipe is very sensitive. My sense of smell comes and goes, and everything tastes soapy so, in the words of my daughter, I am not thriving.

Therefore I was pleased to take part in a Wild Life Drawing session to give me a bit of community, and a subject to work on which I didn’t have to come up with myself.

We were given a short presentation by the Grants Officer at PTES, who partner with the Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation, based in Mongolia. They look after the snow leopard population in the Tost Mountains in South Gobi, and we had some beautiful camera trap shots from their monitoring work. Working with herders means the conflict between livestock and cats is much reduced, with insurance schemes and support with building safe enclosures. The leopards are respected and are recognised to be a vital part of the ecosystem by the local population, but of course this is a challenge if one’s livelihood is being picked off. So, the rangers work closely with the community and mediate the situation. Larger threats such as mining and climate change affect both the wildlife and the indigenous people so forming a coalition works for both humans and wildlife. Another example of how finding common ground can be transformative when sharing space within the natural world.

I wanted to paint a double-page spread so chose a nice camera trap shot of Willian, named after a Brazilian footballer but then turned out to be a female; the name stuck though. Their camouflage is astonishing.

Painting of a snow leopard crossing in front of a rocky backdrop
Snow leopard in gouache in my Leuchtturm sketchbook

I really enjoyed the session, and like my finished illustration. This is my favourite way of working: a nice chunky pencil outline and splashy gouache, and I find the randomness of how the paint plays with the paper very pleasing. Oh and the lettering: I love adding hand-drawn text.

What do you think?

Materials used:

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