Today we have another sponsor-a-day in honor of the one and only Margaret, also known as artist Margaret H. Parkinson, creator of many amazing paintings, including the now iconic Negra in the Sun.
This painting has been recreated on stickers, wine bottle labels, and canvas prints for supporters, and also has inspired other artists like Tamara Burgess, who handmade a necklace that included this image and Lisa Wathne, who made a glass mosaic piece inspired by Margaret’s painting for the 2019 gala.
Margaret and her wife Karen have been supporters since before the chimpanzees even arrived and are wonderful friends to all animals (the human ones too) at the sanctuary.
She inspires all of us in so many ways with her warmth, compassion, quick wit, and curiosity about the world. Monica Best wanted to honor Margaret with warm birthday wishes with a sponsor a day on this last day of 2020.
Here is the original photo that inspired Margaret and some other takes on Negra in the sun:
Have a wonderful birthday!
Happy birthday, Margaret! Thank you for capturing the wonder of Neggie, and for sharing your talents with the world!
Thank you, Monica, for sponsoring today and for Margaret, for this wonderful painting. And gratitude for the great staff at the sanctuary who keep a lookout for remarkable photo shots for us. I think Negra’s experience of the sun and the comfort and relaxation she obviously has in the photo-inspired painting and in these additional photos are testaments to how safe she feels in her home at the sanctuary. Might even call it “bliss” in these pics. It’s pretty close to bliss that I feel when I see them! I am grateful beyond words to have this remarkable community in my life!
The photograph, painting, and the artist’s model all exude the gift of life — and the living of it in abundance. May dear, beloved Negra, the Sunflower Queen, and all her friends and neighbors have their place in the sun in the coming new year.
Happy birthday Margaret! I one of those lucky supporters who owns a canvas Negra in the sun. It’s so beautiful, bright, and so Negra! I have it in a prominent place in my studio. It warms the room.
I am an admirer of your paintings. Such a gift you have. May the joy your print brings to me come back at you quadrupled!