Diptych, "Kusasi's Hope", Scratchboard

[PatrickHedges]

These are two 5" x 7" boards, hopefully for a show in Indiana that we have organised on the scratchboard forum. I've been doing portraits for it too so if my animal art has been missing ("yippee" everyone shouts together :lol: ), that's why.

These two pieces which will be mounted together tell the amazing story of Kusasi, "the Orangutan King". This guy was orphaned about 40 years ago (mother shot by hunters) and ended up at a sanctuary in Borneo as a very young'un. At the age of three and a half, he disappeared from camp and since orangutans need mother's milk until five, he was presumed dead. He turned up 18 months later at age five none the worse for his escape and proceeded to grow and become king of the jungle, the dominant male in the area. His cheek flaps grew with the new testosterone that dominant males get flushed with and he's a sight to behold.

I call it "Kusasi's Hope" because he started out in a box, peering out at the world with young eyes and no mother, and grew into a world famous celebrity and an awesome sight to behold.

The references are from the show "The Orangutan King". I paused the video and took a photo of the tv. Not very technical but hey, that's me :lol: So I guess the references are by me :lol:

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/18-Jan-2009/60252-s_hope_young_compressed.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/18-Jan-2009/60252-s_hope_Adult_compressed.jpg

[Southern Wind]

Awesome Patrick. Especially love the baby Kusasi eyes.
Yvonne

[birdlady]

beautiful pieces Patrick and such a heart warming story. I love good endings. I also LOVE the first one with his eyes peeking out but gosh they sure change a lot in growing up dont they. You have my interest in the show in Indiana as I have many of my people there. I need to run over to the scratch board forum and see whats up with it and where. Hey, I was cleaning my art room and low and behold I came across about 20 ampersand boards of different sizes, black , white , pastel board etc. Guess I better figure out what to do with them :)


Laurie

[jody007]

I just love the story and happy ending as well! I too love the one with his eyes peeping out of the box. Beautiful work as always Patrick!
Jody

[Hoofnpaw]

I'm glad that story had a happy ending Patrick! These are both very thought provoking pieces. Beautiful!

Sean

[bjcpaints]

Oh my gosh - what an amazing story and wonderful works Patrick! I know little about scratchwork and embarassed to say that I don't remember ever seeing color in in scratchwork before! Awesome indeed!

[sveldstra]

What a great story behind the beautiful work. I hope the show goes well.

[bluegenes]

I saw that program on TV as well, Patrick! It was a wonderful story, and these are wonderful paintings!
Patty

[Sticky Wombat]

Simply gorgeous as always!!

Just one thing though - how do you stand with the copyright of the film-makers if you are wanting to sell these pieces? I ask out of curiosity as I too have taken photographs of the tv during wildlife documentaries etc but havent as yet used any of them.

[puglady]

The texture is awesome and I love the way you've cropped it down to focus on the eyes. Beautiful work. I'm also curious about copyrights.

[PatrickHedges]

Many thanks everyone :) It's a touching story. Patty saw the show so she'd remember this bit. The actress Julia Roberts had heard about Kusasi and in around 1997 went to see him. She sat next to him. He's not particularly fond of humans (not surprising really - but others that lose their parents to humans or are treated badly by humans can overcome that distrust when good people look after them) and grabbed her and shook her like a rag doll. His power was immense and the staff had to all charge in and try and break him off otherwise she'd probably have been killed. That's how close we came to not seeing Erin Brockovich :lol:

Kerry, this is a hard question and one I don't have the answer to. What I do is simply assume that it is under copyright and ask the question anyway. I also offer the proceeds to go to the sanctuary. I have a job so I don't need the money anyway.

And that brings up another point. I asked for a copyright release on a famous image of Jane Goodall so Leigh could do a painting of her as a present for when she opened our exhibition. I was told that it was fine to use but since it was a gift, it would have been fine anyway. Now, in my reading of the law on some sites, I find that this is not the case. If you want to use someone's photo even as a gift, I believe you need to ask for permission.

And that also begs the question why do so many people paint pictures of Elvis or Marilyn Monroe etc etc and then post them to the net because only a tiny amount of them would have permission from the original photographer? It's one reason I try to work as much as possible from my own references.

I can't find any info about working from moving images though and that's why I assume it's under copyright just in case. For your purposes, I'll hunt around and see if it's ok.

[bluegenes]

I do remember that part...she was really shaken up.

[IanArt]

Looks awesome Patrick! I hope you do amazing!! I know your heart is always in the right place. I love what you stand for, very inspiring!

Ian

[PatrickHedges]

That's very kind of you Ian :)

Kerry and Amber, I was right to ask for permission. I asked the question in another part of this site about using images from movies/films etc, making the elementary mistake of saying that they are 'constantly changing images' and being remindedVideo images aren't 'constantly changing', there's just many, many more of frames than in still photography.

Yet, if you need permission from a still photographer to copy a single image, you still need permission from a videographer to copy a single frame...


So, point cleared up I would say :)

[AngieR]

these are wonderful as always patrick! I so love seeing your work!!! YOu do these animals great justice in your paintings....:)

Angie

[Dave Hawk]

Your composition's give the emotion and your color shouts the feeling. Nice Job.

[Sticky Wombat]

Patrick thankyou so very much for taking the time to dig around for the required information regarding copyrights to 'moving images' etc. I know that the area of copyright can be a complete landmine if you're not careful and many people have been caught out. Like yourself, in the past I have always asked for permission first, and have up until now had no objections maybe because I always offer something in return: ie gifting the first limited edition print so that they can auction or raffel it off for fund raising etc.
Anyway thankyou once again Patrick, your a star!!! :thumbsup: :clap: :wave:

[chammi kaiser]

Patrick this touches my heart and also my artistic soul. What more can I say?!!

[janeymac]

Wow Patrick...wonderful work! thanks for sharing them with us and that great story behind them....very touching! :)

Jane

[PatrickHedges]

Many thanks :)

beautiful pieces Patrick and such a heart warming story. I love good endings. I also LOVE the first one with his eyes peeking out but gosh they sure change a lot in growing up dont they. You have my interest in the show in Indiana as I have many of my people there. I need to run over to the scratch board forum and see whats up with it and where. Hey, I was cleaning my art room and low and behold I came across about 20 ampersand boards of different sizes, black , white , pastel board etc. Guess I better figure out what to do with them :)


Laurie
Laurie, there's a few artists from the scratchboard forum going over for it so if you do, drop a thread in the SB forum and see if you can catch up with any :) I wish I could go too

[FaeLynn]

Hi Patrick!
Oh how wonderful! I love the story, the work, the title...really nice, I hope it sells for lots of money!!

[Tim Taylor]

Hey Patrick,
Nice work and an equally interesting story and thread. As to Julia Roberts, every story I've read about her in recent years indicate she's quite the bohemian, going days without showering or changing her clothes. Maybe he objected to her smell or more likely thought she was one of them and his wife would be jealous if he didn't protest :lol: .

Tim

[PatrickHedges]

Many thanks Faelynn :)

Tim, that's a scream :lol: :lol:

[solonite]

Wow-those eyes...they can twist at your heart can't they? Wonderful as always Patrick
Susan

[sultry]

Hi Patrick, thank you for sharing this wonderful story. You show such emotion in the eyes, in both scratchboard paintings. The first one, I see curiousity and the second, I see knowledge.

[PatrickHedges]

Many thanks Susan and Sultry. I love what you see in them :)