Artist Statement

"Fading Away" by Deb Rasberry

The subject for this painting is a white rhinoceros, which I was privileged to see during a family visit to Kruger National Park, South Africa, back in 2012. Up close, and from the safety of a vehicle, this magnificent animal is a living dinosaur, unchanged by evolution. It has survived for millennia, roaming the plains of Africa, with its armor like exterior and regal horn.  And now it stands on the brink of extinction, poached for its horn to satisfy human greed from distant continents. Our chances of seeing these animals in their natural habitat are fading away.

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I had intended to paint this rhino two years before I actually did. I prepared the board, set it up on a large easel, and there it sat. I walked by it in my studio, on my way to paint other paintings. Then one morning I looked at it and I knew it was the time! I painted this 35 x 35 inch painting, my largest ever, in just one day! It flowed out of me, and I couldn’t even stop for a break or to eat. The way I wanted to express how I felt about it was in my mind all along.