Frédérique Lucas’ masterpiece is complete. Four months in the making, the 17-year-old artist revealed her photo-realistic painting to the world yesterday. Titled “Despedida (Goodbye) Vaquita,” the work manages to capture raw emotion like few other paintings do. It depicts an entangled, washed up Vaquita on a Mexican beach, while the sun vanishes just as the porpoise’s life did. Please share the link below with everyone you know to inspire them to help the Vaquita. We need artwork like this to light a fire in us all to try our hardest to protect this porpoise. Thank you Frédérique and everyone that shares this painting and the Vaquita’s story. I have yet to hear of someone who was not moved by the Vaquita’s predicament, so the problem is that not enough people know. If they did, it would be a whole lot easier to save these little guys.
In other news, Save the Whales is running a Vaquita drawing contest for students, with the deadline being August 15: http://www.savethewhales.org/STV_StudentContest.html.
The prizes are either 4 tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, or an “Adopt-a-Vaquita Kit” if you can’t make it to California. Those are outstanding prizes, especially for only drawing a picture! This is an opportunity not only to get great cetacean prizes, but also to support the Vaquita while making artwork. I won’t be submitting anything, but I will be making some larger Vaquita paintings soon, where I will put them up for auction with the proceeds going to the Vaquita, as always.
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17-year-old Frédérique Lucas from the Netherlands, known on deviantART as Namu the Orca, is the Muskwa Club’s first international member! She is an extremely talented artist with a passion for nature, especially cetaceans. She has agreed to do some Vaquita artwork to help raise awareness for the world’s most endangered marine mammal, so keep an eye out for some incredible Vaquita paintings in the near future!
The Muskwa Club’s newest project is: Viva Vaquita!—The Musical! Here is an article about it from Muskwa’s latest newsletter:
“Muskwa’s latest harebrained scheme continued to take shape this month. Viva Vaquita!—The Musical is already gathering widespread support amongst the South Bay and Peninsula theater communities.
The full-length musical will follow the basic plot line of Muskwa’s YouTube serials while injecting lively musical numbers in a Baja California setting.
Muskwa held the first development meeting on December 12 at Peninsula High. President William Whittenbury and local theater veteran Ashley Trutanich discussed the various aspects of musical production, including costs, sets, and necessary personnel. Muskwa’s musical will be original, so the organization will be able to avoid the crippling expenses often incurred by rights purchases.
In addition, Muskwan Hannah Hilden and noted Peninsula newscaster Natalie Edelstein have agreed to join the cast. Many others have also expressed interest. Local parent and talented artist Nancy Parsons has agreed to paint the sets, noting that she has always wanted to paint underwater backdrops.
Ms. Parsons is known for her beautiful sets for the Point Vicente Elementary Variety Shows, which formed a be-loved part of many Muskwans’ childhoods.
A tentative timetable would see the musical continue development for the duration of the school year, followed by performances in the summer. All profits will go directly to Vaquita charities.
¡Viva Vaquita! has also given us the go-ahead to use their name for the show, so it will be officially titled Viva Vaquita!—The Musical. Go Muskwa!”
It has been a spectacular year for the Vaquita and me. V-log got over 6,200 views from 68 countries in 2013, which is that many more people learning about the Vaquita. Check out this awesome report of this year on V-log, created by WordPress and with cool graphics: Click here to see the complete report.
I got some great art supplies for Christmas, and I started a Vaquita painting that should be finished within the next few weeks. In addition, I have plans to create prints and sell an original canvas painting, so stay tuned!
It’s official! International (yes, International) Save the Vaquita Day 2014 is on July 12th! This year promises to have more, better, and bigger venues than ever. Look out for an ISTVD 2014 logo in the very near future, as well as official updates on the event as venues are confirmed. Here is a wonderful picture by Uko Gorter. Let’s make 2014 the “Year of the Vaquita”!
