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Wonderful World

June 2007 marked an astounding anniversary for
Pollyanna.
In the summer of 2007 Pollyanna opened her private
gallery for a special commemorative Exhibition, to celebrate
the anniversary of her first painting expedition, twenty-one
years ago. Visitors viewed over fifty original paintings, on
public display for the very first time. Following the incredible
response to her acclaimed master work ‘The Millennium
Triptych’, painted in 1999 to celebrate British wildlife
at the start of the new century, Pollyanna unveiled a brand
new triptych ‘Living Planet’ – pictured above-
one of the most dramatic and ambitious works she has ever created.
The painting took over three months in the studio
to complete, is almost eight feet wide when fully open, and
depicts over eighty birds and animals.
Pollyanna’s determination to paint only animals which
she has observed in their natural habitats has lead her into
a remarkable and unique series of journeys into some of the
most inhospitable areas of the globe. Her expeditions to study
threatened species have taken her across five continents, from
the jungles of India to the deserts of North America. She has
painted big cats in the rain forests of Central America, and
wolves in the forests of Transylvania. One of her most challenging
expeditions took her to the wastelands of Siberia where she
braved temperatures as low as -60 to paint the Amur Tiger. The
award-winning book 'Giant Pandas and Sleeping Dragons' was inspired
by Pollyanna’s most famous journey – she was the
first westerner to visit a remote area of the Tibetan Borderlands
of China where she worked in a clinic for rescued pandas. 'On
Top of the World' tells of her expeditions into the High Arctic
to paint polar wildlife, and visitors to the exhibition will
have a preview of the forthcoming book ‘The Eye of the
Tiger’ an account of her travels in India.
Exclusively on display was the very first painting completed
following Pollyanna’s most recent expedition into the
Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, to paint snow leopards, tigers,
wolves, clouded leopards and other wildlife. Pollyanna was honoured
to be awarded a fellowship by the Canada based Artists Foundation
for Conservation in support of this journey. During the expedition
she acted as ambassador for the group, carrying their official
flag, and meeting with representatives of the WWF and Bhutanese
government. Pollyanna is the first woman, and also the first
European artist, ever to be awarded a A.F.C. fellowship.
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