Calling all Tigers - International Tiger Day (Julio Pomar and other favourites..)

After the news of the mighty, and magnificent Cecil, loved by so many, who like few of his kind enjoyed posing in his natural habitat (in freedom)  to show his beauty (i've always thought it just to call a group of lions - a Pride)
- we come to a day that exists to make us aware of other mighty, extraordinary cats, and how close we are to losing them for good.

I shall leave straight away two LINKs, one repeating the online PETITION  I had posted in my last blog, for Cecil (please read and if you agree, sign), the other for TIGER_DAY_ORG with some facts and figures on the subject of tigers.

Of course I'm also partial to the exquisite Snow Leopard
with its large paws and incredible tail, other big cats, wolves, bears (♥ polar bears and others), dolphins, oh - and elephants (so wonderful), plus many more that share and inhabit this delicate blue spot in the universe.


The first time I came upon one of Julio Pomar's latest series of work - his Tiger series, it baffled me. He is one of those authors (artists) that I have a hard time finding work that doesn't "click" with me, every time i'd view his craft i was moved. With the Tiger series I felt something different and wasn't sure what I felt towards his work, I knew I had to see it "face to face", so to speak.
When I finally did get a chance to see work from this series I was struck to the core. It was incredible. I can't say enough times that, similar to the recordings of music, representations of the work are fine (in some cases extremely valuable, especially in music) but nothing substitutes the experience of seeing them "live".


In music, for instance, going to the actual concerts. even though the recordings may be magnificent, when it comes to the "live" experience of the work, well, what can I say? It is hard to put into words, and anyone with a love for music knows exactly what I mean.



I'll leave you with images of some of the work from Pomar's Tiger series that can be found in various different internet connections (making it hard for me to say who originally posted or took their pictures at the moment and for this I apologize for I always like to name the sources. I shall do so in the future, placing it in the comment section as soon as I find out the correct sources).

As a very small child, and growing up, I was so very fond of Winnie the Pooh's "Tigre" persona, had a large stuffed tiger

(or lion doll not sure any more, but since he had no mane, i believe he was a tiger - he was a solid pinkish, salmon colour, but i was told that that was due to it being washed so many times)

- that I'd take everywhere with me.
He was my first love.

Bigger than me for so long, more my size near the end, I remember him still with an affection one has for a beloved family member from one's most tender years and still have that feeling I had had when at age five or six he finally had to be taken.  It took forever for the grownups to get him away from me as I felt he began to disappear for hours on end (to be washed), and feared his eventually not coming back.



Now that I think of it, I now appreciate all the more those who in the past showered me as an adult with Calvin & Hobbes when it came out, on birthdays and such. Yes, I see the added humour..



Three or four years ago, one of the culprits gave me this t-shirt..

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Wishing all a very nice day.





Once again - beautiful Cecil

Image: Bryan Oxford

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Post scriptum

Oh, by the way, since we're on the topic of magnificent creatures I cannot leave out this link to a past article, regarding Polar bears among other things. With the insane will to drill the arctic (a calamitous move) these days, I am left without words.., but say this: it is imperative that we protect the Arctic.
LINK












Taking into consideration that they should be in their natural habitat, it is always the best and preferable, one knows that some people for bizarre reasons  try to take them on as pets. Thankfully they can be, and sometimes are, rescued from this idiocy - and although their being able to be returned to the wild as they should be is compromised due to the folly
(no longer able to survive as they would had they not been "kidnapped") the following seems not only a lesson as to getting along despite our differences, but a good solution for such sad cases of animal mistreatment, and commendable when no other option is available.







When I think of the madness some of us commit to our own species, be they babies - adults, or elders of respectable age, as well as these magnificent creatures, my heart sinks.
Thank goodness not all of us are as daft as some.
We were born with brains, we should use them.
The world can be such a wondrous and wonderful place if we don't "complicate" things.

Here is "Gaia" (the Earth) once more;
I try my best not to but, I do sometimes repeat things I find beautiful.