Women in Art 278 Magazine March 2014 | Page 29

american painter Janet Y. Immordino watercolor My “Zebra Reflections” watercolor painting was inspired while visiting the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois. I saw Zebras drinking from a puddle of rainwater at their outside exhibit. When I looked down I could see their partial mirror images reflecting across the rainwater. During that moment watching the Zebras drink the rainwater I realized that we are all universally connected by our need of water for survival. Water is life to all living things. I thought how precious all of our fresh water resources are for our well-being. There are many areas around the world where humans and animals survive without access to safe fresh water supply. The lack of fresh water supply has a devastating impact on our economic development, our food supply and humankind. The drought in Africa where the Zebras do live shows how important the fresh water supplies are to their existence. How many animals died for lack of fresh water? This shows the conservation of water is important to ever living creature on this planet. Whether you believe the earth is heating up do to man’s carbon footprint or not the results speak for themselves (more droughts). Animals such as the Zebras may not put any carbon dioxide into the air but their lives may depend on what we as humans do. How beautiful nature made these animals and the diversity that they show tells us one thing: All animals depend on water for life. We have to conserve all of our natural resources with fresh water being the primary resource. As a world community we need to work together for the understanding for responsible water use and conservation. Using rain barrels to provide water for plants is an example. We have a carbon footprint (how much carbon is polluting the air) .... we should also have a water footprint (how much water is wasted). About the artist: I am a self-taught Artist enjoying painting with watercolor, ink & pen and mixed mediums. I love the creativity of watercolor painting and being able to capture the life of botanicals, landscapes, nature, animals and vintage themes in my paintings. My wish is that my paintings evoke a sense of beauty and happiness when viewed by others.