Congratulations Suzanne - 2012 competition winner!!

Posted by Michael Starbuck on 22nd Feb 2012

The Great Projects is proud to announce the latest winner of our 2012 competition in conjunction with Gapyear.com and Tourism Malaysia, Suzanne Burn! She will be attending our Great Orangutan Project.

Below is Suzanne's response when we told her that she had won:

"I have been drawing and painting apes for as long as I can remember, and I felt weak at the knees when I was told the news that I'd won the competition and close to spontaneously combusting with excitement! I am stunned to literally win my holiday of a lifetime, it all seems completely unbelievable! I've lost count of the times I've visited Monkey World in Dorset(!) to gain inspiration for my work, but have always aspired to one day visit Borneo and Sumatra, a dream until now I thought was almost impossible to realise.

I paint in acrylic and have just finished painting a baby gorilla on canvas, and have painted all sorts of apes from the mandrill to the Bonobo, but I have to admit to having an extra special soft spot for the Orang-utan. Their gentleness and docile nature appeal so much and I find their inquisitive character bewitching. I feel so passionate about their plight and their loss of habitat; it's made me desperate to help in some small way.

I am absolutely thrilled about the chance to be up close with the animals, taking part in helping to create stimulating environments for the captive orang-utans in their natural habitat and also perhaps seeing the odd sun bear or bearcat! Hopefully, I'll also have the chance to photograph the animals up close in order to create future artwork.

The Great Projects' reputation is amazing and I feel bowled over to be given this opportunity. I am quite prepared for some hard work and am ready to dive into a poncho and wellies and embrace the challenges I'm given while I'm out there. I hope my trip will truly help this beautiful species, albeit in a small way. I simply can't wait!"

Suzanne was chosen because of her love for primates which is depicted in her beautiful paintings, one of which is shown above. We hope she has a wonderful time and will find some real inspiration to help her paint her next masterpiece!

As always we would like to give one final thank you to Gapyear.com and Tourism Malaysia who have helped make Suzanne's trip possible.

To see some more of Suzanne's work please visit: http://www.paintmypetportrait.com

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