A pride of lions at the Conservators Center in Caswell County was eager for art class Friday.
CASWELL COUNTY -- A pride of lions at the Conservators Center in Caswell County was eager for art class Friday. But before they got to work, Caldwell Co. artist Rob Seeyle put a base coat on the canvas for a little bit of inspiration.
"You get down basic colors first to try to create a layer effect so it's not just like everyone else's art and animal art and stuff like that, we want it to be pretty unique and stand up against art pieces," Seeyle explained.
The piece is then brought into a holding pen where Seeyle puts down more paint and trainers add peppermint and cinnamon scents to entice the lions to get to work. The paint is non-toxic which is good since some of the lions sampled a taste.
"This is tempura paint which they use in pre-schools which means it is ingested by small children all the time, meaning that it is safe for our lions. We would never give them anything that would be at all problematic so we were very careful when choosing the materials for this project," said Julia Matson with the Conservators Center.
One piece has already sold. It went for $1,200. On May 3, the piece of artwork along with two others will be auctioned off at the Bid for Conservation in Durham.
One piece has already sold. It went for $1,200. On May 3, the piece of artwork along with two others will be auctioned off at the Bid for Conservation in Durham.
"We operate on a very thin budget so we have a huge, huge net proceed from the auction, so we're very excited about it. As I said, the largest fundraiser of the year," Matson added.
People can visit the Conservators Center web site to learn more about the Conservators Center and its annual fundraiser on May 3rd, Bid for Conservation
And to learn more about artist Rob Seeyle visit his web site.