Bria Shay Neff was born in 2006 in the USA. She's not quite a teenager yet, but her New Years pledge is to raise $3,000for endangered animals in 2016. On her Facebook Page, she wrote,"Happy 2016! This year I want to paint 180 animals. I hope to sell at least 40 of them and I want to donate $3,000 to Save The Animals. Thank You for your continued support."
Bria is no new-comer to painting endangered wildlife and selling them to raise money. By the time she turned eight, she was winning wildlife art contests and the proceeds from sales of her art were going to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The young artistdoes her research before she paints, and her facebook page, Faces of the Endangered, often carries information along with her showcased art.
In her recent work"The Eyes of Climate Change,"she wrote,"The snow leopard's habitat is threatened by warmer weather. This means the endangered snow leopard is closer to extinction. We can help by recycling and inventing clean power."
People love her artworkand are inspired by her paintings and her selfless attitude. "To know that a 9-year-old girl has such a consciencemakes me believe that the world can changeand that our beautiful species still have a chance!" said one conservationist in a public post on her page.
Her philosophy is very simple and straightforward.
In an interview with Made For Minds, she said, "Without animals, there will be no us. We all have a right to live on this planet.'
Her art sells for as much as $300, which may seem a bit steep, but her artwork is not the random type of animal pictures one would expect from a child so young. Some of her Rhinos capture the gentleness of those rare and rapidly disappearing animals.
At her main website, PigTailsArt, her portfolio of pictures is displayed. The endangered spotted seal she painted is full of texture and pathos.
Lions are her favorite animals, and one of her lion paintings won an IFAW contest. Following the death of Cecil the Lion who was killed in Zimbabwe last year, she painted a picture in tribute to him which was entitled, "Cecil’s Sadness." Her art is self-funding.
When she buys her canvases and art equipment, her art pays for it. The remainder is donated to the worldwide conservation of endangered animals.
This remarkable young girl deserves accolades from around the world. Patrons can surely invest in her early pictures with confidence. Her desire is to be an artist when she grows up and she is well on the way to achieving her ambition.
