Stargazing

This summer I did a painting for my friend Maya's birthday. While at UMaine she often disappears, and sometimes it will be because she runs off to stargaze. The first time I ever saw Maya she was wearing a silly kid-looking fleece with monkeys on it :-), and I have always known she loves them. This summer she participated in a field research group in Rwanda! She had to opportunity to work with, study, and learn about primates! I used a cool oval canvas I bought at the Blick store in Boston last winter, and painted a girl gazing up at a starry night sky, smiling at a constellation of a monkey (a constellation I made up). She loved it when I gave it to her once we returned to school, and it's now hung up in her dorm room!