A caretta caretta pup is seen at Cirali Beach as they in a process of hatching and meeting the sea in Kemer district of Antalya, Turkey on July 22, 2020. 6 caretta caretta pups came out of the nest opened by the officials met the sea in the early morning. (Photo by Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Miss Fantasy performs on the stage of The Nest club during the Vogue Nights Jozi Ball, an event dedicated to the gender-fluid culture in Marshalltown, Johannesburg on September 24, 2022. (Photo by Luca Sola/AFP Photo)

Two white storks stand close to each other on their nest on a tree in Zerbolo, Italy, Thursday, October 26, 2017. (Photo by Antonio Calanni/AP Photo)

Belarusian ornithologist Vladimir Ivanovski, 72, stands on a tree as he builds an artificial nest for birds of prey from tree branches, in a marsh near the village of Kazyany, Belarus on October 20, 2019. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

My name is Chris Kapono and I am a self-taught artist living in Missouri. I have been drawing and painting ever since I can remember and art has been a big part of my life. My love of animals and nature is reflected in my art and sometimes interesting things I find on walks in the woods will find their way into some of my pieces!

I was born in Calella (Barcelona) in 1956, and nowadays I live in Vilassar de Mar (Barcelona). Since I was a child I have been fascinated by painting and I think I'm a self-taught painter because, despite I was taught drawing at Primary School, I have acquired my knowledge thanks to my environment. Painting is my own way to express myself. I can shape my inward in the canvas with the essential help of the palette knife and the colours. As a nature’s lover and great observant, my environment has always been my source of inspiration. At present I devote myself exclusively to painting, my true passion, and that is why I feel extremely fortunate.

A Humboldt penguin stands on weighing scales whilst being photographed by members of the press during a photocall at the annual weigh-in at London Zoo in London, Britain, 24 August 2016. Every animal that is in the zoo is weighed and measured and the statistics recorded so the data can be shared with zoos across the world. (Photo by Hannah McKay/EPA)

Alluvial Fan, China. A vast alluvial fan blossoms across the desolate landscape between the Kunlun and Altun mountain ranges that form the southern border of the Taklimakan Desert in China’s XinJiang Province. Image taken by the ASTER instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite on May 2nd, 2002. (Photo by NASA/GSFC/USGS EROS Data Center)