To say that Mafi is a beauty is an understatement. This magficinet and aristocratic Moon Bear was rescued by Animals Asia from a coffin cage in a bear bile farm in China and now lives the life she deserves in the China Moon Bear Rescue in Chengdu in China.

This rescue is run by Animals Asia and their Moon Bear Project has rescued over 350 bears from atrocious and unimaginable lives (if you can call them that) on bear bile farms.

In my continuing bid to raise both awareness of and funds for, Moon Bears – this image of Mafi is available as a giclee fine art print from my online store. The total cost of $19 will be going directly to save more bears. The shipping costs are $6.50 to anywhere in the world.

Since May 25th this year $367 (or £224) has been raised because of people buying these art prints so thank you all…)

Graceful and forgiving this lady is a wonderful ambassador for the Moon Bears and I hope you will find a place in your heart and home for her.

To see how she was created in watercolor please scroll down.

For the arty amongst you – I painted Mafi on 100% cotton rag paper from Arches in France. It is hot pressed and 90lbs. I used Burnt umber and Ultramarine Blue predominantly with a little Pthalo Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Raw Sienna and of course greens for the tender bamboo leaves that she is enjoying.

I painted Mafi’s snout and hre moon crescent in a pale dunn colour first then quickly added dilute brown/blue/black shades all over her.

Adding darker and darker mixes of the same colours as above I further defined her fur. I added pale greens for the bamboo. Her nose was defined using the same shades as her fur plus a little Rose Madder Genuine for inside her nose.

Adding a vibrant spot of Burnt Sienna to her eye ball I then added darker brown/black to shape her outer lids and put more detail on her nose and lips as they grip the bamboo stalk. I darkened her fur further and paid attention to where the light caught it and left those areas lighter.

A small dark purple (mixed with a tiny speck of opaque white watercolor) stroke was added across her eyeball to reflect the sky that she so rightly is now able to see and then I added more light and dark greens to create the bamboo leaves. I shaped her little furry ear that is peeking out with dark brown/blue.