Sea Shepherdess In Fine Art Colored Pencil

SEA SHEPHERDESS is a portrait in colored pencil on 11″ by 14″ Arches 140 LB Water Color Paper honoring and paying respect to the humanity of Pia Klemp. She is a German Biologist and a Sea Captain who worked between 2011 and 2017 for the Sea Shepherd organization to protect sea animals. During that time, somehwere around 2015, while piloting her boat in the Mediteranean Sea, she began rescuing dozens and dozens of men, women and children drowning in unseaworthy vessels. They were trying to get to safety from whatever war-zone they were fleeing. In the end, she may have rescued hundreds if not thousands of immigrants before the Italian Government impounded her boat. She was told she would face trial in Italy for the unlawful rescue of drowning immigrants. She was also told if she rescued one more immigrant she would be thrown in jail. As far as I know, she is still awaiting trial in Italy. I tried to portray the unflappable courage of Pia Klemp and her strength of character. For her, the only law that mattered is the law of the open sea declaring that any captain of a seaworthy vessel has the duty and the responsibility to save as many lives in danger aboard a sinking ship as is humanly possible. Pia dismisses any attempt to call her actions heroic. It’s simple – this law of the sea states what it means to be a human being and, as such, supercedes the law of any government.