"Naptime" is a gentle call to action. 

Plant and animal species are losing their homes because of the growing needs of human activity.  Human destruction of habitat has been identified as the main threat to over 85% of all species. 

Are we willing to share spaces with endangered and wild animals?  How would we feel if they showed up in our habitats and took over, as we do theirs?  This painting is the beginning of another series titled "My Home Too" where I will paint wild and endangered animals making themselves comfortable in our living spaces, as we have done to them, for centuries.

Polar bears rely heavily on sea ice for traveling, hunting, resting, mating, and, in some areas, maternal dens. But because of the ongoing and potential loss of their sea ice habitat resulting from climate change–the primary threat to polar bears Arctic-wide–polar bears were listed as a threatened species in the US under the Endangered Species Act in May 2008. As their sea ice habitat recedes earlier in the spring and forms later in the fall, polar bears are increasingly spending longer periods on land, where they are often attracted to areas where humans live.

Habitat destruction is one of the biggest threats facing plants and animal species throughout the world. The clearing of land for farming, grazing, mining, drilling, and urbanization impact the 80 percent of global species that call the forest home. Approximately 15 billion trees are cut down each year.

The situation is even worse in waterways, coastal areas, and the ocean. Coastal estuaries and marshes provide breeding grounds for the majority of marine species. As they, along with inland wetlands, are dredged and filled, species are less able to birth and support their young. Pollution and effluents from the land travel easily through streams and rivers to the ocean, where they impact the health of fish, birds, and marine plants. Deforestation far from shore can cause erosion that enters the water and deposits silt into the shallow marine waters, blocking the sunlight that coral reefs need to survive.