The artist won praise from Dame Virginia McKenna, the renowned actress and conservationist, who founded the Born Free Foundation which this year marks its 40th anniversary. Said Dame Virginia: "One of my most delightful experiences is to visit Pollyanna Pickering’s Gallery in the Peak District. To stand there, surrounded by her luminous and beautiful paintings of animals, is breath-taking.
" Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with a Digital subscription to Yorkshire Post, you can get access to all of our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Throughout her career Yorkshire artist Pollyanna was always most pleased when her art could be used to help raise funds for causes close to her heart – her work has been commissioned and published by every major wildlife charity. However undoubtedly the closest and most enduring relationship she had with any outside organisation was with The Born Free Foundation .
In 1987, just three years after the formation of Born Free, Pollyanna was invited to travel to India to sketch and paint five tigers which had been rescued from appalling conditions in a roadside circus in Kent. She would go on to visit Born Free projects in South Africa and Ethiopia, and stage fund-raising exhibitions of the artwork inspired by her visits. She became a close friend of their founder Dame Virginia McKenna, bonding through their shared love of animals and passion for conservation.
She created limited edition.