3 minute read
Bill Bensley: A Life in Pictures
Artist, designer, architect, philanthropist, traveler – there are so many words to describe Bill Bensley and we were so honoured to have him join us this year in Montenegro. Here he shares his latest paintings from that trip and others, and shares details of his upcoming projects.
What were my impressions of Montenegro? I loved it. We had time to explore and draw the ancient city of Kotor. I imagined the awful day the Russian marched into the quiet village... see my painting below.
And on the day we visited, a huge Virgin Cruise ship arrived and the modern day invasion began all over again. See my painting below.
As for my current projects – there are many! We are building a beautiful Marwari palace on Pichola Lake in Udaipur. It will open in 2025. I am writing to you from Udaipur now.
I am also working on a series of 4 tiny 4-bedroom camps in north French Congo where there are more gorillas than anywhere else in the world – see my painting below.
Then next May in Bangkok, I will invade the old Russian Embassy for a month to show my work on the ex countries of Soviet Union.
Above is the painting of Azerbaijan, and below, the five stans.
My proudest achievement this year, and it may seem tiny, was the 22-hour sell out of my 38 painting show called The Faroese Chronicles at MOCA Gallery in Bangkok, which made some $250,000 for the Shinta Mani Foundation in Cambodia. With those funds we have built 30+ homes for the poor, graduated 35 students from my hospitality school and made Shinta Mani Wild the safest area in the Cardamom Rainforest! All of the above paintings can be reserved for YOU!
For 2024, I have many conservation plans for the Cambodian wilderness and a milk program, as many Cambodian infants are undernourished, and a more comprehensive hospitality school program. If anybody out there would like to help us, please do contact me...
