"African Lion" - oil painting

Oils on canvas (30×40 inches) (sold)

This painting took a long time to complete, mostly because of the large size of the painting. During my visit to South Africa in March 2009, I took photo’s of this majestic male lion who was watching his lionesses stalk our vehicle.

Visually, the male lion is highly distinctive and is easily recognized by its mane. The lion, particularly the face of the male, is one of the most widely recognized animal symbols in human culture.

Lions spend much of their time resting and are inactive for about 20 hours per day.

The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger.

The mane of the adult male lion, unique among cats, is one of the most distinctive characteristics of the species. It makes the lion appear larger, providing an excellent intimidation display; this aids the lion during confrontations with other lions and with the species’ chief competitor in Africa, the spotted hyena.

The rule of thumb is the darker and fuller the mane, the healthier the lion. Sexual selection of mates by lionesses favors males with the densest, darkest mane.

The lion is a vulnerable species, having seen a possibly irreversible population decline of thirty to fifty percent over the past two decades in its African range. Lion populations are untenable outside of designated reserves and national parks.

Habitat loss and conflicts with humans are currently the greatest causes of concern. (wiki)

"Eye of the Leopard" - Oil Painting

Oil on gessoboard (10×8 inches)

I love painting eyes and really enjoyed painting this gorgeous leopard’s eye.

The leopard (Panthera pardus) has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, although it is of smaller and slighter build.

Its fur is marked with similar rosettes to those of the jaguar, though the leopard’s rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and the leopard’s rosettes do not usually have central spots as the jaguar’s do.

The species’ success in the wild owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behavior, its adaptability to habitats, its ability to run at speeds approaching 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph), its unequaled ability to climb trees even when carrying a heavy carcass, and its notorious ability for stealth.

Leopards may sometimes be confused with two other large spotted cats, the cheetah and the jaguar. However, the patterns of spots in each are different: the cheetah has simple spots, evenly spread; the jaguar has small spots inside the polygonal rosettes; while the leopard normally has rounder, smaller rosettes than those of the jaguar.

The leopard is larger and much more muscular than the cheetah, but slightly smaller and more lightly built than the jaguar. The leopard’s rosettes are circular in East Africa but tend to be squarer in southern Africa.

The leopard is known for its ability in climbing, and it has been observed resting on tree branches during the day, dragging its kills up trees and hanging them there, and descending from trees headfirst. (wiki)

"Thirsty Elephants" - Oil Painting

Oils on canvas (20×30 inches)

I have been working on this painting for a very long time (probably more than a year – on and off) and I always found something more to do. (Artist’s dilemma – never knowing when to stop!!!)

But now I think there is nothing more I can do without ‘over-doing’ so this painting is now finished!

Poaching significantly reduced the population of elephants in certain regions during the 20th century. The use of elephant tusks (ivory) is still greedily being sought by stupid and irresponsible humans. During my visit to an elephant sanctuary in South Africa one of the wonderful keepers explained that we no longer have the huge, magnificent ‘tuskers’ as hunters virtually wiped out the gene pool.