Big Cats

Watercolour

TIGERS

These pre-mating fights are second- long explosions - literally a whirlwind of fire and sparks.

Cat Passion 1 - Watercolour - h. 15" w. 21" (h. 38.20cm w. 54.40cm) — **Cat Passion 1** - Watercolour - h. 15" w. 21" (h. 38.20cm w. 54.40cm)

Cat Passion 2 - Watercolour - h. 15" w. 21" (h. 38.20cm w. 54.40cm) — **Cat Passion 2** - Watercolour - h. 15" w. 21" (h. 38.20cm w. 54.40cm)

In the pre-mating skirmish, the female is the more aggressive. The male Tiger parries and waits his time.

The cats spin; the female, already off balance, will fall, and her calmer mate mate will take his prize.

Cheetahs

THE CHASE

I have been doing a series of Cheetah studies - drawings and watercolours. What cheetahs do best is to run - at speed!

I have done a group of half a dozen drawings of cheetahs breaking the speed limit. And here, on my website, are also my four latest watercolours of Cheetahs pursuing prey - both Thomson Gazelles and Impala

Both cheetahs and gazelles share an exquisite grace and beauty, and both predator and prey run, leap twist and turn, faster and more beautifully than any other animals on the planet, as they engage in a dance of death.

These four paintings are studies of cats and gazelles at their extremes: the one hungry, possibly to feed her cubs, the other desperate to save its life. It is a fascinating paradox of horror and beauty to behold.

These studies have given me the opportunity to delve further into how to visually express the emotion aroused when we become excited by speed. And speed combined with agility and grace is particularly wondrous and captivating. I, like all artists from the beginnings of photography, have been influenced by the revelations of the camera, but I seek to go further still than what the camera can tell us about speed. I try to capture the 'force lines' and 'energy arcs' that underlie a burst of thrilling speed. It is an endless, hugely satisfying challenge.

Tight Turns - Cheetah Galloping at Full Stretch h.14.75” x w. 21.5” (h.37.5 cms x 54.5 cms) — **Tight Turns - Cheetah Galloping at Full Stretch** h.14.75” x w. 21.5” (h.37.5 cms x 54.5 cms)

**Cheetah closing in on a Gazelle Watercolour | h. 12.75" w. 20.25" (h. 32.50cm w. 51.40cm)**

Cheetah tripping a Thomsons Gazelle h. 10.25" (26cms) w. 22" (56cms) — **Cheetah tripping a Thomsons Gazelle** h. 10.25" (26cms) w. 22" (56cms)

Cheetah Closing in on Impala h. 13" (33cms) w. 22" (56cms) — **Cheetah Closing in on Impala** h. 13" (33cms) w. 22" (56cms)

Cheetah leaping for Impala w. 13" (33cms) w. 22" (56cms) — **Cheetah leaping for Impala** w. 13" (33cms) w. 22" (56cms)

Twisting and Turning - Cheetah pursuing young Thomsons Gazelle h. 12.75" w. 22" (56 cms) — **Twisting and Turning - Cheetah pursuing young Thomsons Gazelle** h. 12.75" w. 22" (56 cms)

Two Cheetahs on the Chase. Watercolour. h. 9" w. 14.00" (h. 23cm w. 36cm) — **Two Cheetahs on the Chase**. Watercolour. h. 9" w. 14.00" (h. 23cm w. 36cm)

Two Cheetahs closing in on an Ostrich (Height.22.25”, Width 24”.25”) — **Two Cheetahs closing in on an Ostrich** (Height.22.25”, Width 24”.25”)

**Cheetah Trying to Bring Down an Impala**

LIONESS CLOSING IN ON HER PREY

As I painted this piglet, I was acutely in touch with the pain of sadness and sorrow for this young baby animal and his cruel end. In this painting, unusually, my feelings were strongly identified with the prey animal. This tiny vulnerable creature gasping his last breaths in this hopeless and fatal chase. The piglet is gawky and ugly compared to the glorious beauty of so many prey animals - the delicate Thomson and other Gazelles, for instance, whose grim but beautiful imminent deaths I have portrayed with an aesthetic pleasure, have, for some reason, not affected me as much as the little blue piglet.

Lioness Closing In (Height 12”, Width 22”) — **Lioness Closing In** (Height 12”, Width 22”)

TWO LIONS PLAY FIGHTING

No sadness in this joyous painting. I have tried to capture a truly lyrical fight - if two such words can possibly be juxtaposed. The Lions fight lazily, and even gracefully, in the hot sun, and its a happy evocation.