Pastel on Colourfix paper     

58 X 40 cm.

On an earlier safari in South Africa, I learned just how wonderful the adaptations of the indigenous wildlife to their natural habitat really are....and just how naive humans can be in the same environment.

As I eased my vehicle past some dense thorn bushes, I spotted this big male lion sitting well back against the scrub. With mottled shade over his tawny body the dry summer grasses really made him partially invisible....at least to my naked eyes. It occurred to me to wonder if I would have even seen him had I been on foot. Within a minute I got one hell of a fright when I realised there was a female laying flat in the grass.... almost totally invisible and half way to me .... well within striking distance if she was that way inclined!

It was on that early safari that I learned the wisdom of peeing next to your vehicle if the need arose and not wandering off behind a bush.

This pastel artwork takes me back to my early learning in Africa and many trips later it is staggering to wonder just how much more there is yet to learn about that amazing continent and her rapidly dwindling wildlife.