THE FRIESIAN HORSE

The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse's ears

~ Arabian Proverb

Ever since I was a child, I have loved horses but nature played a cruel trick; I am so allergic that physical contact with horses can hospitalize me. But that does not mean I cannot love them from afar.

My two favourite breeds of horses are the noble Friesians and the breathtaking Gypsy Vanner horse. The Friesian is one of the original contributors to the amazing Vanners who have inherited their conformation, magnificent mane, tail and silky feathers, and most importantly of all, the disposition of a gentle giant. Actually, the Friesian is ancestor of many working breeds and draft horses of Europe.

A fine Gypsy Vanner broodmare. Developed from a combination of
Freisian, Clydesdale, Shire, and Dales pony blood,
these horse are prized for their gentle, intelligent nature.

The following series of photos has lain unused in my folders for at least 10 years. It is more than time for me to share them with you. For fun, I have made up a little story to match.

The Friesian is most often recognized by its black coat color, though color is not their only distinguishing characteristic. They rarely have white markings of any kind; at most only a small star on the forehead for purebred registration. Though extremely rare, Friesians are occasionally chestnut. There is actually one white Friesian today, but that is another story.

The Friesian's average height is about 15.3 hands (63 inches or 1.60 m. The Friesian is a willing, active, and energetic horse that is also gentle and docile. They have great presence and carry their strong, cobby conformation, with elegance and quality. The noted gait is a smooth high-stepping trot coming from powerful quarters.

Friesian aficionados tend to be a tad enthusiastic ~ and with good reason!

Friesians have long, arched necks and well-chiseled, short-eared, "Spanish type" heads. Their sloping shoulders are quite powerful. They have compact, muscular bodies with strong hindquarters and a flowing low-set tail. Their limbs are comparatively short and strong.

The breed was developed in the province of Friesland in the northern Netherlands, where there is evidence of thousands of years of horse populations, and this breed is said to have descended from the primitive Forest Horse. It is also said that Romans obtained ancestors of the Friesian horse for riding and also took them to England, where the breed type may have influenced the Shire horse, Clydesdale, Fell Pony and Dales Pony.

Ancestors of the modern Friesians were used in medieval times to carry knights to battle. In the 12th and 13th centuries, eastern horses of crusaders were mated with Friesian stock. During the 16th and 17th centuries, when there was less demand for heavy war horses as battle arms changed and especially when Spanish forces occupied The Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War, Andalusian blood was added, lightening its weight and thereby rendering it more suitable in terms of less food intake and waste output for work as a more urban carriage horse. Friesians were also used by riding schools in France and Spain for high-school dressage, and they remain popular today for their gentle temperaments and proud appearance.

The Emperor Charles, 1516-56, continued Spanish expansion into the Netherlands, which had its Friesian warhorse, noted by Vegetius and used on the continent and in Britain in Roman times. Like the Andalusian, the Friesian bred true to type. Even with infusions of Spanish blood during the sixteenth century occupation, it retained its indigenous characteristics, taking the best from both breeds. The Friesian is mentioned in 16th and 17th century works ~ a courageous horse eminently suitable for war, lacking the volatility of some breeds or the phlegm of very heavy ones.

The Friesian as a valuable weapon of war. Prettier than bombs, non?

The breed was especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, when they were not only in demand as harness horses and for agricultural work, but also for the trotting races then so popular.

A medieval couple en route to their handfasting/wedding.

Due to its striking appearance and mild temperament, the Friesian has become popular in the film industry. The breed owes much of its current popularity to the appearance of the Friesian stallion Othello in the 1985 film, Ladyhawke, which ignited a worldwide interest in these horses. Films such as Eragon, The Mask of Zorro, Alexander, and 300 have also featured Friesian horses. Though they are of dramatic appearance, sometimes their use in dramatizations of actual historical events is of dubious accuracy, given that the breed as it is known today only came into being within the last 400 to 600 years.

Of course the quintessential story about the Friesian would be that amazing book, Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, written by Anna Sewell in 1877, a book that changed history and improved the lives of working animals in England permanently.

Since I was a child, animal books seem to have been lost in the shuffle of mind-altering modern video games and computers. This is a crime because books by and about animals they teach our young ones compassion and appreciation of the magnificent creatures with whom we share this planet.

DOLPHIN DREAMS

I dunno about you all, but this week is so intense, I have to do something that cheers the spirit, imbibes it with happiness. None better for that task than our DOLPHIN friends around the ocean. I hope you enjoy the paintings and the quotes. Once again, PLEASE hit the THUMBNAILS to appreciate this lovely art!




We live in harmony. With order.
You live in turmoil. No order.
We do not actively kill each other.
You take your lives in war.
And then you decided to take ours.
You make us play the court jester,
so we can make you laugh, just so we can eat.
We do not ask you for such.
A few of you treat us well when you contain us,
trying to learn more of us while keeping us healthy.
We appreciate that. We like your contact.
But we also like your respect.
Those of us who know not the wild,
happily dwell in your confinements, without regret.
But those of us of the wild, we like you,
but we like our freedom too.
Until you choose to learn from us, in our world,
You will understand little of us.
We have learned your ways.
Now, Learn ours.

Since the beginning of life as we know it, the sea has supported our planet. From it has come the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. In short, the sea has given us life. Perhaps it's time we returned the favor. ~ Bob Talbot

And when the day comes that we can communicate intelligently with dolphins, they may introduce us to the concept of survival without aggression, and the true joy of living, which at present eludes us. In that circumstance what they have to teach us would be infinitely more valuable than anything we could offer them in exchange. ~ Horace Dobbs




It is the dolphin's birthright to swim in a straight line in the ocean as far as its heart desires. ~ Ric O'Barry




Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much. The wheel, New York, wars, and so on. While all the dolphins had ever done was much about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins always believed that they were far more intelligent than man ~ for precisely the same reason. ~ Douglas Adams




There is about as much educational benefit to be gained in studying dolphins in captivity as there would be studying mankind by only observing prisoners held in solitary confinement. ~ Jacques Cousteau




Fact: Dolphins sleep with one half of their brain plus one eye closed, then switching to the other side of the brain and the other eye closed during other parts of the day -- slowing down everything inside their bodies and moving very little.





Cows have dreams too!




Fice species of dolphin can live in fresh water, they are usually named after the river they swim in, such as the Amazon or the Ganges




Dolphin clicks are short pulses of 300 sounds per second.




All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it. ~ Samual Butler; 1912

Rape, even gang rape, is not unknown among other wild animals. But dolphins have perfected the practice. The team doing the herding is often shadowed at some distance by another. If outsiders try to steal the first team's victim, the back-up group will come to the rescue - not of the female, but of their male friends. ~ The Economist

Cetaceans seem to spend an inordinate amount of time in sexual activity. This may be generated by boredom in captivity, but observers in the wild tend to confirm it. Dolphins engage in love-play with almost every creature in sight - with mothers, brothers, fathers, daughters, cousins or aunts. There is even one record of a Bottlenose Dolphin masturbating with a herring. ~ R. Brown

It is of interest to note that, while some dolphins are reported to have learned English ~ up to fifty words used in correct context ~ no human being is reported to have learned dolphinese. ~ Dr. Carl Sagan




If dolphins drove mini cars!

No well-mannered fish goes anywhere without a good porpoise. ~ Lewis Carroll




Listen to the voice of a dolphin, and you shall learn the secret to mankinds' survival: PEACE!!! ~ Mallory Watson




Dolphins carry their young inside their womb and gestation is about 12 months for a bottlenose. The baby emerges tail first, and will suckle from its mother for up to 4 years ~ a calf may stop suckling sooner depending on circumstances.




To breathe when they are asleep, female dolphins lie on the water's surface with their blowholes exposed to the air; males sleep just below the surface and rise to breathe periodically as a reflex action.

"In the water, whales have become the dominant species,
Without killing their own kind.

In the water, whales have become the dominant species,
Though they allow the resources they use to renew themselves.

In the water, whales have become the dominant species,
Though they acknowledge minds other than their own.

In the water, whales have become the dominant species,
Without allowing their population to reach plague proportions.

In the water, the whale is the dominant species,
An extra-terrestrial, who has already landed..." ~ Heathcote Williams

"When dolphins speak They use only vowels, and just faint hints of consonants, But recognizable:
'Hello. How are you.
One-two-three-four-five...six-seven.
Yes.No.
A.E.I.O.U.
My name is Elvar.
My name is Peter.
My name is Bobo. Clown.
It is six o'clock.
Trick. Squirt water. Trick. More water...Bye...bye bye.' "~ Heathcote Williams

There are currently 8 species of dolphins on the endangered species list. Two species of dolphins number fewer then 500 in the world. If nothing is done to help protect and preserve these species of dolphins, they may be gone forever.




Diviner than the dolphin is nothing yet created. ~ Oppian, Halieutica




To the dolphin alone, nature has given that which the best philosophers seek: Friendship for no advantage. Though it has no need of help from any man, it is a genial friend to all and has helped mankind. ~ Plutarch




Dolphins have their own language that they use to communicate with each other and with humans. Even though we do not understand their words, sounds, noises, and clicks exactly, we do know that they are communicating feelings, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors just as humans do.




Not caged by union rules
Unfettered by sales targets
No trains or planes to catch
Your time is set by the flow
Of the sea's tides
And the moon's glow
~ Horace Dobbs

How sharper than a sermon's truth it must have been for many human beings when they learned that bottle-nosed Dolphins may, in time, succeed battle-poised Man as the master species on earth. This prophecy is implicit in the findings of those scientists who have been studying, and interviewing, dolphins in laboratories. It neither alarms nor surprises me that Nature, whose patience with our self-destructive species is giving out, may have decided to make us, if not extinct, at least a secondary power among the mammals of this improbable planet... As far back as 1933 I observed a school of dolphins (their schools increase as ours decline) romping, as we carelessly call it, alongside a cruise ship in the South Atlantic, and something told me that here was a creature, all gaiety, charm, and intelligence, that might one day come out of the boundless deep and show us how a world can be run by creatures dedicated not to the destruction of their species but to its preservation. ~ James Thurber

I want to swim as deep as Dolphin
Into Ocean's grey currents
to see as they see
to feel Water under my fins
to dive so deep Light is only a memory
to know Oceans waves.

Today the dolphins came to play
    I watched them jump for joy
    It seemed just then, they were wise old men
    and I, a foolish boy

    Atop the mighty waves they danced
    to the rhythms of the moon
    in harmony with the song of the sea
    they played in perfect tune

    Behind me fast cars rushed on by
    towards some other time and place
    What wonders do we never see
    that stare us daily in the face?

    Today the dolphins came to play
    I never felt so small
    and yet so grand, bare feet in the sand
    a vital part of the all.




Dolphins diving here and there,
Over the waves without a care.
Lazily gliding through the sea,
Perfect animals so gentle and free.
Happily they talk and play,
In the water they frolic all day.
Naturally beautiful and smart,
Surely a wonderful work of art

You give us images of ecstasy
That we lock away
Behind the doors of memory
For quiet moments
when released from our possessions
We dream of a freedom like yours . ~ Horace Dobbs




Pushing through green waters
Symbol of joy
You leap from the depths
To touch the sky
Scattering spray
Like handfuls of jewels. ~ Horace Dobbs




Dolphin societies are extraordinarily complex, and up to ten generations coexist at one time. If that were the case with man, Leonardo DaVinci, Faraday, and Eistein would still be alive. Could not the dolphin's brain contain an amount of information in volume to the thousands of tons of books in our librairies? ~ Hubert Humphrey




Even lonely, they're friendly,
teaching trainers, performing hoop-jump,
nose-balancing acts.
Easy to believe this animal spends its life at play.
That something dies
when ocean whispers behind the wall.




I would like to be a dolphin under the sea!
Oh! How happy I would be.
Jumping threw the waves and dancing with the sand.
While listening to a crustacean band.
Laughing with my friends under a ship.
Oh! That would certainly be hip.
I would like to be a dolphin under the sea!
Oh! How happy I would be.




"Have we studied, long enough, this genocidial thing?"
"Must we live in tainted water"?, asked the Dolphin King.
We have shown it care and guidance at a cost so dear.
And they all replied, "Dear King, they're ruled by greed and fear!"

The Dolphin King said, "Yes, I know! And lately some have tried
To understand our kind, to communicate their pride.
But others net our children and by some, released. Too late.
Soon we will be no more! Will race extinction be our fate?

The crowd replied, "Their minds are small. They're learning every day.
Though slow and clumsy like a child, a few have come to play.
They know we are intelligent. We see it in their eyes.
"But will it last and overcome their greed." The King replies.

We have to be so careful when the creature-man comes near.
They do not recognize their plight. Their fate remains unclear.
I can't decide to leave or stay! Dear friends, what shall we do?
And in their wisdom, all the Dolphins said, "Let's see it through!"

It's though we have a lot of pets, and dangerous they be.
So we must strive the harder and must teach them how to see
This Home that spins amoung the stars is all they have, for now.
The Dolphin King replied, "You're right!" "We must succeed, somehow."

You may all go back to your task of teaching creature-man.
I'm tired of talking and would like to race the sun again.
Then turning, he was off with lightening speed; a blur of grey.
The King, in wisdom, love, and kindness went back to his play..




I have used here paintings by Jim Warren, John Pitres, Andrew Annenberg and work by others whose name I have never known.

ROBERT BATEMAN ~ AFRICA

The Wise One – Old Cow Elephant

 

Elephants live in fairly complex societies, and within those societies it is the old females that are considered the most important. Virtually all large elephant herds are composed of females and young. When a juvenile male starts taking an interest in the opposite sex, he is expelled from the herd. It is usually the female elephant that is the most dangerous. When the male elephant charges, chances are he is just bluffing. The female usually means business. This is because she would have young to protect. The oldest elephants obviously have the most experience, and one old grandmother is usually the acknowledged leader or wise one. I sometimes get tired of the portrayal of only trophy animals. This old elephant has worn her tusks through years and through countless experiences.

Baobab Tree & Impala

“Sculptural forms in nature visually excite me. The trunk of this baobab tree reminds me of a great castle or a piece of mountainous landscape. The textures are varied and interesting and reflect the events that have taken place in the life of the tree.”

Power Play ~ Rhinoceros

Rhinos are one of the most impressive and massive land mammals, and they do not usually fool around. If they were to play, their only games would be power plays. A charging bull elephant is often bluffing -- not so the rhino. A rhino will make a pretty serious mess out of any vehicle, which has not helped their fight for survival. Rhinos can handle any natural threat but not modern man and his high-power bullets.

 

Rhinos were never hunted by native African tribes, and even the early white trophy hunters were not a serious threat. In 1970 there were about 20,000 black rhinos in Kenya; today there are fewer than 500. This devastation has been caused by the senseless, frivolous beliefs of people in countries thousands of miles away from the black rhino's domain: in the Orient, rhinoceros horn (consumed in powdered form) is believed to be an aphrodisiac; in the last 15 years, the price of a kilo of rhino horn has risen from $35 to $500. In North Yemen, to be considered a virile young man requires owning a dagger with a handle made of rhinoceros horn; such a dagger now costs more than $15,000.

 

To keep this magnificent beast from extinction, we need a global power play to abolish rhino poaching and the money that supports it. I painted Power Play to raise funds to abolish illegal rhino horn trade and to save this 70-million-year-old species from extinction.

Peaceable Kingdom – Lechwe & Lioness

It was one of those golden evenings, which linger forever in memory. We had spent a day on the go in our corner of the Okavongo Delta in Botswana. We decided to park the vehicle on the game-trampled plain and watch the sun go down. We were there for at least two hours quietly letting the world go by. It was a passing parade of nature at its best. A herd of greater kudu came down for a drink. Elephants rumbled by. Flocks of birds passed to and fro and pied kingfisher hovered over the open water.

The enchantment was complete when a lioness softly padded past us followed by a small, anxious group of female lechwe. The lechwe are swamp antelopes. They were following the lioness, which was not in hunting mode, in order to keep her in sight. If she changed her body language or darted for cover they would be have been gone with great alacrity. This is quite common in predator/prey relationships. Predators virtually never succeed if the prey has seen them well in advance of the charge.

Kopje Lookout – Leopard

 

Leopards lurk. Those of us who love to look for wild animals in Africa are always conscious of that fact. We know that leopards see us many, many times more often than we see them. During my first two safaris I saw plenty of lions and cheetahs but not one leopard. On my next two safaris I saw one each time but that was because someone else's vehicle was parked beside a tree that hid a leopard. The eyes of the guides in those vehicles were obviously sharper than mine. In each case I had been driving along the Seronera River in the Serengeti Park of Tanzania.

This is supposedly the best place to find them. You look up into the branches of the yellow 'fever' acacia trees not for the leopard but for the tail dangling down. Their spotted bodies are so camouflaged you can look right at them and not see them as they are pressed against a branch. It is much easier to spot another vehicle and go over and check what they are looking at.

This is why I have placed the leopard in the cleft of the granite cliff in Namibia. So that they are not so easily seen they often lower their nose so that it is concealed and the head shape is less obvious. I have placed the sunlit bare branches of the fig tree in front to help with the hiding. Of course my real joy in doing this painting was to show the light glancing across the texture of the rock and to play with the forms and textures and warm colours. These plus the tree and the leopard speak to me of the soul of Africa.

Lion at Tsavo

Dusk is a time of activity along the rivers of Africa. Life of the day and life of the night overlap. Also it is a time and place of great danger for those creatures whose lot it is to be captured and eaten by predators.

This mature lion is, however, not on the prowl. His wives do that. He is taking a stroll after his hot, daylong siesta. The river provides not only a place to drink, but the possibility of something interesting to observe and maybe even some easy prey.

I liked the positive and negative shapes of the rocks and water and reflections. African rivers are subject to sudden floods. The ancient rocks are sculptured by the river. In the mud deposits are the textures of the hoof prints of the grassland game. Perhaps they had just been drinking and have moved out of the lion's casual approach

Bluffing Bull – African Elephant

I have been charged quite often by lone bull elephants who were only bluffing. Although I never stood my ground to test them, I felt that their efforts were half-hearted bravado. Even as I departed, I have seen them stop in a swirl of dust, tossing their heads and swinging their trunks to put me in my place.

Londelosi – Cheetah

With their keen eyesight cheetahs can rest and search at the same time. They live a vulnerable existence. Catching and killing prey is tricky and exhausting. But the most serious risk comes from other predators, hyenas and lions. In a tragically high percentage of cases, cheetahs will make a kill only to be robbed of it. They never even try to defend it. Moreover, these predators will kill cheetah babies every time they get the chance.

I like this reaching, peering pose. It reminds me of the action when, in full chase, the cheetah has to make a sudden turn

Crowned Crane Head

Mountain Zebra

Unlike the ubiquitous Burchells zebra, the mountain zebra lives in rugged and remote areas in small bands. Other differences are the unstriped white under parts and braided striping in the tail.

My wife, Birgit, and I were fortunate to see them on several occasions in the Arid Mountains of Namibia. They galloped full tilt across angular, melon-sized boulder fields that seemingly would quickly break any ankle, man or beast.

I chose to portray this individual in evening shadow with a glowing background. One backward glance and then it disappeared over the ridge.

By the River - Elephants

Study of a Wildebeest

Painted Dogs

Painted dog is the recent name for this remarkable animal that used to be called ‘wild dog’ or ‘Cape hunting dog’. I like the name because it describes the kind of random patch pattern of their coats, which is similar to the coat of a "painted" pony or "pinto".

In a way, it fits with their behaviour and social structure, which is active and complex. To watch them is to watch a lively society in action. Their playfulness covers an intense competition for social position and also reinforces connectedness and communication skills that make them the most dreaded hunters in Africa. That is, they are the most dreaded by the prey species. The dogs are relentless in pursuit and use strategy based on co-operation and relationships.

In the painting I have tried to echo the qualities of these dogs in the bouncy, varied patterns of the palms.

Rockface Descent – Leopard

There is something about felines that hold a fascination for human beings. Perhaps it is their mystery and grace. Perhaps it is the fact that our primate ancestors greatly feared this quiet predator of the night. Many aspects of our forebears’ lives that made sense for millennia are still a part of our modern psyche.

This painting grows out of those feelings. If you or I were close enough to see this leopard plunge down this cliff, it would be only seconds before the animal would be upon you. I wanted to instill a feeling of discomfort, partly by the unstable plunging action and partly by the proximity, made closer by cutting off the back part and forepaw of the leopard . . . almost as if he is inside your peripheral vision. The other aspect that excited me was the effort to portray the grace and power of the cat through the muscle, bone and sinew showing beneath the familiar glowing pelt.

The idea for the painting came from seeing a large abstract by Clyfford Still, which I saw at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, in 1980. There was a yellow, vertical slash across a flat brown ground. At that time I had no idea it would be a leopard dashing down grey rocks. It is interesting to speculate on the joining in my psyche of the ancestral dread of leopards and abstract image of Clyfford Still.

Leopard Ambush

There is nothing quite as intense as the stare of a cat that is about to spring on its prey. This applies to the domestic cat looking at a bird or a lioness stalking a zebra. But the most dangerous cat of all is the leopard, and its gaze seems to have a more intense and sinister quality. This feeling is increased by the fact that leopards hunt at night or in the dim light of dusk or dawn.

Leopards are found in a great variety of habitats from Africa to Asia, but they always require protective cover for hiding in dense vegetation or rocks. This is because they generally hunt by ambush. They may hide by a water hole at the same level as the prey, but generally at a higher point to give the added advantage of gravity to the speed of the strike. They will likely land on the back of the victim, bite the neck or throat and rake the sides with hind claws.

In the composition of this painting I have tried to emphasize the direction of the leopard's gaze and the path of his leap by strengthening the diagonal crevices in the rocks. As I painted, the image of a tightly drawn bow and arrow occurred to me. The leopard is the clenched hand of the archer, the lines in the cliff suggest the arrow, and the drip of stains at the left represent the bow. The composition is one of tightly drawn tension which could be released in a flash at any moment.

Waterbuck & Sacred Ibis Flying

Serengeti Dusk – White Storks

One evening in the Serengeti, Birgit and I and our guide stayed out till after sunset watching a couple of lions. The landscape was dark but the sky was still glowing gold when we pulled away to drive back to camp. A flock of white storks was coming in to a long, shallow slough for a final drink and perhaps feed before flying to the trees for the night.

Their busy, varied shapes made interesting patterns against the gleaming water. As I thought about the image for months, the picture of the elegant Japanese screens with gold leaf backgrounds and graceful crane foregrounds kept coming to me. I have always enjoyed the use of gold leaf in those pieces as well as in early Christian icons. It is a bit risky combining the gold leaf with a realistic image but I think that it is worth the try.

The Lion

 
Pride of Lions at Samburu

Rhino and Oxpecker

Lost – Wildebeest

Nature is beautiful. Nature is cruel. But nature doesn’t know it. Nature just is. In the great plains of Africa, the "big game country", all aspects of nature are played out before your eyes. Birth, courtship and death are all connected. And feeding connects everything in a great circle. Everything is either eating or being eaten.

Africa is the only place left on earth where one can view vast herds of ungulates in all directions as far as the eye can see. Although there are many species, by far the most abundant are the wildebeest. In a sense they provide the fodder, the meat, for the predators. They appear to us to be charming and ugly and silly at the same time but their main asset is their fertility. Perhaps that is why they can be careless with their young.

This young wildebeest is only a few hours old. It still has its umbilical cord, but it has already made two mistakes. It went to the wrong female to nurse and was rebuffed, then got confused and lost its mother. The other mistake was to not stay with the herd when it moved along. Wildebeest are constantly on the move and need each other for survival . . . especially, of course, the nursing young. He will never have the opportunity to feed again and will most likely be a snack for a hyena pack within hours. Luckily for him, he doesn’t know it.

Vulture and Wildebeest

The balance of nature is a story of life and death. Virtually all living organisms depend on other organisms for food; in most cases, when something is eaten, its life must end.

Even the building of our homes or the printing of our newspapers involves the death of trees and sometimes whole forests. Too often we refuse to face this fact. We buy our meat neatly packaged in plastic; in fact, our entire lives seem to be done up in neat packages. We are often simply consumers, with less and less involvement in the real world, decision making, or the consequences of our actions. We can see this in the crisis of our forests, our soils, our garbage and our pollution.

This painting shows the tougher side of nature, but it is nonetheless real and important. I found the imagery very exciting. It gave me the chance to have fun with vivid colours and the repetition of very strong forms, as shown in the skull, horns, claws and beak. I think this is one of my more powerful and interesting works.

Sable in Moonlight

The sable is to me as it was to Ernest Hemingway (but for different purposes) an almost mythic animal. I have only seen it once. Sable males weigh about 500 lbs and with their huge, scimitar shaped horns they can even fend off a lion attack.

This male is on the alert during this moonlit night. It is the time of danger for his harem of females and young

Rhino at Ngorongoro

“The great plains of East Africa are a microcosm of the way the world was before man came. The Masai and other warlike, cattle herding tribes kept farmers out of this wildlife paradise for thousands of years. The colonial powers discovered this Garden of Eden in the 19th century and protected it in the form of parks and games reserves.

“Ngorongoro Crater is a microcosm within the microcosm of the great African plains. The high crater rim of this extinct volcano is cold and wet and densely forested, providing a barrier to most interchange of wildlife. The species that live there have been there since prehistoric times in a kind of fishbowl environment that is perfectly balanced. There are the lions and the cheetahs and hyenas that prey on the antelope and zebra. Within a few square miles, you can see most of the wildlife that can be seen in all of East Africa.

“I have shown this rhinoceros moving up the slope with a view of the crater in the background. If you look closely, you can see dozens of wildebeests on the crater floor.”

Demidov’s Galago

We lived in the same habitat about a day's drive from Bafut.

As soon as I was established and had got my bearings of the local area, I sent word out to the nearby villages that I would pay money for small wildlife. Most of these went to the collection of the Carleton University Museum but some went to the Bronx Zoo Small Animal House. The most spectacular of these were the bush babies.

“There are a number of species of bush baby (6 genera, 16 species). Ours was the seldom seen Demidov's galago. If we humans are at the ‘top’ of the primate family tree then lemurs are at the evolutionary ‘bottom’. Demidov's galago is the smallest member of ‘our’ family. A full grown adult would nicely fill a teacup. We had five of them and although they lived in cages we would take them out one at a time to play around the room and around us. They would scamper over our heads and poke their fingers in our ears, which resulted in a sticky feeling. Afterwards I learned that, being nocturnal, they would find their way back to their nest in the forest canopy by urinating on their hands and feet on their way out, and that is why they were sticky. I have shown this one eyeing a large tropical beetle which it may or may not succeed in catching.”

Leopard & Thomson Gazelle Kill

“This scene of the leopard with its Thomson gazelle prey was one I actually witnessed. In all of my trips to Africa, I have only once seen an actual kill, although I have been present after the fact on a number of occasions. Witnessing a leopard making a kill would be very difficult since they hunt mostly at night in areas of thick cover.

“This particular kill would not have been typical as Thomson gazelles generally avoid thick cover. They in fact prefer broad, short-grassed plains not only for the food, but also so that they can see approaching predators. Either this kill was made at night or the Thomson gazelle was very foolish and came too close to the thick vegetation along the river where the leopard was lurking.

“The leopard has hauled its prey up into the tree to keep it away from hyenas and lions that would be all too eager to steal it. As often happens, the predator is in no rush to eat. The activity of catching the prey and dragging it to safety is usually exhausting.

“This is a quiet, benign scene. I wanted to emphasize tranquility rather than a mood of vicious killing. There is, however, tension and mistrust still in the leopard's eyes.”

Homage to Ahmed

Ahmed was the last of the great large tuskers. He lived in Kenya and was protected as a symbol of Kenyan wildlife by special presidential decree. Ahmed was guarded by two armed rangers 24 hours a day, from 1970 until he died in 1974. Ahmed was not gigantic, but it wasn't necessarily the largest or the oldest of the male elephants that had the largest tusks -- the great tuskers simply had it in their genes.

Ahmed is walking -- nearly striding -- looking mature and handsome, with his curved tusks gleaming. My intention was not to be threatening; Ahmed is not charging. His tusks are down, and they are very, very big. As an artist, I found the most interesting aspect of the image to be the treatment of the wrinkles at the centre of his face, between his eyes and below his forehead between his tusks.

"Homage to Ahmed" was created to raise funds to help combat ivory poaching. This is more a picture about ivory than it is about an elephant. It is part of the sad commentary on man's interference with the world that these great large tuskers were selectively hunted for centuries, both by collectors and trophy shooters. As the largest tusks were preferred, such hunting hastened the elimination of large tusk genes from the breeding pool. This was the end of an historic phenomenon that has occurred since elephants have been around -- millions of years. No more great tuskers will be produced on Earth.

I wanted this picture to be large and impressive and confrontational because it is about that kind of issue -- the ivory trade. In 1980, there were 70,000 elephants in Kenya. Now there are fewer than 16,000.

The demand for ivory on the international market had a resurgence in 1970, when the price of ivory increased. By the late 1970's, thousands of elephants have been slaughtered for trinkets - jewellery, piano keys, billiard balls - decorative items that sit on the shelf or the mantel and collect dust. It doesn't seem to me to be a cause worthy of the destruction of such a beautiful animal. We have to hope that people will simply stop buying ivory, especially in Far East countries where the ivory trade is the heaviest.

Passing Fancy – Lion Cubs and Rhino

One of the great things about lions is their collegiality. The family groups have a wonderful sense of companionship. This is perhaps best exemplified among the adolescents. They are similar in many ways to another gregarious mammal, Homo Sapiens.

Teenagers enjoy hanging around together. Sometimes they play fight, sometimes they just lounge and other times they join in some challenge to test their metal. Young lions might tackle a warthog, or try to access a tortoise for example. In this case they have heard a sound and viewed a shape moving behind the bushes, just a dash away. When they see that the shape is a black rhino they realize that any hope of a successful attack, even by three, brave, young lions is only a passing fancy.

Wildebeest at Sunset

Elephant Herd & Log

Lion and Lioness

At the Nest – Secretary Birds

“With their plumes, their long black tail feathers and their red facial skin, secretary birds are spectacular adornments of the African plains.”

A Resting Place – Cape Buffalo

The Cape buffalo is a powerful and dangerous African mammal, often mistakenly called the water buffalo. The water buffalo is a slovenly, domestic animal which plows the rice paddies of Asia. The African Cape buffalo is more like a tough, Spanish fighting bull

Growth – Nairobi

Growth is good. Growth is bad. During the 20th century we seem to have been obsessed with growth and bigger is better as virtues. But unbridled growth of almost anything can be disastrous. This especially applies to human population. It is hard on the present generation but also on future generations and especially on nature.

This view from the air of a Nairobi slum brought it home to me. Without a change in philosophy the future of human settlement will look increasingly like this. Soaring above I have painted two white-backed vultures, perhaps one of the few creatures that will be compatible with this blighted future.