Ivor has left the easel

So here he is... finished.. finally! Queue the fanfare, drum roll etc...

It has taken a while to get there, but hopefully the trials of the wrinkles has made it worth it. 

I am quite pleased with him: but as always an artist tends to always see what they could have done better perhaps, do differently. That I think is a good thing... keeps us striving to do better next time. That said I am tending to think this could be one of the main pieces for the show.. one of my best to date for this exhibition.

He is painted in oils on a 18" x 24" canvas and will be hung without a frame, as was always the plan. I want that contemporary feel for this piece, that I think frameless sometimes gives.

I had seen Ivor during my stay in the Okavango Delta... he is a very handsome young bull and was one of the bulls recorded in the work the Elephants For Africa research charity had been doing in that area for almost a decade. I asked Dr Kate Evans about him...He was first seen and recorded by the researchers on Valentine's Day 2009 when he was estimated to be 15 years old and appeared to be going through independence as after the initial sighting when he was with two other young bulls (two years his senior) and a female group, he was seen mainly with other bulls. His nature with the researchers was described as very sweet and easy to be around, never having charged (mock or otherwise) them.

When I saw him he appeared to be alone, but other bulls could well have been nearby. He would have been around 17-18 years old by then and was feeding in an area that was quite busy animal wise that day. Along with him there were a few giraffe, a troop of baboons and a kudu bull with several females ... all within very close quarters to each other. It was a lovely sighting as we watched Ivor (as a focal was done on him) and the others for over half an hour.