Artist's Note:

This was my first successful attempt at creating an engaging animal portrait. I found there to be an element of passion and happiness in the dog’s eyes and expression. I aimed to portray this as best I could through my painting of it, to capture that feeling of being wild and free. In painting it I tried to achieve a sort of soft, dreamy feeling in the work to help push that joyful feeling of being free from the cares and stress that plague mankind in their day to day lives. I find african wild / painted dogs to be fascinating looking animals, and most likely will paint more of them in the future.

Living in a range of territories across Africa, they are carnivorous, pack animals which operate in groups of up to 20 dogs. Led by an alpha male, and an alpha female, they hunt as a pack to take down animals such as antelopes and warthogs, with a higher success rate than most other similar predators due to their solid teamwork. They can run at speeds of up to 41 miles per hour, for distances of up to 3 miles. They truly are impressive predators. For more information about African Wild Dogs, see this article.