This is a painting of 2 hunters, a father and daughter team. There is a good story to this painting. This man’s wife had been saving and saving to give her husband the gift of his dreams, to go hunt a lion in Africa. She gave him the gift for his birthday, but before they could leave, she died unexpectedly. At her funeral, someone came up to him and asked if he were still going…his daughter, the woman in the painting, came up and said YES HE’S GOING! She went with him. The trip was in her good memory.
As for the lion. I LOVE working with Wildlife Images, the people who comissioned me to do this painting. They are a taxidermy company in Scottsdale who specialize in big game. For me as an artist, it is the opportunity to see in person and touch nearly any amimal I want to, and photograph them in the light I like. That and Craig, Scooter and Debra are awesome to work with. I usually paint murals for their trophy rooms, but like this, I do other stuff for them too. One reason I like these guys is because they are 100% legal when it comes to hunting. I saw the last episode of BBC’s Planet Earth the other day and there was a part on hunting big game like this. Hunting is used to HELP the populations of not only the locals, but the animals themselves. When food is scarce and the animal is faced with starvation and overpopulation, hunting permits are sold. Well…watch the show. It’s rather awesome.
Tags: africa, african lion, animal conservation, Arizona, Arizona mural, art, BBC, canvas, crocodile, elephant, Hutchins, Juliana Hutchins, Julie Hutchins, landscape, lion, Lion Hunters, mural, oil, oil painting, painting, phoenix, Planet Earth, Prescott Arizona muralist, scottsdale arizona, wildlife images, Xanadu Gallery