Allegory

A twist on a tail...0r, how the cheetah lay down with the lion. Years ago I fell hopelessly, precipitously, in love with a girl that broke my heart because there was no way we would ever be together. She was slim, with amazing eyes and the longest legs I had ever seen.

I had been allowed to sit with a cheetah in the Orphanage in Nairobi Game Park, where from time to time they would receive exotic pets from Americans, and, over time, try to rewild them. As I tickled her under her chin she purred and snuggled up against me. Clearly she had enjoyed being a pet. From then on, I kept an eye out for cheetahs in that park and at Amboseli. I have an amazing b& w photo I took of a cheetah lying under a wait a bit bush in grass that was no higher than my ankles and yet she had almost totally disappeared, so effective was that camouflage of very pronounced spots.

Then recently I had been asked to provide some artwork for a new oratorio about the creation - not quite Handle for the 21st century, but very ambitious, synchronising images, readings and images. So my mind had been running on Biblical themes and I remembered having being fascinated by the Holy Mountain where the Lion lay down with the Sheep, and so... "Allegory" came about.

Only the cheetah's back legs are extended for the sheep to rest against. Th ones use to knock prey over are tucked up under her. I used an Agassi sheep for the cheetah's unlikely visitor, as this is the commonest breed in the Middle East, curled up into a nice fluffy bundle.

I put them under an olive tree rather than a thorn bush. Olives too get Biblical citations. The ripening fruit would produce dark spots that would rhyme with the spots on the cheetah and these could in turn suggest spots of light on the ground around the animals where it had been scuffed up by their hooves and paws. And of course, an olive branch as a symbol of peace is well established in Western imaginations.

I have kept to a trio of colours, here, green,yellow and brown. The image leaks into unpainted canvas at the corners.

50 X 81 cm, oil on canvas

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