Bongo Bongo

And not the character who used to be King of Gabon. Truly. The Bongo is an antelope of West Africa, of the most intense russet colour with extraordinary markings and curved horns only surpassed by the Kudu. There is a Bongo at Werribee zoo - he used to be at the Melbourne Zoo and was my favourite spot for sketching. I stalked the poor beast.

The Bongo is exceptionally shy, and hides in clearing in the forest. After first painting a pair of Bongo I realised the image needed more, a curtain of which to peer through. The animals on the foreground canvases are by no means all of West African origin - but they are stimulating to draw and paint. The patterns that coat them in tiny detail are from their lands of origin, and they all help to give depth to the home of the Bongo.