Tiger

I was allowed into the Tiger cage at the Welsh Mountain Zoo to draw at close quarters using the digital projection technique. It was a fantastic hour. The head keeper was with me and we had agreed that at the first sign of any distress the Tiger would be let out. He had just been fed so I don’t think he was viewing me as seconds. The space was very constricted but just big enough. Bryn the Tiger settled quite quickly and even seemed to enjoy being in the space with me. He was calm except when I moved or changed the paper or water. He then let me know he was watching me with a bit of a roar or growl. The keeper said he wasn’t being particularly aggressive, that it was just ‘Tiger’. Perhaps because I have lived with cats all my life I wasn’t phased, they really are big cats. He was very co-operative and allowed me to draw for an hour before letting us know he had had enough, at which point we let him out straight away. I did a few drawings, I’m happy with two or three and edited this film to demonstrate the process and share with you the excitement of being this close, this intimate with a tiger.

See the film Tiger on the artworks page.

Tiger

My new, very personal film, Watch Your Back is now available to view on the Artwork page. The performance took place in the middle of the night. I worked instinctively then formed the piece through the editing process.

Watch Your Back 2010