Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25037
Oily and $uzi tracked wild dogs with Tony Fitzjohn, who's trying to save the animal in the Mkomazi Game Reserve. The wanted to paint them not just because they're endangered, but because they're misunderstood. Shot by farmers, killed by poachers, disease-ridden from contact with domesticated dogs, these animals are much maligned. "They're affable with people, generally. They're beautiful. .. but they're killers," explains Suzi. "They call them land piranha," says Oily. "They're the most efficient predators on African land." "The packs disembowel their prey while they're still alive," adds Suzi. "If they wanted to, they could do the same to us." Part of their art, then, is to decide what and when to paint while remaining extremely aware of the dangers in their environment. Linger too long in a dreamy, artistic moment of contemplation and they might not be around to paint their next piece. 'During the pair's search for wild African dogs, they encountered a black mamba. "Its head was as big as my fist," describes Suzi. "Then it started coming after us." A shot from the game warden's gun barely affected it. Another shot in the head, and it was like a bad horror movie. The thing wouldn't die. Even after it was chopped to bits, its parts still writhed. OCTOBER 1996 In winter, male polar bears migrate by the thousands to Hudson Bay, an unforgiving environĀ ment of ice, bleak tundra, brutal blizzards and twisting southeast wind. "The most feared predator on land is the polar bear," says Oily, but then again, he says every big beast is the most feared. Most feared or not, this journey is a challenge in every way. "You're incredibly aware of vulnerability when you're standing there drawing [them]." says Suzi. Part of their process requires that they keep their sanity during times of stress. They have to recall the look, the feel, even the humor of frightening experiences so they can place them on canvas later. They use drama as inspiration where more timid souls might yield to a traumatic block or a mad dash to a psychologist. "The wind," says Oily, "ripped one of our pieces in half on the first day. [Then] our paint crystallized. Yet we found our first polar bear within two hours. We were traveling in an old school bus with our guides Paul Ratson and Brian Ladoon when this cheeky adolescent bear charges up and starts pushing open the bus door [that] we're frantically trying to keep shut. Finally, it gets inside the vehicle and Paul shoots it twice with a cracker shell, a fake shell, just to scare it. " After returning twice, it left them alone.