Painting rhinos will always be a passion. I was recently commissioned to paint a mother and baby white rhino that once finished would fly to its forever home in Munich, Germany. The colours were specified and the size was 120 cm X 100 cm to fit a large empty wall in the clients living room.

The canvas was prepared with an underpainting and then a heavy structure gel was applied with a palette knife to give texture to the background. Once the gel dried the paint was applied to the background and built up in layers to give an effect of scrub and bush.

Once the bulk of the background was completed I focussed on painting the rhinos with a large wide brush and a limited palette of a custom black created with Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber, N3 & N2 Grey, Paynes Grey, Burnt Sienna, White, Buff Titanium and Naples Yellow.