Indian Summer
1994
oil, 29" x 44"

Apart from the “King of the Beasts” lion, the tiger is the one animal that instantly springs to mind when one thinks of the world’s largest predators. The tiger has played a major part in the legend and history of the East, and I well remember as a boy eagerly reading the books of Jim Corbett, Rudyard Kipling and John Masters. During my research for this painting, I visited the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh state, India. Preferred mode of transportation in the Park: an elephant with howdah (platform) and mahout (driver) on top. From this perch, I gazed with awe and admiration at two wild Bengal tigers—a female and her almost-mature son, not more than ten yards away.