Elephants   

When I first started painting, I went through period of painting elephants, a lot.  They're one of the most majestic nails on earth, extremely intelligent, caring, loving, powerful and sweet and their skin is so expressive, which is one of the reasons I like painting and drawing them.

I took photos from books and the internet and used them to paint and learn how to paint them. They didn't always work, some are terrible, but in the end I think some of them turned out OK

My first ones were these

My later ones look a bit better, I think

Its the eyes I love, and the way the skin creases and cracks, showing the shadows and light in contrast