African paintings - Keith McAllister | Buy African Wildlife Art

"The Brawler"

The black rhino is the more aggressive of the two species of African rhino. It is a more solitary animal which resides in areas where the savannahs meet the bush. Both species of African rhino are endangered in the wild, and many parks and reserves closely monitor the remaining few animals they have been left with. In Kenya I have had the best luck and finding the black rhino, and though both species are spectacular, for me the black rhino is the real prize on a safari.

Size: 16" x 12" (approx. 40 x 30 cm)
Location: Kenya
Species: Black Rhino
Frame: Blackened frame with a silver lining

"The Royal Symbol"

Large prides of African lions thrive in the Serengeti ecosystem, which includes the world famous Masai Mara National Park at its most northern boundary. The terrain stretches from the Tanzania Kenya border into great open savannah grasslands as it runs southward. Even the Ngorongoro crater is a pocket of this natural wealth where big game still thrives in abundance. The lion has long been the symbol of strength and power, but often it too is the emblem of royalty and empire. From Trafalgar Square in London to KwaZulu Natal the male African lion conjures up the feeling of conquest.

Size: 16" x 12" (approx. 30cm x 40cm)
Location: Northern Serengeti
Species: African Lion
Frame: Blackened frame with silver lining

"The Old Guard"

From time to time you can come across a group of bull buffalo isolating themselves from the larger herds. These bachelor groups can vary in size, from a couple of animals to a dozen or more. For me these brigadiers are the symbol of strength and power, and i give them all my respect. The African Plains Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a hugely successful animal and I enjoy painting them in various landscapes. This painting in particular is of a mucky individual surrounded by stunted palm trees not far from water.

Size: 16" x 12" (approx. 30cm x 40cm)
Location: Sand River
Species: Cape Buffalo
Frame: Blackened frame with a silver lining

"The Retired Gent"

An image from the Africa of old is seeing a real old ‘tusker’ amble through the thick grass. It is a sight which threatened to vanish, but with the protection offered to elephants today some of these old bulls are reaching a grand old age and subsequently have started showing some serious ivory. The one thing I love about painting big elephants is to put them next to the big and dramatic features in the natural landscape. Even on this relatively small canvas I could not resist the urge to through in some doom palms in the background and put this lovely animal into perspective.

Size: 16" x 12" inches (approx. 40 x 30 cm)
Location: Southern Kenya
Species: African Elephant
Frame: Black with silver lining

"Highland Red"

However deeply seeded my Celtic origins might be, and covered over by an African upbringing, it is there somewhere. Either because of this or despite it I do get a good feeling from highland scenes like this one. I walked across much of the heather covered mountains of Ireland with my uncle when I was a boy, on holiday from Kenya, and have friends in Scotland and the Isle of Aran. Some time back we even took a family road trip into the highlands. So, I thought it about time I painted something from this part of my life.

Size: 27.5 X 19.5 inches (70 X 50cm)
Location: Scottish Highlands
Species: Red Deer
Frame: NA

"Lady Killer"

This female cheetah I have painted before. She’s the same girl from ‘The Elegant Killer’, a painting which did a lot for my artistic career. It then was with great pleasure that I sketched out another composition based on the reference material I had gathered on her, and about five or six other cats I had seen on that safari.
I thought I would use some warmer colours in this painting to bring the image out a bit more and make the viewer engage with it, there being little sense of depth to the piece. It is a very in-your-face composition and the warmth of the tones bring it to the forefront. It helps, I suppose, to feminise the cat as well which helps, as I think she would look a bit butch without it.

Size: 20 X 24 inches
Location: Maasai Mara, Kenya
Species: Cheetah
Frame: NA
Available in print | See in new Window

"Tsavo Bull Elephants"

These two chaps are depicted on the water’s fringe amongst the distinctive Doom Palms of Tsavo’s Galana River. I love driving up to the Galana from Voi, in Tsavo East National Park. If I’m lucky I might bump into some elephant and turn the car engine off, to watch and listen to them in peace and quiet.  The Galana is fed by the Athi River and the River Tsavo, cutting through some great elephant country on its way to the Swahili coast.

Size: 24 X 18 inches
Location: Tsavo
Species: African Elephant
Frame: Maroon coloured frame with silver trim

Available in print | See in new Window

"On the Hot Grass"

When I found her she was lying out in the midday sun. Every now and then she would stand up and walk a few paces and flop back down again. I spent the afternoon with her and she never moved far from me or made any effort to find shade. I decided to limit my pallet for this painting to depict the sense of heat. It was an unusually wet January in the Mara, but I toned out the green and let the canvas radiate with warm yellows and browns.

Size: 24" x 20" (approx. 61cm x 51cm)
Location: Kenya
Species: Cheetah
Frame: Rustic Gold

Available in print | Cheetah Painting

"The Old Guard"

Bushbuck are one of the unsung heroes of the Central African forests. They should have been more romantically named, and then everyone would pine to see one. I love these little animals and have seen them in various riverene forests across East Africa in particular. But my most memorable encounter with one was when I was trekking with the Samburu across the flat top of mount Nyiro, Kenya. A buck saw us, made a sharp rasping noise, and turned for cover. The white tail bounced out of site as the animal characteristically bound like a swimming porpoise into the trees and bushes.

Size: 12" x 16" (approx. 40cm x 30cm)
Location: Kenya Highlands
Species: Bushbuck
Frame: Dark wood with silver inlay

"Like You Owe Him Money"

This painting was commissioned by a hunter who, like me, enjoys the phrases coined by Robert Ruarke. Throughout his carrier Ruarke was motivated by field sports but it was Africa that made the biggest impression on the writer. In one of his books he describes the look of the Cape Buffalo by saying ‘he looks at you as if you owe him money!’ The commissioner of the painting asked me to recreate that look. This was the result. If ever you want to feel uninvited in Africa hanging around with buffalo is a good place to start.  

Size: 16 X 12 inches
Location: Tanzania
Species: Cape Buffalo
Frame: NA

"Summer Rains"

The greatest place to be in June and July is in the back of a Landcruiser wrapped in a Maasai blanket as the afternoon rains begin to fall over the Mara/Serengeti plains. Trust me.
The darker colouration of the central giraffe, in this composition, tells you at a glance that he is a mature male, and I thought I would give him a companion in this painting – as a result of the landscape being too romantic for solitude, in my opinion.

Size: 27.5 X 19.5 inches (70 X 50cm)
Location: Maasai Mara
Species: Maasai Giraffe
Frame: Dark wood with silver inlay

Available in print | Art of Kenya - separate window

"..With Intent"

If I ever found a leopard looking at me this intently I would be more likely to die of fright than any potential mauling. I don’t care who you are, leopards a scary. In equal measure they are incredibly beautiful. The rich colouration in their coats and their expressiveness makes for a thing of rare splendour and grace.

Size: 16" x 12" (approx. 40 x 30 cm)
Location: Kenya
Species: African Leopard
Frame: Blackened frame with a silver lining

Available in print | Art of Kenya - separate window

"The First To Go?"

The search for Africa’s Big Five is an integral part of every safari. However, finding all five of these animals (the Elephant, Black Rhino, Lion, Leopard, and Cape Buffalo) in one trip is becoming harder and harder. This is due, for the most part, to the decrease in the number of Rhino left in Africa. As a key ingredient in some forms of eastern medicine rhino horn still fetches large amounts of money on the black market.

Size: 16" x 12" (approx. 40 x 30 cm)
Location: Kenya
Species: Black Rhino
Frame: Blackened frame with a silver lining

"Curiosity"

This is another one of my studies on leopards, based on my experiences and sketchbook work from my travels throughout Africa.

Working on these types of paintings really does lend itself to thinking up larger scaled work in the future. The lessons learned through these studies is transferable to the big paintings such as ‘Abyssinian Shadows’.

Size: 16" x 12" (approx. 40 x 30 cm)
Location: Kenya
Species: African Leopard
Frame: Blackened frame with a silver lining