Tiger Country, Pench, India was painted by John Dyer during his Last Chance to Paint – Land of the Tiger expeditionin the Pench Tiger Reserve, central India.
For this painting, John was given the rare opportunity to work outside the protection of a safari vehicle, accompanied by forest guards while a drone filmed overhead. Painting directly within tiger habitat allowed him to experience the landscape at ground level and to connect far more closely with the extraordinary environment he was trying to capture.
The finished painting brings together many of the defining elements of Pench. A Bengal tiger stands at the water’s edge, surrounded by the brilliant greens and blues of the dry tropical forest. Cormorants and Egrets gather around the lake and striped tiger butterflies move through the scene, creating a wonderful sense of life and movement.
The composition is full of John’s characteristic colour and rhythm, but the story behind the painting gives it an additional intensity. John completed the work after a long walk through the forest with his team and guards. Remarkably, just five minutes after they left the forest guards’ base, a tiger that had been hiding nearby emerged and crossed the very path they had taken.
That encounter captures the extraordinary reality of painting in Pench: the tiger is often present even when unseen.
Rather than presenting wildlife as separate from its surroundings, John places the tiger completely within its habitat, surrounded by water, birds, insects, trees and grasses. The painting becomes a celebration of the whole ecosystem and of the privilege — and vulnerability — of experiencing tiger country on foot.
Tiger Country, Pench, India is an intimate and vivid record of one of John Dyer’s most immersive painting experiences in the wild.
Item Information
| Description |
Framed Original Painting |
| Artist |
Cornish Artist John Dyer (born 1968) |
| Signed by the Artist |
Signed by John Dyer |
| Painting size |
12 x 12 inches |
| Medium |
Acrylic on canvas |
| Framed size |
17.5 x 17.5 inches |
| Frame type |
The St Ives style picture frame is a Renaissance-inspired cassetta frame, Italian for 'little box', featuring a white stain finish that highlights the wood grain. With a 73mm wide profile and 39mm depth, it creates a recessed central panel, perfect for a timeless, contemporary and elegant display of the painting. |
| Ready to hang |
Strung with picture cord and ready to hang |
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