Some places don’t just inspire—they awaken something in you. For me, Africa was one of those places.
The moment I stepped off the plane, I felt it: that grounding, ancient energy that only a few places in the world seem to hold. It was like coming home to somewhere I’d never been. I’ve felt it before—in Florence, in Santa Fe—but in Africa, the feeling was different. It was older. Deeper.
That trip became the foundation for what is now known as my Safari Series—a collection of intimate wildlife paintings created in my West Palm Beach studio using sketches, memories, and thousands of photographs taken on location.
I spent days immersed in the landscape: watching elephants graze, observing zebras and giraffes moving in pairs, and simply sitting still—allowing the rhythm of the wild to wash over me. You could spend an entire day just watching baby elephants. They don’t even look like they’re from this planet—curious, clumsy, their trunks constantly exploring. Joyful.
Like with all my work, I began by sketching in notebooks and writing reflections—often with coffee in the morning or an aperitivo in the late afternoon. It’s how I process visual memory, grounding each image in emotion before it ever reaches the canvas.
Back in Florida, I started building out the Safari Series on my signature raw Belgian linen. I began with the bull elephant—a powerful figure I had dreamed of painting for years. Then came zebras and giraffes. But rather than painting them like textbook wildlife studies, I wanted to capture small moments: the nuzzle of two zebras, a bird perched casually on a back, the natural intimacy between animals.
Many of these works are designed to be modular—you can hang one on its own, or group them as diptychs, triptychs, even full mural-style walls. Each one is a fragment of a larger story.
Then came the gold leaf. As I added 24-karat gold medallions behind the animals—similar to what I use in my figurative works—a sacredness emerged. The medallions became symbolic: a rising sun, a protective halo, a sacred moon.
This series isn’t finished. I have thousands of references, and I know I’ll return to Africa again. There’s more to explore—different regions, different species, different moments of stillness and awe.
Because this isn’t just about painting animals. It’s about painting connection—to place, to nature, to something far older than ourselves.
Explore Sean Rush’s Safari Series in person at the Sean Rush Art & Home private gallery on Antique Row in West Palm Beach by reaching out at https://seanrush.com/contact-us/
Or view available works online at https://seanrush.com/
