Tropicana May-June 2023 #148 The Passion Issue

TROPICANA MAGAZINE
In her
WILDEST
DREAMS
Rachel Gray’s passion for photographing
and painting wildlife in their natural
habitat is sometimes a risky business,
but she persists and produces
impressive artworks
She has had close encounters with Komodo dragons,
snakes, hyenas, hippos, elephants, warthogs, porcupines
and “one really active” water buffalo, but it’s all in a
day’s work for Rachel Gray.
“I was taking photos of several impalas grazing and from
the corner of my eye, I noticed in the distance a water
buffalo, with a flick of his ears, he suddenly came barrelling
towards us. We had to run back to the jeep - luckily the
water buffalo had lost interest by that point but it was
enough to give me a scare!” recalls the digital artist.
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She paints using her own photography as a reference
and tries to see the animals in the wild as much as
possible. This has led to many treks in the jungles of
Malaysia, including Taman Negara, Pahang, where she
even slept in a cave in hopes to catch a glimpse of the
wildlife at sunrise.
“In the dim light of the cave, I saw a rather big snake
which was busy gulping down a bat – this was some
real Nat Geo stuff! Fair to say I didn’t hang around.”