“I use the metaphor of darkness… to depict the Big Question of whether or not this beautiful Amur leopard might disappear in the near future… Will it emerge from the darkness, or will the darkness swallow it up?”[1]

The words of award-winning wildlife artist, Penny Wheatley, describing just one of over fifty artworks that will be on display in her Cat Passion exhibition in London next month.

You can view the full exhibition catalogue here.

Penny, who is herself utterly passionate about the conservation of big cats, is very generously donating all proceeds from the sale of her works to Wildlife Vets International and Cheetah Conservation Fund.Our friends at the Big Cat Sanctuary are helping mastermind the exhibition, which will be open daily at Gallery Different (W1T 1DR), from the 14^th to the 18^th of November (see below for the opening times). On Saturday you will have the opportunity to meet WVI's Executive Director, Olivia Walter, and chat to the artist. Sadly this will be via Zoom as Penny's ME means she is unable to travel to London from her home and studio in the Scottish Borders.

If you are in London or close by, don’t miss this amazing opportunity to enjoy the only show of Penny’s fabulous big cat works to date.

Our Executive Director, Olivia Walter, has known Penny personally for some time and loves her distinctive and powerful style:

“Throughout the last ten years that I have known Penny, her thirst for knowledge about the existence and conservation of the Asian big cats has fed directly into the paintings she has subsequently produced. I particularly love Penny’s watercolours, where her powerful energy and creative passion pulls you into the excitement of the moment. As great fans of her work, we are therefore delighted to be a beneficiary of this stunning exhibition – Penny’s only show of paintings to date. We look forward to supporting wildlife vets working in big cat conservation in her name.”

Many of our supporters will know that following the untimely death of our founder, big cat expert Dr John Lewis, in 2020, Penny stopped all other work and threw herself into painting the stunning watercolour she entitled simply “John’s Tiger”, imagining the cat was the same huge male Amur tiger that John once treated in the wild. Fine art prints are still available to order at both full size (£165 plus p&p) and proportionally smaller (£145 plus p&p).

‍Opening times:

‍Tuesday 14th November: 10.30am - 6.00pm

Wednesday 15th November: 10.30am - 6.00pm

Thursday 16th November: 10.30am - 8.00pm

Friday 17th November: 10.30am - 6.00pm

Saturday 18th November: 11.00am - 5.00pm

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[1] Amur leopards remain Critically Endangered, although numbers have increased from an all time low of an estimated 35-40 animals in 2000 to just over 100 today.

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