I was inspired by the painting ‘Forest Fire’ by Raden Saleh during our trip to the national gallery. Born 1811 - 1880 in Indonesia, Raden Saleh was thought to have taken inspiration from the environment he grew up in, being well known for incorporating wildlife and scenic views in his paintings. At the age of 39 he earned the title of King’s Painter and certainly proved that he deserved it. I was drawn to the unusually bright colours cast with dark shadows and the fierce animals all with different emotions.

I liked the dominance and triumph the bull seemed to show and the eagle that was flying away, making its escape from the fire. I used the murky colours in the original painting as the base colours for mine, keeping the almost tense feeling of the painting. I saw what I think most people would see, violence, but I also saw a sense of freedom which I wanted to include. However, from the violence aspect I thought of war which led me to wonder how many people worldwide are affected by war. The number 14 came from the fact that currently 14% of people globally have been affected by war, which is over 1.1billion people. The number two comes from the fact that over 2 billion people have been affected by war. Scratch marks running through the painting show the wounds that several now wear because of the violence. Jumping back to the bull, I wanted to incorporate the ‘spirit’ of the bull, the dominance that it left and the sense of freedom that it might have felt. A green island in the background represents the future that many hope to find, the big city. My title comes from the freedom and relief that my character feels and hopes to resonate with the audience, escaping from war, mentally or physically.