Fallow Deer

Ears snapping forward like delicate antennae, the small knot of young fallow deer froze, half-chewed stems of sweet meadow grass still clamped in their jaws. Across the damp pasture, two brightly jacketed ramblers had just breached the crest of the hill, their heavy boots thudding in an alien, rhythmic cadence. Behind the deers' wide, unblinking dark eyes, a rapid and primal calculus was unfolding. Their minds swung like pendulums between youthful curiosity and the ancient, inherited imperative of flight: Are these noisy, upright creatures a threat, or merely passing shadows? Beneath their dappled, sun-warmed coats, every muscle coiled into a tight spring, waiting for the invisible tripwire of a sudden movement or a sharp scent on the breeze to break their breathless, statue-like stillness and send them bounding toward the safety of the treeline.

Original available for purchase:

31 x 41 CM pencil drawing, framed and behind glass. £245