Beautiful Black-and-White Watercolors Depict Children With Wild Animals

Elicia Edijanto is an Indonesia-based artist who stunningly depicts an bond between children and wild animals. She chooses to focus her artwork on animals that are normally considered “dangerous” or “aggressive” and places them in serene paintings with a trusting child. As people become more estranged in their relationship with animals and nature, seeing a trusting bond gives a sense of hope for the future of our planet and the animals in it.

A bear has no desire to hurt humans, his behavior of scavenging for food is merely misunderstood. Wolves are treated much the same way, considered a nuisance to people living in the area they once called home. Whales and elephants are associated with strength and power, capable of causing much harm. In reality, they are gentle creatures, with only the goal of living a life in nature.

Edijanto’s paintings display the gentle and misunderstood personalities many wild animals have

By juxtaposing a trusting child with large, seemingly dangerous, animals …

… she allows us to see how our relationship with animals and the natural world could and should be.

Animals are not on our planet to hurt us or cause inconvenience to humans.

They are simply here to live life, coexisting with us.

These amazing paintings remind us to always aim for a life in harmony with nature.

All image source: MyModernMet/Elicia Edijanto