Once upon a time, wild tigers were a big threat to Koreans. There are many folk tales about tigers in Korea, and tigers are always regarded as an intimidating but silly creature in the stories. Although the Korean government announced there were no more wild tigers left in South Korea, some people still want to believe that some tigers are still alive in a deep forest. While I was painting this tiger, all the tiger stories that I have heard came into my mind. It makes me happy to believe, like when I was child, that there still might be tigers alive somewhere in a bamboo forest.

I am not very good at watercolor, but I think I am slowly getting better considering my first one. (I started painting 3 years ago.) I refered to several tiger pictures, but none of them exactly matches my painting. I used them as a "reference".
I was not planning to paint the background in the beginning. But while I was painting, I wanted to describe the image that I have in my mind about the Korean tiger tales. So I added the bamboo.
Size 17X16.5 2002