Emma Swift’s oil painting African Elephant (above), won The Artist Award in the 2022 Sketch for Survival competition organised by the charity Explorers Against Extinction. The charity helps raise awareness about species extinction and habitat loss while also raising vital funds for nominated frontline conservation projects through the sale of artworks. The Artist Award winner was chosen by Dr Sally Bulgin, editor of The Artist magazine – for the artist who, in her opinion, best captured the spirit of the Sketch for Survival initiative in a two-dimensional drawing or painting in any medium. Writing about her winning choice, Sally explains: ‘I love the painterly, expressive style of the work, with this magnificent animal emerging from an abstract background, and the contrast between this and the detailed rendition of the elephant’s face and trunk. For me it’s a positive painting that helps connect the viewer to the power and beauty of the natural world and our precious wildlife.’