Sarah HIllock, Painting Wildlife in the City

Sarah Hillock's latest work depicts some of the animal kingdom's city dwellers.

On raccoons, Sarah says "I see them as a symbol of tenacity and cleverness. They manage to exist in a human made landscape and thrive among us. That's pretty cool. In some ways they reflect us.  Some people have really cool stories about raising raccoons or befriending them.  And don't forget Farley Mowet lived with raccoons as well as owls!"

"Pigeons can hit a top speed of 140 km per hour being the eighth fastest bird in the world. And they're pretty!" Sarah mentions that the only reason many people don't like them is because there are so many of them and they can make a mess in our cities. "That's really our fault though for breeding so many of them, and bringing them everywhere we go. They aren't a native bird to North America we brought them from Europe." 

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"Pigeons are also a tenacious bird. Think of the history! Pigeons can fly super fast and are super smart. They have an amazing sense of direction, which humans used to take advantage of to send messages. They are the original twitter!"

When used as a form of communication, people would raise a number of pigeons so they knew their home and then would take several with them when travelling. If they wanted to send a report home, the pigeon would be released carrying a letter and will fly home.