BOLD, brilliant and breathtaking. That's one way to describe Emma Bowring's latest masterpiece of bull elephant Matt - The Long Ranger.

Emma's love for animals and passion for wildlife has taken her on a new adventure. After swapping a career in retail to work in art, Emma is capturing the beauty of wildlife in stunning works of art – and all for a good cause.

This weekend, Emma is unveiling Matt – The Long Ranger, a magnificent painting of the beautiful bull elephant that recently captured the nation in the BBC documentary Nature’s Epic Journeys.

The painting, which took about 150 hours to create, is being unveiled on Saturday, May 28 at Edwards & Parr gallery in Lyme – coinciding with Dorset Art Weeks.

Emma said: “I always imagined that I would work with animals in some way.

“About five years ago I had time for a hobby for the first time really in my life, and my husband suggested I try a bit of drawing, as he knew I always loved it at school.

“With my love of wildlife, it was just the natural thing to want to draw – I think you need to draw something that you love to look at.

“I began with graphite pencils, then tried oils and really loved them.”

As just a hobby, Emma said it probably would have petered out after a while, but after she donated a painting of a tiger cub to The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and it raised £500, it gave her the idea that she could help wildlife.

Emma said: “I began working on my painting using all the spare time I had. I was entering work into exhibitions that helped raise funds for animal charities."

Emma and her husband moved to the area 13 years ago and now live just outside Lyme Regis in Membury.

She said: “It is a love of animals that inspires me to paint. The whole drive behind it is to use my work wherever I can to raise funds.

“My favourite painting has to be Matt. With elephants being one of my favourite animals, and with Matt having such a wonderful story, I have such admiration for him. I felt absolutely honoured to have painted him.”

All of Emma's original wildlife oil paintings are sold with a donation to an animal welfare charity.

50 per cent of the money for the painting is going to Save the Elephants, and a further donation to one of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation’s elephant projects.

n Matt – The Long Ranger, on display at Edwards & Parr in Lyme Regis from May 28. The gallery is opening its doors also for Dorset Art Weeks, running from May 28 to June 12.