As I looked at my paper, covered in loose watercolor washes, lines and splashes, I saw a lion, dozing under a tree. (Check out my previous post What Do You See? to see why I painted the washes without knowing what they would become.) Painting like this, with no specific species or composition in mind, […]

‘What do you see’ is the question I ask myself when I’ve painted watercolor washes but haven’t decided what the subject of my painting will be. Why would I want to start a painting without knowing what the subject is? Some days I need to just get in the studio and paint, without spending hours […]

So, you finished your painting. Now paint it again. I’ve seen and heard this advice several times but often ignored it, not wanting to recreate a painting unless I felt it was a disaster. But now I know better and have learned that ‘paint it again’ is excellent advice.   Here is a plein air […]

2002 will be the year of Very Peri paintings (and Very Peri everything else) because Pantone chose Very Peri as it’s 2022 color of the year.  As you can see, I’ve been painting with this, and similar hues for a long time – knowing that the day would come when my paintings would be fashionable! […]

The moose of Rocky Mountain National Park provided a wonderful spectacle during my recent visit. One evening we were leaving Sprague Lake, when a sudden commotion ahead of us turned out to be a mother moose and 2 calves rushing towards the water – so we also rushed back to the lake. They had run […]

What could be better than sketching elk in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, during the rutting season?  I decided to go straight for watercolor, with no drawing underneath. Painting this way definitely works best with animals who have recognizable silhouettes, and the elk were perfect. I started with the head or body, making sure this […]

The pandemic has been prevented me from traveling to Africa recently, but remembering this leopard in Timbavati can still make me smile!    Look at that beautiful shape and the amazing camouflage. Just wow! Alison www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Inspiration – it’s a funny thing. Normally I would argue that an artist should get into the studio and paint, in order to generate their own inspiration, but recently I’ve found myself avoiding the studio and feeling uninspired and unmotivated. What? Really? Yes! I don’t enjoy working from photos and haven’t been to Africa since […]

Honey badger meets African civet. What happens next? My copy of The Safari Companion by Richard Estes describes the African civet as “a remarkably unspecialized, basic sort of mammal” that “eats whatever is digestible”, is “poorly equipped to climb or dig efficiently”, and is “relatively slow-moving”. That all makes it sound very unthreatening, but as […]

It seems that every camp comes with a hornbill in African reserves. You only know you’ve truly settled in when you see one (or more likely several) of these big-beaked birds bouncing around. They come in different sizes and colors but the 2 you are likely to see in camps in southern Africa are the […]

I realized recently that I sing when I paint. But first, I talk to myself. It seems that I talk when drawing, and sing when painting. Of course!  I talk to myself when I’m figuring out my sketch, looking at the light and shapes and getting them down on paper. I use lots of phrases […]

For me, black-backed jackals are synonymous with the Kalahari Desert. Their jaunty trot carries them here and there within their territories as they expertly hunt and scavenge, surviving in one of the toughest places on Earth. Then night falls, and their howls pierce the darkness – a beautiful sound, but sharp and cold as the […]

On this World Wildlife Day lets look back at some of the good news stories about wildlife from 2020. Yes, there really were some!! China gave pangolins their highest status of protection, and removed them from their list of approved traditional medicine ingredients. Yay! Colorado voters approved a measure to bring back gray wolves, after […]

If you spend enough time in the African bush, it’s inevitable that you will come across a carcass and, if you’re lucky, hyenas and vultures. Finding a carcass can provide amazing sketching opportunities, as long as you can sit upwind! Here’s a video I took in South Africa of a hyena and vultures feeding on […]

Its World Hippo Day! And who wouldn’t want to celebrate hippos – those jolly, rotund, playful, animal caricatures?  I’ve seen an immature hippo playing in a tiny waterhole with a stick, ducking it under, rolling on it, retrieving it, even tossing it in the air, and obviously having great fun. But, as is usually the […]

I recently completed this commissioned painting of Kenyan fruit-eating bats flying at night. They are circling a bunch of figs which is painted in the shape of Africa from the Gall-Peters map. As you might guess, I didn’t have sketches of bats to rely on for my painting, so I asked permission to use photos […]

I tidied a corner of my studio recently and found this piece of writing: “A watercolor wash is beautiful to look at and satisfying to produce. You take a large brush, submerge it in watery paint then drag the brush across the surface of the dry, dimpled paper until the paint thins and the band […]

Following on from my previous posts, Boraro – Painted Dogs and Three Painted Dogs is Not a Crowd, here is Three is a Crowd-Pleaser. I didn’t originally intend to write a series of 3 posts, but after a little research I found that we humans like thinking in patterns and 3 is the lowest number […]

I’ve often seen painted dogs in threes, particularly in the Kalahari. 3 seems an ideal number to include in a painting. It shows multiple animals living together as a pack, without including so many animals that it becomes distracting. My previous post about Boraro – Painted Dogs (which means 3 in Setswana) is a perfect […]

Boraro means ‘three’ in Setswana, the main language spoken in Botswana. My painting compositions often contain 3 animals because somehow it just works (more about this in my next post “Three is not a Crowd”). A couple of days after I signed this painting, I decided it wasn’t finished. So I added an extra wash […]

We’re now taking bookings for my 2021 Art Safari.  There are 6 spaces available and we’ll be staying at the wonderful Kambaku Safari Lodge in Timbavati, South Africa. (Both my 2020 safaris are full but have been postponed until 2021.) The dates are August 26-30. To whet your appetite, here are a few photos from […]

On Tuesday we discovered that our beautiful German Shepherd, Chase, had an inoperable tumor on his spleen which had ruptured and spread to his liver. Within an hour of being diagnosed we had to put our lovely boy to sleep. Some of you reading this will have known him. He could be cuddly and loving […]

Every month I make a short video featuring paintings, sketches, studio shots & snippets from my life. May was still a lockdown month but the pandemic was overshadowed by the callous killing of George Floyd, and when I looked at the dates, I found there were long stretches where I hadn’t recorded anything. Here’s May […]

We need to support people and wildlife on Endangered Species Day. Everywhere people are suffering physically, financially and mentally from the pandemic and obviously this includes many Africans who work in tourism, wildlife research or conservation. Much vital conservation work involves people rather than wildlife. Reducing human-wildlife conflict, conducting anti-poaching patrols, or helping rural people […]