Field Sketches Archives - Alison Nicholls

Category Archives: Field Sketches

When in doubt, choose change.

You know that feeling when you find an artist whose work you love, and then they start changing direction, and you’re not so enthralled by the new work? You wish they’d just carry on creating the work you loved. But if an artist never changes, then they have either stopped learning and experimenting, or they’ve stopped caring – and either way their art will eventually stagnate.

Older artworks in pastel and on yupo paper.

I’ve been painting African subject matter for almost 20 years now, and here are some of the changes I’ve made during that time.

I began, as many artists do, by creating realistic studio art, including both animals and landscapes in watercolor.
In the studio, landscapes gradually disappeared from my work and instead my animal subjects became immersed in watercolor washes.
I became bolder with my color choices (I went a bit over-board with color on occasions if I’m honest).
My experiments with color turned me towards pastel, and I spent a couple of years working in both pastel and watercolor. Eventually I decided to focus on just one medium, and of course I chose watercolor.
I started drawing animals from life in pencil, adding watercolor washes afterwards.
I made a conscious effort to loosen up as I began to understand animal anatomy.
In the studio I started using my sketches as the ideas behind my paintings.
I began limiting my color palette to 3 or 4 colors in each painting.
I started a series of conservation-themed paintings.

Recent field watercolor and older lion demonstration drawing.

I started sketching and painting people – a scary prospect but one I now thoroughly enjoy.
I investigated new painting surfaces and mediums. For a couple of years I painted only on watercolor canvas in fluid acrylics.
I spent more time sketching & painting from life in Africa and started using pen for my drawings, with watercolor washes on top.
Back in the studio I tried to replicate the life drawing I loved by creating daily sketches, lasting 10 minutes each. These were often a mix of pen and watercolor on yupo paper.
I found a stack of heavier watercolor paper and realized I’d forgotten how much fun it was to paint on a heavier paper, so I threw myself back into stretching watercolor paper and using watercolor paints.
I started painting watercolor landscapes again, sometimes including wildlife and sometimes pure landscape.

Until I wrote this, I had no idea I had made so many changes over the years. I feel like I learn something, forget it and rediscover it again a few years later. I’ve come full circle. When in doubt, definitely choose change!

Conservation themed art and a recent giraffe watercolor.

Let me know how your art has changed or, if you are not an artist, how your taste for art has changed.
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

“When in doubt, choose change” is a quote by Hong Kong actress Lily Leung.

Now Paint It Again

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 watercolor (painted from life outdoors) created as part of my Painting 10573 project. It was early afternoon and bitterly cold outside, so I sat in my car to paint, but I had started later than I planned so I found the shadows racing across the snow before I even completed the simple pencil drawing.

January Snow, watercolor from life, 11×14″

I completed the painting in one and a half hours, which was fast considering the watercolor was taking a very long time to dry. When I finished, I wasn’t sure how successful the painting was and wondered if it was a bit messy and rushed. The next day I looked at it with fresh eyes and realized it was quite lively, full of light, and had accurately captured the feeling of a really cold, bright day. Although I liked the sketchy quality of the piece, I also felt the composition could be simplified to create a lovely studio watercolor, so I decided to paint it again. Here’s the result:

January Snow 2, studio watercolor 10×15″

This time I simplified the wash behind the house and made no attempt to define specific trees in the background. I also simplified the distant areas of snow, making the road less visible and highlighting the snow-laden hedge. Once again, I think there are areas that worked well and areas I was disappointed in, specifically that the shadow of the foreground tree is too wide and the long blue shadows in the snow on the right seem to come out of nowhere.
So, the next day I decided to paint it again.

January Snow 3, studio watercolor 10×15″

Much of the painting was improved in this version. I used a warmer color palette and softened the silhouette of the lone tree, so it didn’t dominate the foreground so completely. However, I had reduced the lovely effect of the snow-laden hedge by painting too much hedge and not leaving enough snow visible. And although I like the warmer color palette, it meant I lost the feeling of bitter cold and the stark shadows from the first painting.

I might paint it again, and I’m sure the 4th version will also have it’s own distinct charms and annoyances. While I prepare my paper, I’d be interested to know which version you prefer and why?
Alison

Moose of Rocky Mountain National Park

The moose of Rocky Mountain National Park provided a wonderful spectacle during my recent visit.

Watercolor silhouettes of moose, sketched from life in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, Sept 2021.

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 beside the boardwalk to the far end of the lake (probably giving a few visitors a fright in the process) and we found them in the water, caught in the last light of day.

Moose in Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colordao. Photos by Alison & Nigel Nicholls.

The 2nd occasion we saw moose was also at Sprague Lake. This time it was a female and calf, and a young male. Soon they were joined by a much larger male and the younger male retreated. They were right at the edge of the water so although the light was fading, I still had perfect silhouettes to sketch. Blue and purple seemed the most appropriate colors for the situation!

Watercolor silhouettes of moose bull, created from life, in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, by Alison Nicholls, September 2021.

These were painted directly in watercolor, with no preliminary drawing. I’ve never sketched moose before and was constantly convinced I’d made their faces too long and their chins too pronounced, but gradually I got used to their strange anatomy. Although it was getting darker and my fingers were getting increasingly cold, I kept on sketching because I knew this was an amazing opportunity that I may not see again!

Next time – Rocky Mountain landscapes.
Take care
Alison

www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park

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 is correct before adding the antlers as the finishing touch. The antlers are complex shapes and even a slight change in the angle of the elk’s head gives you a totally different view of them, so I had to concentrate on sketching exactly what I saw, even if it looked strange and I couldn’t really tell one antler from the other. Working in just 2 colors was very effective for the elk with their darker necks and heads and paler bodies.

Watercolor sketches from life of elk bulls by Alison Nicholls Sept 2021.

The elk bugles – high-pitched calls you wouldn’t expect from a male deer – carried eerily through the trees. One very chilly morning, before the sun warmed the valleys, 6 or 7 bulls bugled at each other, approaching from all directions to try their luck in stealing some cows from a bull with a large harem of females. The smaller bulls (with 4 or 5 tines – points – on each antler) didn’t try to take on the bigger bulls, they all just hung around the edges adding to the tension and hoping that in the chaos they could possibly snatch a female. Fights break out when 2 well-matched bulls encounter each other, and we could antlers crashing together as the big bulls fought among the trees.

Top row: 2 big bull elk & 1 interested bystander. Bottom row: bull elk with harem, tired bull resting his head.

Its an exhausting time for the bulls, even when they’re not actively fighting, because they are in a constant state of alert, trying to gain, or keep, their harem. They barely have time to eat, and they expend a lot of energy at a time of year when they need to be building up their reserves to get them through the winter. As a result, some of them will die during the winter from starvation, while others may die due to injuries received during the rut. The sleeping bull shown above had a tine from another elk lodged in his neck right behind his ear. It stuck out about 4 inches. Imagine the force needed to break a piece of an antler and then have it remain stuck in your neck. He seemed OK, but it can’t be comfortable. I’m sure if he could talk he’d just be saying “you should see the other guy”. It didn’t seem to be affecting his ability to keep other bulls away from his harem of females.

Apart from the elk, there were many other attractions in and around Rocky Mountain National Park, including moose and of course, stunning landscape.
More about those next time.
Alison

www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

What do I Sing when I Paint?

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 like ‘Right, let’s see, what’s next?’.

My setup for painting watercolors in my car. If the weather is good, I sit outside instead.

It seems that I sing (or hum, as there are rarely words) when I’m painting, especially when working on detail. I’ve been sketching in my own neighborhood recently and it’s been cold, so I’ve been working from my car. So what I sing is likely to be whatever I last heard on the radio. If that last song was something particularly appalling, I might have to leave the radio on, until I hear something better. Interestingly, I don’t sing-along when the radio is on – I only sing when the radio is off. If I can’t get a song out of my head and want a new one, I often go to something by my all-time favorite band – The Waterboys.

Of course sometimes I leave the radio on (not the engine, just the radio) but it automatically turns off after an hour (you get to know these features of your vehicle when you sit in it to sketch). I turn it back on. Another hour goes by and it turns off again. I’m usually nearly finished by then, but it takes me a little while to pack up. Then I drive home. Or, as happened a couple of weeks ago, I try to drive home and find the car battery is totally dead. This shouldn’t happen from 2 hours of radio use, but it did. So at that point my singing turned into talking again – but with a much more aggravated tone!

Keep on singing, humming or whatever it is that you don’t realize you are doing.
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Hyenas and Vultures

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 a dead zebra. Most of the vultures are white-backed but you may see a larger, paler bird, which is a Cape vulture (when the vultures are all over the carcass, look for it standing on the left).

I would happily sit and sketch beside a carcass all day (or until the wind shifts) but usually I’m traveling with other people and weirdly, many of them would rather see a live animals than dead ones. Ah well…

This is the sketch I created after I finished taking the video. Spotted Hyenas (there were 2 at one stage) and White-backed Vultures, watercolor on paper 11×14″

Just for the record, spotted hyenas are very good hunters and are not the cowardly scavengers they are often made out to be – they are one of animals I most look forward to seeing when I’m in the bush. Vultures are true scavengers, feeding only on carrion, but they too are an absolutely necessary part of the food chain. Without vultures, rotting carcasses would pollute waterways and spread disease. In recent years there have been devastating incidents where carcasses have been laced with poisons and in some instances over a hundred vultures (plus hyenas, jackals, raptors and numerous other species) have been killed. Poachers may poison carcasses to actively rid the skies of vultures (whose circling can alert anti-poaching units to the presence of poached animals) or farmers may poison a carcass to kill predators who threaten their livestock. The use of vulture parts in traditional medicine is also a threat, as are collisions with electrical cables. So think better of the vulture – it’s existence saves lives, even if it eats the dead.

To learn more about the vultures of southern Africa, visit Project Vulture.

Join me for more sketches and stories soon.
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Three is a Crowd-Pleaser

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 we consider a pattern (if something happens once we think it’s chance, if it happens twice it’s coincidence, but if it happens 3 times we think of it as a pattern). So maybe my series of 3 posts is not an accident afterall. As IQ Doodle School’s post explains, the Rule of Three is part of “how we think, make sense of, and cluster information”. Groups of 3 are common in our language (ready, steady, go), music (choruses often occur 3 times), plays (3-act structure), art (rule of thirds) and film-making (trilogies).

Rule of Thirds grid is useful in art & photography to create interesting compositions.

In art you’ll often come across the Rule of Thirds grid. The idea is to divide your canvas into 9 equal sections and use the lines and intersections to help create a more interesting composition. For example, in landscape paintings you will often see the horizon line one-third or two-thirds of the way up the canvas, rather than half-way. Or, if your painting doesn’t have a horizon line (mine often don’t) then you can use the red dot intersections as guides for where to place items of interest. If you look at my paintings, you’ll see that the animals who are the focus of attention are usually left or right of center and often high up or low down on the canvas (close to the red dot intersections on the grid). After a while this becomes second nature so you don’t even think of the grid when you compose a painting.

Trotting, painted dogs, acrylic by Alison Nicholls

In case you’re not convinced, here are 3 more interesting sets of 3’s:
I often use only three colors in a painting. There are 3 paragraphs in this blog post. And African wild dogs have tri-colored coats!

Stay well
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

2021 Art Safari

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 the 2019 Kambaku Art Safaris. See full details here.

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The 2021 Art Safari price is inclusive of all accommodation, art tuition, twice-daily drives, meals, laughter and wonderful wildlife!
See full details here.

Remember to get in touch soon if you’d like to reserve your place.
See you soon and stay well.
Alison

www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

International Women’s Day

On this International Women’s Day, I would like to highlight Mama Helena Mbarnoti, an inspiring Maasai woman from the village of Loibor Siret in northern Tanzania (mama is a respectful term for a married woman in Tanzania).

Mama Helena at her tea stall, painted in watercolor by Alison Nicholls

African People & Wildlife’s headquarters, the Noloholo Environmental Education Center, is built on land donated by the surrounding community, where Mama Helena lives. I met her each time I visited APW and over the years have seen her strong support of APW’s work with her community. She is now a member of a women’s bee-keeping group, supported by APW, and the delicious honey produced by wild bees is sold, bringing the women their own income.

On one visit to APW, Mama Helena invited me to sketch her in her tea stall at the weekly market (above) and on my latest visit I sketched her at a meeting of the women’s bee-keeping group (below). I send copies of my sketches to everyone who features in them and when I returned to Loibor Siret in June 2019 she showed me the copy of the tea stall sketch, which she keeps at home.

Womens Meeting sketch by Alison Nicholls

Women’s meeting (Mama Helena on left) in northern Tanzania, by Alison Nicholls

All around the world women are doing incredible things (Dr Laly Lichtenfeld, co-founder of APW is another obvious example) so lets celebrate that each and every day, not just on International Women’s Day.

Mama Helena Photo: African People & Wildlife/Laura Milton

More next time!
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Watercolors featured on Artsy Shark

My watercolors featured on Artsy Shark last week. If you’re an artist you may know this website, as the founder, Carolyn Edlund’s mission is to inspire every artist to build a better art business. I saw a call for featured artists and submitted my work. In addition to a spot on the website as the featured artist, I also received a nice pdf of the feature too.
Have a read and enjoy my recent watercolors from Africa!

Featured Artist Alison Nicholls

All my watercolors are for sale, priced between $250 and $350 depending on the size. Please take a look and let me know if you would like to own one. I donate 25% from the sale of each one to African conservation organizations.
More next time!
Alison

www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Paws Trails Explorers

I and my art inspired by Africa have been featured in the beautiful Paws Trails Explorers digital magazine. The article is in the Wild Arts Showcase and focuses on my watercolor and ink work created from life in the African bush. I talk about why sketching from life is so important to me; how I gathered the courage to start; which materials work well and which were disastrous; how my work changed when I connected with conservation organizations; and how my art now benefits those same groups.

To read the Paws Trails Explorers article, click the image above and go to page 92 or you can find it online here at http://www.pawstrails.com/ (Dec 2019 / Jan 2020 Issue #20). The photography in the magazine is quite stunning and I’m delighted to have my art featured in the Wild Arts Showcase section. You might want to consider joining the Paws Trails Explorers mailing list so you receive future issues.

Enjoy!
Alison

www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Elephant and Impala

I’m quite proud of Elephant and Impala (though I say so myself!). Its a typical waterhole scene where the big bull elephant makes everyone else wait until he’s finished before they can drink. I sketched this in pen, concentrating on the elephant bull and adding feint markings for the landscape features and impala rams.

Elephant and Impala, 8×10″, $200 by Alison Nicholls

The watercolor I added later that day, from memory and imagination. I used just 3 colors – my favorite combo at the moment – Naples Yellow, Cerulean Blue and Quinacridone Magenta. I kept the warmest colors on the elephant bull, to draw him closer, and allowed the distant vegetation to fade into the background.

25% ($50) from the purchase price will be donated to African People & Wildlife in Tanzania. So, let me know if you’d like it, before I decide to frame it and hang it on my own wall.
Alison

www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com
Learn more about African People & Wildlife in Tanzania.

Pros and Cons of Joining My Mailing List

In these social media saturated days, what are the pros and cons of joining my Mailing List?
Here are the Pros:

1.Preview my new Paintings
Yes, before I even post them on social media or put them on my website, you get to see all my new paintings in my newsletter. Which means you can snap up your favorite piece before the big wide world even knows it exists!

2.Win a Watercolor
If you Join My Mailing List before December 1st 2019, your name will be entered into the draw to win Sunlit Elephant – an original 10×8″ watercolor, created from life in Africa and valued at $200. Using some ingenious method, a subscriber’s name (hopefully yours) will be selected at random. The winner will be emailed and she/he replies within a week, Sunlit Elephant will be shipped free to the winner, anywhere in the world (if the winner doesn’t reply within 1 week, another winner will be selected at random). All current subscribers are automatically entered into the draw.

Win this Watercolor: Sunlit Elephant, 10×8″ watercolor and pen by Alison Nicholls.

3.Art-filled monthly newsletters
In my colorful newsletters you’ll see paintings, photos, news about conservation organizations, information about my upcoming exhibits and lectures. Usually you’ll get just 1 lovely, colorful, email each month but around the holidays you might get a couple more. For example, on Black Friday you’ll receive my Colorful Friday email. And at New Year you’ll get my animal-themed, hopeful, New Year message. I certainly won’t bombard you with emails and you can unsubscribe at any time.

4.Contests and Surveys
You can take part in my occasional contests and surveys, helping me make my newsletters even better in the future.

5.Insightful Content
Your newsletters will contain my insightful witticisms, bad puns and photos of my dog!

Here are the Cons:

1.Insightful Content
Your newsletters will contain my insightful witticisms, bad puns and photos of my dog!

So, having (hopefully) decided that the Pros outweigh the Cons, here’s where you can Join My Mailing List!

Good Luck in the draw for Sunlit Elephant!
Alison

www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

2019 Art Safari Video II

In August I led two Art Safaris in South Africa for Africa Geographic. Here is my short video of the second Art Safari.

Both safaris were held at Kambaku Safari Lodge, in Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, part of the Great Kruger National Park. Kambaku was a great place to hold an Art Safari as we had amazing wildlife sightings, beautiful accommodations, great food and wonderful spaces for daytime workshops.

2020 Art Safaris
We’ll be returning to Kambaku for 1 of my 2020 Art Safaris and we have only 2 places remaining, so if you’d like to join us please let me know. We also have only 2 places available on the 2nd 2020 Art Safari, which will take place at Pungwe Safari Camp in Manyaleti Reserve, also part of the Greater Kruger National Park in South Africa.

2020 Art Safari Details

We welcome only 6 guests on each safari and they may have any (or no) experience of sketching. We also welcome non-sketching friends and partners.
So if your idea of fun is spending time in the bush with wildlife, art and like-minded travel companions, sign up for 2020!
Alison

Art Safari Video

In August I led two Art Safaris in South Africa for Africa Geographic. Here is my short video of the first Art Safari.

2020 Art Safari Details

We welcome only 6 guests on each safari and they may have any (or no) experience of sketching. We also welcome non-sketching friends and partners.
Enjoy the video and watch out for another video next week!
Alison

New Botswana Watercolors!

Here are my new Botswana watercolors.
In the past I’ve usually sketched in pencil (then added watercolor), giving a myself a little room for error as I could erase any incorrect lines. However, these pieces were all sketched from life in pen. I’m a real believer in simplicity, making as few lines as possible on my paper, so trying to work like this in ink can lead to a lot of frustration and can be an easy way of getting through lots of paper when things don’t work out. At the beginning of my trip, in my 1st sketchbook, I was being too tentative (and was sketching a leopard, which I find one of the most difficult species) so I ended up tearing 2 pages out of my book and burning them. But as time went on, sketching with pen became a fun challenge, and I found myself wondering how how much I could say with a minimum of lines.

A large bull elephant makes impala wait for a drink as he stands at the waterhole, painted in watercolor by Alison Nicholls

In these two pieces, you can see how simple my pen sketches were. The elephant is sketched in a just a few lines, with no shading, and the impala are really only identifiable by their horns. I know that the addition of color will make all the difference so I don’t need to overdo the sketching. Similarly, on the piece below, I’m only concerned with sketching the simple shapes of the jackals and the stunted trunk of the bush one of them lies under. I know that watercolor will be better for the coloring on the jackals’ coats and for the leaves of the bush, so I don’t sketch those with the pen.

I didn’t expect these jackals to hang around for long but it turned out they were waiting patiently for lions to leave a kill.

Knowing which materials will be best for which purpose is key. I can keep my pen sketch simple because I know where I will use watercolor to complete the sketch.
See you next time.
Alison

www.ArtInspiredByAfrica.com

Sketch For Survival 2019

Its Sketch for Survival time!

And you can bid on my donated painting, sketched in watercolor from life at The Bush House in South Africa. Here’s I am, slightly speeded up, painting the watercolor.

In case you’re wondering, I don’t have eyes as sharp as an eagle – the camera angle just makes the elephants and zebras look much further away than they really were!

Bids on this painting start at $75 and all the money raised goes to Sketch For Survival’s 2019 conservation beneficiaries – Ape Alliance, Giraffe Conservation Foundation, Painted Dog Conservation and the Mariamma Charitable Trust.

Elephants at a waterhole, painted from life in South Africa

What is Sketch for Survival? It’s an annual exhibition and sale of wildlife art in aid of conservation. The art, donated by leading wildlife artists, illustrators, cartoonists, celebrities, explorers and photographers, comprises sketches, studio art, illustrations and cartoons depicting endangered wildlife. The exhibit will be shown in the UK in Bristol, Harrogate & Norwich before appearing at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Thursday 14 November. Special guests will include Ian Redmond OBE from Ape Alliance, renowned for his work with both Great Apes and Elephants, Dr Julian Fennessy from Giraffe Conservation Foundation, and representatives from Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe. The online auction will finish on Sunday 17th November, 2019.

So go on, place a bid on my painting now and see all the other artwork too. And if you’re in the UK, visit one of the venues and see the artwork in person.
Take care,
Alison

The Soccer Game

Soccer (or football) is huge in Africa. Almost every person has a favorite team, often from Europe. So when we heard there was a soccer tournament going on at Limpopo-Lipadi while we were there, we wanted to go along and support the team. I decided to sketch the game too. It was extremely hot and my paint was drying very fast, which made it quite challenging, but it was fun. Unfortunately, the Limpopo-Lipadi team (in green) lost to the police team (in red). Or maybe that was just as well!

I photographed the sketch and gave it to Limpopo-Lipadi to hang in the office. As a result, the photo of the finished piece isn’t great, but you get the idea. There’s something about live sketching like this that inspires me so much. Of course I can always see vast improvements I could make in the sketch, but when I look at it I remember the heat, the dust, the shouting and laughter. Magic!

Learn more about Limpopo-Lipadi game reserve and their wonderful Motse volunteering and community program.

Alison Nicholls
Art Inspired by Africa
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Women in Tanzania

Rural women in Tanzania usually have a fairly low status in society and are often completely dependent on their husband, even though women do much of the work in rural households.

Loibor Siret Women’s Meeting

African People & Wildlife (APW) works in conjunction with many rural communities in Tanzania, and together their initiatives are helping women become financially independent, giving them a voice in the decision-making of their families and their communities. Bee-keeping is one such initiative and has the added advantage of protecting habitat because Tanzania has a strong Bee-Keeping Act which ensures that land cannot be farmed or cleared around beehives.

Sketch of rural women in Tanzania, by Alison Nicholls

Women’s Meeting, ink and watercolor sketch from life by Alison Nicholls

Learning about the bee-keeping initiative, which involves more than 1200 women, and being able to sketch after a meeting of the Loibor Siret women’s bee-keeping group, is a thrill. There can be few things better for a sketch artist than sitting in a rural village, surrounded by the sights & sounds of everyday life, while sketching a group of women chatting under a shady tree. This was my 4th visit to APW and it is wonderful to be recognized and greeted enthusiastically by women I have sketched on my previous visits.

Mama Helena Beading, ink sketch from life by Alison Nicholls

Mama Helena, shown beading in the sketch above, invited me to sketch at her homestead afterwards, and sent one of her grandchildren to fetch a sketch I did of her last time I was in Tanzania, 5 years ago!

Alison Nicholls sketching in Tanzania

Sketching with an audience is something I am completely used to and it’s fun to see the children’s faces as the sketch progresses and they recognize the person I am sketching.

Not all my sketches go to plan!

I’m making copies of my sketches to be sent back to Tanzania, but I hope my next visit to APW will be in the very near future.
Alison

Learn more about African People & Wildlife.
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Field Sketches & Daily Sketches – What is the Difference?

So what exactly is the difference between my Field Sketches & Daily Sketches?

Elephants in Brown, field sketch by Alison Nicholls

My Field Sketches are created from life, in Africa. I usually start by sketching in pencil or ink then add watercolor, but sometimes I sketch directly in watercolor. They are either 8×10″ or 11×14″ on watercolor paper and sell for US$200-$300, with 25% of the purchase price donated to various African conservation organizations.

Turqouise Elephant, daily sketch by Alison Nicholls

My Daily Sketches are created in the studio, in 10-minutes, from photos by my talented husband, Nigel. They are pen sketches, sometimes with watercolor added and sometimes drawn on a colorful acrylic background. They are 8×10″ on yupo paper – a bright white, synthetic surface – and sell for US$60, with 50% of the purchase price donated to various African conservation organizations.

Working from photos is obviously easier than working from life, so I set a time limit on my Daily Sketches, to keep the work fresh and give myself a challenge. 10 minutes goes by very fast, but its a great way to start each day and excellent practice for when I’m sketching in the field.

In June I’ll be in Tanzania for 2 weeks, so my daily sketches will be field sketches!
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Packing for Tanzania

I’ll be off to Tanzania again in a couple of weeks, visiting African People & Wildlife to help with some murals in rural schools and do some art classes for teachers and students. Somehow, I hope to do some of my own sketching too, so here’s my latest video showing what I’m taking with me. You can read about my previous visits to APW here.
More soon!
Alison

Learn from the Masters

If your goal is sketching wildlife and you want to learn from the masters, you could do far worse than look at rock art by the San (Khoi-San or bushmen). With a few simple lines they catch the essence of an animal, so you immediately know it. And through their lifestyle as hunter-gatherers they are unparalleled in their knowledge of the animals they depicted in their rock art.

Rock art in Savute, Botswana

Over the years I’ve seen rock art in many locations in southern Africa including Matopos (Zimbabwe), the Tsodilo Hills (Botswana) and Twyfelfontein (Namibia). Most of the paintings are not in caves but are on the underside of overhanging rocks, while many of the petroglyphs (images chipped into the rock surface) are on fully exposed rocks.

How I start an elephant sketch by Alison Nicholls

Last year I was in Savute, Botswana, and revisited a rock art panel on one of the small hills in the area. I sketched the 3 main animals – an eland, elephant, and sable antelope. A few months later I was creating a video for my Art Safari guests, showing how I start my sketches of elephants. I remembered the elephant painting in Savute and realized the 2 main shapes I start my sketches with (a large block for the body and a smaller block for the head) are the same as the main shapes for the elephant in the Savute painting.
Maybe the rock art I’ve seen has influenced me more than I knew!
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Petroglyphs, Twyfelfontein, Namibia

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

We were looking forward to a quick cuppa, a nice mid-morning tea-break, but when we reached the big baobab in Savute, Botswana, we found that our spot was already taken. Let sleeping dogs lie…

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie – sketched from life in pen and watercolor, Savute Botswana 2018

The dogs made excellent sketching subjects, once I figured out whose legs and ears were whose. Painted dogs or African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are very social and like to lie together in a pile, in very close contact, so identifying which dogs to include in my sketch is the first thing I do.

Painted dogs sleeping in a pile, photo by Nigel Nicholls.

Note the annoying piece of grass in the foreground – the bane of every wildlife photographer’s life. If I had a sketchbook for every time I’ve heard my husband ask why there’s grass in the way, I’d never run out of paper again!

Painted Dog Pile by Nigel Nicholls

Here’s the scene I sketched. Its so weird when I get back from our trips, see my husband’s photos and recognize my sketches. You’ll notice that the piece of grass is even more annoying from this angle…which brings me to another advantage of sketching – the artist decides what goes into the sketch and what stays out, so there are no annoying pieces of grass in my art.

Now I have to go find my own sleeping dog and take him out for a walk!
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Sketching Strong Shadows

Mid-afternoon in Khwai, the hottest part of the day, and I’m sketching strong shadows. We’re sitting by the beautiful ribbon of water that winds gracefully through the grasses and off into the distance. A Nile crocodile lies on the bank with its mouth open, and elephants drink in the river. The light is harsh and the strong shadows made me decide to sketch with the marker tip of my pen, putting only the shadows down on the paper. It doesn’t work with every animal, but for the crocodile and the elephants it was perfect.

Next I tried some hippos, a goliath heron and an African buffalo.

I was really enjoying this, so of course the sun went down and daylight was vanquished by the shadows. But next time I think the light is too harsh for good sketching I’ll have a great way of handling it!
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Sketching Villages from a Moving Car!

Recently I discovered that sketching villages from a moving car might be more difficult than sketching wildlife!

These rural scenes were sketched as we drove down from Kasane to the Tuli Block in Botswana. Although we are driving quite slowly through villages, it’s still a challenge to sketch and you need to develop a photographic memory by looking, memorizing, then sketching. However, I soon found my stride because these rural scenes are etched in my brain, from my years of living in Botswana. I wanted to capture the typical sights of a village – people sitting by the road; herds of cows in the shade of a tree; donkeys and goats; village bars and small houses with satellite dishes. Pen was the perfect medium and I particularly love this pinky-gray ZIG Memory System writer. And sketching made the long drive go by much faster!
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com