Tag Archives: Cheetah Conservation Fund

Kalahari - Ostrich Egg painted by Alison Nicholls

Cheetah Egg!

Kalahari, my painted ostrich egg, is now available on the Cheetah Conservation Fund’s 25th Anniversary Online Auction site. (Yes, this is a post about a painting of a cheetah on an egg, not a post about a cheetah’s egg. I just couldn’t resist using that blog post title!)

Kalahari - Ostrich Egg painted by Alison Nicholls

Kalahari – Ostrich Egg painted by Alison Nicholls

You can bid on it here, and the proceeds will help the Cheetah Conservation Fund, based in Namibia, with their excellent programs which help to conserve cheetahs & their habitat. Here is a little more information about my cheetah egg!

Kalahari
This ostrich egg painting features creatures found in the Kalahari Desert – the ostrich, the cheetah, the giraffe and the springbok; while the top of the egg shows guinea fowl feathers and porcupine quills. The colors of the egg also represent the colors of the Kalahari. White is for the wide, flat, salt pans. Blue is for the huge, pale pastel skies. Brown is for the thorny scrubby brush and tall grasses.
The egg is painted in acrylic and varnished.
Bid on Kalahari!

Read more about the creation of this egg:
Ostrich Egg design Rolls On
Ostrich Egg is Easier to Balance than to Paint

Learn more about the Cheetah Conservation Fund

Until next time…
Roll on…
Alison

www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

Alison Nicholls sketching a cheetah

Upstaged by a Cheetah!

On Sunday night I was sketching a live cheetah in Poughkeepsie, New York, at a benefit for the Cheetah Conservation Fund. The cheetah in question came from the Columbus Zoo in Ohio and is a hand-reared ‘ambassador’ cheetah, who is used to traveling (with her Labrador companion!) to events to help raise funds for the conservation of her wild counterparts.

Alison Nicholls sketching a cheetah

Alison Nicholls sketching an ambassador cheetah

Dr Laurie Marker, founder and Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, was the guest of honor. While Dr Marker was speaking about cheetah conservation in Namibia and around the world, the cheetah was doing all she could to upstage her, by purring unbelievably loudly. And while that was happening, I was sketching. Here I am, later in the evening, with Laurie and 1 of my sketches.

Artist Alison Nicholls with Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund

Artist Alison Nicholls and her sketch, with Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund

Cheetah watercolor sketch by Alison Nicholls

And here is the sketch.  Cheetah watercolor sketch by Alison Nicholls

Paola Bari had organized the event and on display were a number of artworks on ostrich eggs, including 1 by yours truly. It was a wonderful evening, although quite strange for me because less than a month ago I was sketching a pair of cheetah brothers in northern Botswana catching an impala!

Find out more about the Cheetah Conservation Fund.
See my Ostrich Egg Artwork.

Until next time…take care
Alison

www.ArtInspiredByAfrica.com