Tag Archives: lion watercolor

Lion Pride Field Sketch © Alison Nicholls 2015

African Wildlife Sketch #19 – Lion Pride by Alison Nicholls

This sketch was created, as a demonstration, during the 2015 Africa Geographic Art Safari in Kariega Game Reserve, South Africa. It was a cloudy day and we were watching a lion pride, when suddenly a mother warthog and her brood came trotting out of the bush, straight at the lions. One of the lionesses gave chase and they all disappeared, only to reappear a few seconds later, clattering down the track, with the lioness on the tail of one of the piglets. The chase ended in success for the lioness, but the male lion soon appeared to steal the kill from her. After the commotion died down, they all emerged from the bushes and lay in the open, where this sketch was created. The watercolor was added back at camp, as a demonstration of how I add color to my pencil sketches. It was an exciting start to our Art Safari!

Lion Pride Field Sketch © Alison Nicholls 2015

Lion Pride Field Sketch, watercolor by Alison Nicholls

All my field sketches, are created in Africa directly from life, or sketched back at camp purely from my memory of sightings. They are completely finished in Africa and I use no photos or video reference at any time in their creation. It is always tempting to add finishing touches back in the studio, but I avoid this to ensure that my field sketches really are field sketches. 

The Original Field Sketch is watercolor & pencil on watercolor paper, 11×14″, priced at US$300. Limited Edition Giclées are available, priced at US$120 each. Only 10 copies are available, printed using archival inks on watercolor paper, 14×11″, all signed and numbered by me.

A donation will be made to African conservation from every sale.

Until Nov 22, I will be sharing 1 of my new African field sketches every day. The new sketches are shown to my newsletter readers a full day before they are shown here. Click here to Join my Mailing List and see the sketches as soon as they are released, or see them here 1 day later.

Wherever and whenever you see them, I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them.
Tomorrow’s sketch is of a pack of painted dogs.
Until then…
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

African Wildlife Sketch #8 – Lion Asleep by Alison Nicholls

Lions are one of the best wildlife field sketching subjects, as long as you can find them, because they are normally lazing around during the day and give you plenty of time to create a sketch. This lion was conveniently leaning against a grassy bank as he dozed, which gave me a great angle. Even when I can only see a small section of the belly and shoulders, I still sketch the entire belly and shoulders, overlapping the shapes, to make sure that the body is correctly proportioned. These feint pencil lines usually disappear when I add the watercolor, but if they are still visible, that fine too. After all, this is a field sketch!

Lion Asleep Field Sketch, watercolor by Alison Nicholls

These field sketches were created during my Aug/Sept 2015 African trip. All my field sketches, are created in Africa directly from life, or sketched back at camp purely from my memory of sightings. They are completely finished in Africa and I use no photos or video reference at any time in their creation. It is always tempting to add finishing touches back in the studio, but I avoid this to ensure that my field sketches really are field sketches. 

This Original Field Sketch is watercolor and pencil on watercolor paper, 10×8″ and priced at US$180. Limited Edition Giclées are also available, priced at US$70 each. Only 10 copies are available, printed using archival inks on watercolor paper, 10×8″, all signed and numbered by me.

A donation will be made to African conservation from every sale.

Until Nov 22, I will be sharing 1 of my new African field sketches every day. The new sketches are shown to my newsletter readers a full day before they are shown here. Click here to Join my Mailing List and see the sketches as soon as they are released, or see them here 1 day later.

Wherever and whenever you see them, I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them.
Tomorrow’s sketch is of another sleeping predator – a lioness!
Until then…
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com