Tag Archives: painted dog art

An Exhibition in Images: Setup

This is the story of an exhibition…in images. The exhibition is Wildlife Art: Field to Studio at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut, which features field work and studio work from 7 Signature members of the Society of Animal Artists. Each artist works in a different region of the world: Alison Nicholls (Africa); David Rankin (India); Karryl (Rocky Mountains); Carel Brest van Kempen (Central America); Kelly Singleton (Alaska); Sean Murtha (Long Island Sound) and Susan Fox (Mongolia). The exhibit is on display until May 4, 2016, and on April 24 at 2pm there will be an Artists Talk by Sean Murtha and Alison Nicholls. Come and join us to see the exhibition for yourself!

Wildlife art exhibition setup at the Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT.

The exhibition setup…

I set up the field box for sculptor, Karryl.

The exhibition begins to take shape…

Curators hang Sean Murtha’s work…

Artists Kelly Singleton & Alison Nicholls…

Pinnacle by Karryl…

Nearing completion…

The impressive exhibition title wall…

Ready for the opening reception…

Next time I will show you images from the Opening Reception!

Wildlife Art: Field to Studio is curated by Lillian Lum, Claudia Schipper & Alice Sherwood. It is on display until May 4 at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut. On April 24 at 2pm I will be giving an Artists Talk, along with Sean Murtha. I will also be at the Gallery to meet visitors on the following days and times:
Tuesday April 19, 11am – 2pm.
Thursday April 21, 5pm – 7pm.
Saturday April 23, 12pm – 2pm.
Monday April 25, 2pm – 4pm.
Wednesday April 27, 11am – 1pm.
Thursday April 28, 5pm – 7pm.

Please come and join me for a guided tour of the exhibition!
Alison

www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com
A donation is made to African conservation from every sale.

This Is Not A Drill – Art and Fire Alarms!

I’ve been working on my latest painted dog piece for over 2 weeks now. And something is definitely wrong. The composition and drawing are good, but I’m finding excuses to leave my studio. Every time I come back in, I try to evaluate the painting with fresh eyes, but in my head, alarm bells are ringing.

Painted Dog (African wild dog) playing, by Alison Nicholls ©2015

Detail of painted dog piece by Alison Nicholls

Its like a fire alarm going off. First, you think its a false alarm, so you can carry on with what you are doing. But it doesn’t stop, so you wonder if its real or just a test. Eventually you realize you will have to leave the building, whether the fire is real or not.

Late yesterday afternoon, I finally paid attention to the alarm bells, decided to abandon this version of the painting, and metaphorically ‘left the building’.

Since then I have experimented with a subtle gray color, and now I have the inspiration and desire to start the piece again, with fire extinguisher in hand!

Until next time…
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

African Wildlife Sketch #20 – Painted Dogs in the Morning by Alison Nicholls

We had searched unsuccessfully for painted dogs for a couple of days, then one morning this pack appeared right outside our Mana Pools campsite in Zimbabwe. They relaxed for a few moments then got up, greeted each other and immediately set off hunting. Within 5 minutes they were heading off to the right, then reappeared running in the opposite direction in hot pursuit of an impala ram, which they caught by the river. This sketch was the calm before the storm!

Dog Pack Field Sketch © Alison Nicholls 2015

Painted Dogs in the Morning 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 an elephant bull.
Until then…
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com

African Wildlife Sketch #16 – Crashed – Painted Dogs by Alison Nicholls

As you probably know, Painted Dogs (African wild dogs) are highly social. They rarely fight, even over food (unlike most other predators), and will regurgitate food for sick and injured adults in their pack. During my recent travels in southern Africa I saw 4 different packs, and that included a lot of pups. Every time they finished playing they would all flop down together, in a pile. There were heads on backs, feet on heads, tails in faces and ears everywhere – a perfect expression of their highly developed social nature, and a perfect painting composition!

Crashed Field Sketch © Alison Nicholls 2015

Crashed field sketch, Painted dogs, African wild dogs, in watercolor by Alison Nicholls

The Original Field Sketch is watercolor & pencil on watercolor paper, 11×14″, priced at US$300. Limited Edition Giclées are also 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.

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

African Wildlife Sketch 7 – Crashed (painted dogs)

These painted dog pups (African wild dogs) were sketched in Botswana. They were nearly 4 months old, beautifully colored (not actually purple!) and full of life. Everywhere I looked were pups running, leaping fallen logs, falling off logs, chasing each other and then cautiously approaching the vehicle in a crowd of long legs and huge ears. Soon after, they all collapsed in heaps under bushes and trees. That’s when I was able to create this sketch. I added the watercolor back at camp, which is where my artistic license crept in with the coloring!

Crashed field sketch. Painted dogs (African wild dogs) in watercolor by Alison Nicholls

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

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

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 male lion.
Until then…
Alison
www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com