I don’t often paint eland, so with a recent order I felt the need to do some drawings before the final painting. It was quite an enjoyable exercise.
Tag: wildlife
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Eland Antelope Study.
Pencil drawing of an Eland's head. 290 x 210 mm. Eland sketch. Pen & Pencil crayons. 290 x 210 mm. Four Eland. Pen & wash sketch. 360mm x 280 mm. Kruger's Kop with 3 Eland. Watercolour. 520 x 350 mm. -
Old World Vulture – visions
Rueppell's Griffon & Whitebacked Vulture. 290 x 420 mm. One of the painting commissions from the client who took photos in the Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya, was of the Whitebacked Vulture. (It was not the Serengeti as I first thought.)
Sketch of Whitebacked Vulture. 310 x 230 mm. This painting inspired me to make a couple of other studies that are posted here. Researching these vultures revealed many amazing facts about them. The Rueppell’s Griffon, is said to be the highest flying bird, with a recording of 11,000 metres or 36,100 feet, and their wingspan reaches 2.6 metres or 8,5 feet!!
Maasai Mara Whitebacked Vultures. 700 x 500 mm sold. Here on Silvermere, we have the Cape Vulture, which I haven’t painted yet. These vultures come for the carcasses of sheep and cattle that die in the veld. We sometimes have flocks of about 50 on one carcass. It is wonderful to have them now, as they have been absent for many many years. We still hear reports that they were becoming an endangered species, but at least we have a flock that we see from time to time. Here are a couple of photos that I took of our Cape Vultures that roost on the power lines nearby.
Cape Vultures (photographs) -
Serengeti Cats
After a friend visited the Serengeti National park last year, he asked if I’d paint some of the photos that he took while he was there. These were 3 of them.
Serengeti leopard, 500 x 350 mm. sold The challenge, more than the cats themselves, was the grass. There are some ways to simplify painting grass, but as grass featured in these three so prominently, it was important to avoid the short-cuts. It makes me think of all the grass that covers Silvermere at the moment, since the good rains of the past four months. The sheep get lost amongst it and looking for them is quite difficult. When we walk in the veld, grass seeds work their way into our socks if we don’t wear very long trousers and high boots. Looking out over the vales of waving grass, it really looks more like cattle country, than karoo veld; and is reminiscent of the tall savannah-grassveld in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) where I grew up.
Serengeti cheetah & kill. 700 x 500 mm. sold 
Serengeti Lion, 500 x 350 mm. sold I would like to make a correction here, since speaking to the client. These cats were all photographed in the Kenyan side of the Reserve, which is called the Maasai Mara National Park.
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The Lion, the Lamb, and the Exhibition.
The Exhibition in Port Elizabeth was our first in almost 2 years. It was a mere 3 days but the Lord blessed us with a successful show, and a trouble-free trip to PE and back with our overloaded old trailer. Also we have so many family and friends, new and old, to be thankful to for making it a wonderful weekend. Our son, John, also came from Johannesburg, to help us with the Exhibition. As we hadn’t Exhibited in PE since March 2006, it was wonderful to have so many of our old friends and patrons coming to visit us.
For those who haven’t seen our Exhibitions before, you may like to see the set of photos that we took, and for those that were there, thank you for making it so memorable!
John drawing. PE,Walmer Park Exhibition ’09 
Card stand and tables. PE,Walmer Park Exhibition 
4 corner rooms & 4 entrances made up the exhibition. Tables in the centre. 
View from the outside of the display, Centre Court, Walmer Park. 
John (husband) at one of the entrances,& the big Nguni painting that sold on the last day. 
Another outer corner view. Walmer Park Exhibition Sep ’09 
Travelling home ! 7 Sep ’09 After the painting of the roses in the last blog-post, there was little time to paint much before the big framing operation. John framed 22 new paintings for the Exhibition. However I did manage a couple of quick paintings,.. (more…)
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The Genet and the Starling
Last night, while we were watching TV, there was a loud crashing about on our front verandah. When we turned on the light we saw a Small Spotted Genet with his prey, an unfortunate Red-wing Starling. But before I could rush for my camera, he dashed off into the night. The other Starling flew off too and obviously decided this was not a good roosting spot.
Ironically, I have been trying unsuccessfully to discourage the pair of Starlings from roosting on the verandah. I don’t really like having them around, because they rob the nests of other birds, stealing their eggs; and it is very obvious that the other birds don’t like having them around either. Quite often the other birds mob the pair of starlings, trying to chase them away. But the starlings are very persistent and are not easily discouraged. So this incident with the little Genet last night, instantaneously achieved what the other birds and I have failed to achieve!
Red-Wing Starling However I couldn’t help feeling sadness for the remaining lonely Starling, who could be heard plaintively calling its mate this morning.
Small-Spotted Genet Some time ago, we found a Small Spotted Genet in broad daylight, outside my studio, in the bamboos. Genets are nocturnal, so it was a surprise to see it! He was most obliging and waited for me to fetch the camera, and I was able to get a splendid photograph. I have never quite got around to painting him, but this latest incident, inspired me to sketch him here. Whether it is the same Genet, we will never know, – possibly !