As you may have seen from my previous post, I now have a newly designed WordPress website: http://www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com. My blog is incorporated into my website as a separate page, which means it will move from this location. I’m hoping that you will join me at the new page, as I continue my posts about art, Africa, conservation,…
I thought this would be the perfect time of year to unveil my redesigned website http://www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.com. I wanted to create a site with clean, simple lines, to best display my colorful African acrylics and watercolor field sketches. Kim Bruce of Artbiz helped me achieve this, and it has been a pleasure working with her. I hope you agree that…
Although I had painted landscapes and wildlife, I never thought I was interested in painting or sketching people. But as I got to know Botswana better, I did try my hand at a couple of pieces. However, I was never comfortable sketching people without their permission and was too shy to ask. As with so…
I don’t work from an easel, I paint with my work flat on a desk. What this means is that I can’t get too far away from my work without moving it off the desk and standing it up. As a result, I found that I was often working close-up, which made my use of…
Once I started taking my watercolors out into the bush to sketch I reached a turning point. Gradually my sketches progressed from landscapes with tiny animals in them, to pages with multiple animals on them, to full page sketches which I now sell as finished pieces and as limited editions. During these years I was awarded an Artists For…
Day 2 of the Art Challenge. After a while, surrounded by wildlife during my bush trips, I decided I really needed to start using animals in my paintings. I switched to pastel for a while and loved using the colored papers. But using this like a drawing medium meant that once again detail was the…
I have been nominated to take part in a Facebook Art Challenge by my friend and fellow artist Karryl, who creates wonderful whimsical animal sculptures. Thank you, Karryl! The challenge is to post 3 images of my art every day for 5 days, each day nominating a new artist to take part in the challenge.…
The start of 2015 has not been as peaceful as many across the world hoped. There have already been many atrocities and human tragedies in the first 2 weeks of this new year and my thoughts go out to all who have lost family members, friends and colleagues. The start of the year was also tragic…
This week we have seen the power of the pencil. My thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of everyone killed and injured in Paris. Alison Visit my Website Join my Mailing List Find me on Facebook Art Inspired by Africa
Yep, I finally tried sketching on my Microsoft Windows Surface! Admittedly I wasn’t using an application designed for sketching, instead I was using one designed for note-taking. As a result I had a limited palette of colors and a choice of pen or highlighter. But you know what – it really didn’t matter. This…
I hope 2015 is happy and healthy for you and all your loved ones. I hope 2015 is peaceful, with opportunity and education for all. I hope that 2015 will be a great year for conservation around the globe, including an end to rhino and elephant poaching. I think that’s probably enough to start with! Happy New Year!! Alison Don’t forget today is the last day…
It turns out that I don’t have too many paintings that are appropriate for a Happy Holidays email, but I found this one and it seemed perfect! There was snow in the Kalahari once, so you never know… At this time of year I would like to say Thank You for your support during the year.…
Quite simply, as in any other field, you have to evaluate your results. It is easy for conservation efforts to be undertaken with the best of intentions, only to find that there are unexpected negative consequences which put the whole project in question. Unfortunately, too many organizations want quick fixes and they don’t stick around…
Tea by the Fire was possibly one of the most difficult sketches I’ve created, because I was sketching in near darkness. I had been invited into the home of a Maasai family to sketch, but when I got inside I couldn’t even see the chair I was offered, and I had no idea how many people…
Last night I and my artwork attended Wine & Wolves, the annual benefit for the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem. Atka the ambassador Arctic wolf made an appearance and decided my art was worth a closer look! If you would like to see more of the art that Atka approved of, you can check it…
Alison Nicholls: Art Inspired by Africa 