Happy Place

The walk to the local train station in the morning is not an attractive one; along untidy urban streets littered with bits of rubbish; the damp air laced with unhealthy fumes from the rush hour traffic. This morning as I trundled along, head mulling over the everyday mundane things like… Did I lock the back door? Did I put something for lunch in my bag? Will I get to the station in time?  One of the endless thoughts that buzzed about in my mind was the self-nagging remonstration that I have, of late, neglected this blog. When I first set this up, the intention was to post something every week. There was so much to post about my trip and the progress towards the fund-raising exhibition... was once a week going to be enough?! Ah the best laid plans of mice and men...

Thinking and trying different ideas about the way to present it all, has slowed me down, with one idea overtaking another and not much progress being made. Maybe I should stop trying to be all fanciful with pages etc (which are much more limited than I would like) and just go with simple posts.

Another sad truth is that my attention has, of late, been diverted away from the project..  with seemingly so many stokes in too many fires I have had difficulty doing what I need for each one. Keeping up with what needs to be done, what should be done, what I haven't done, what I keep putting off doing.. you know the scenario. It all comes down to how you deal with it and I wouldn’t say I have been struggling with it all, but there certainly seems to be a bit of confusion leading to getting lost in a maze of 'to do' job lists. Life does that now and again, nothing unusual in that, just it has for a while slowed me down on some aspects… my self-employed art being one.

So this morning, as I watched my feet stride out alternatively in front of me,mulling over the mundane intricacies of my everyday life and feeling a little glum that I wasn't  seemingly getting any further forward in my various to do lists, a stray thought came to the fore. It's March...Where was I this month three years ago? 

Aaah yes… that’s it.. I was there, wasn’t I.  I felt a warm glowing smile inside my mind remembering that very special place and time.  'Happy Places'.. you know those all too few places that you have experienced in your life where you were at your happiest and most at peace.  So another thought followed on… Think of your ‘Happy Place’. Imagine you are there….

Walking to the station? Was that wise? As I am almost on automatic pilot anyway, why not let my mind drift a bit. Just for a few minutes...

The pavement, damp from last night’s rain, was hard and unforgiving under my boots, but what if it was soft dry sand so pale in the strong sunlight that it glistened almost white. 

And instead of the patchwork of squished chewing gum blobs, cigarette butts and other bits of urban litter, what if there were small footprints of tree squirrels, vervets and francolin criss-crossing over the small undulations of the sand’s surface and the large almost invisible footprints of an elephant that had walked along this same pathway last night.

The sound of traffic filtered out and I recalled the sounds of baboons barking in the distance, the lowering call of yellow-billed hornbills , the ‘Bots- wana, Bots – wana, Bots – wana’ like call of a dove and the buzzing flight of large dragonflies and beetles as they zoomed by me and out across the lagoon or on into the surrounding bush. The heat I felt inside my padded waterproof coat from my  brisker-than-normal walk, was the heat of the day, 90 degrees in the shade.. lovely. Instead of the grey flatness of aged and beaten up tarmac I saw the sun’s intense light filtering through the leaves and fronds of the trees and plants around me, dappling the shaded parts as I retraced, in my mind, the pathway around Seba Camp. 

It was so easy to imagine I was back there.. I had walked the pathways a number of times during my stay, some parts six or more times a day for a month and each time I focused hard on remembering the scene, picking out details to burn on my memory. This was somewhere I wanted to be able to re-walk again whenever I wished.

I could smell the warm soft herb infused air filling me with a sense of well being...aromatherapy for free.  As I walk I watch for the locals, big and small, in the trees, on the ground, in the air... all around. Butterflies flitting delicately on the slight breeze, basking on the hot sandy surface or alighting on nutrient elephant dung. A woodland kingfisher on that particular branch near the lagoon, a crested barbet defiantly shouting from its chosen territorial posts. Bennet's woodpeckers tapping on the branches, hammering their bills in for a good few strikes with almost every hop and step as they make their way through the trees. Jacana's and pgymy geese calling across the lagoon. So many birds all around; tiny rustlings and flitting of small wings deep in the thicker recesses of the vegetation, give a hint of some little treasure you have missed, but might catch a glimpse of another time.

I turned a corner from the side street onto the main road. In my head I had moved from the main walkways of the 'Front of House' guest area to the more ‘closed in’ tracks that the staff used round the outskirts of the camp. I wandered farther down the track, it wound as an animal trail round tree trunks and patches of spikey pale silver grey leaved palms. 


Along the route I spot all kinds of birds.. francolins rush ahead of me bobbing along the track until they find a gap to dive into thick cover, perhaps hiding just feet from me as I pass them by. Glossy long tailed starlings shimmer with refracted light; their plumage bright iridescent green and blue looking far from natural and more like they have been shrink wrapped in a metallic film.

Walking along here slowly and silently could lead to all manner of discoveries like bushbuck with young, the local group of banded mongoose and my real treasure was one day seeing a male bushbuck very close... much more shy and reclusive than the females around camp. He stood up from his resting place and watched me intently for a while before moving off slowly and melting away into the thick bush around. 

Somewhere off in the distance, carried in gently on a whisp of a breeze is the sound of zebras  braying almost donkey-like for a few seconds and then silence again. Only it wasn’t silent.. there was sounds of the bush all around, yet it felt like peaceful silence compare to the sound of the bus as it passed close by in the bus lane disturbing me from my thoughts. Its engine whining as it increased speed through the traffic lights merging with the sound of the line of cars in the traffic lane alongside, stuck in the hell of rush hour.

Regretfully pushing my 'Happy Place' back into the depths of my mind for now, it was time to focus on where I actually was. The cold wind bit at my face again as I carefully picked my way through the stationary cars to cross the road to the station. With a sad sigh I again smelt the city air as I breathed in and thought back to the day's tasks ahead... preparing myself for another 9-5. 

Mantis in the shower

March 2011 Audi Camp 

Sharing my shower cubicle with a mantis. Guessing a Sphodromantis spp. but I'm not sure of the exact species, but perhaps if one of my invert experts friends see this, they could say what it is... not sure if the photo is good enough for an accurate ID. My exact ID of this mantis been thrown by the lack of the pale spot on its wing casing.

"You looking at me!"

This big green beauty sat on the wall unperturbed by my presence. I happen to love mantids and thoroughly enjoyed seeing this wee beastie there, where I could get a good look it... although it was about 3" - 4" long... so hardly wee by mantis standards. What a corker!

Smith's bush squirrel

March 2011 Audi Camp (Near Maun), Botswana

Smith's bush squirrel (Paraxerus cepapi), also known as yellow-footed squirrel and in South Africa as the tree Squirrel. I saw these a few times whilst out in the Delta but my best sightings were in Audi Camp where I watched a female and her juvenile foraging and playing around my tent area and a couple of males around other parts of the camp. They were very cute and inquisitive. Obviously more used to human presence they took hardly any notice of me. In the Delta the ones I saw were a lot more cautious and wary of my movements when I saw them.

Artists & Illustrators magazine article

A little while ago I posted that I had been approached by the editor of Artists & Illustrators magazine to do a little article on my elephant calf studies. I am very pleased to post that the article is now published and can be seen in the February issue, which is out now, and as they say...  'is in a shop near you'.

Black-collared barbet

I thought it was high time I started posting photo's from my trip, so I will aim to do this regularly. There are some I am keen to share as they illustrate some of the experiences that I had. Some are just an appreciation of what I saw.

I start with this little chappie... a black-collared barbet - Lybius torquatus

Before heading off to Seba Camp in the Delta, I spent a few days at Audi Camp. I spotted this striking bird as it flew away at my approach. I waited and saw eventually that there was a nest in the tree, one bird was inside and this handsome fella was outside. I'm assuming the female was the one in the tree, but as hey are not sexually dimorphic I really have no idea who was who. They were nervous birds and would fly away or dart into the nest hole whenever someone approached. I was determined to see them so I sat and waited nearby and was eventually rewarded - being able to watch their comings and goings for a while. I was pleased to be able to get some decent photo's of at least one of them.

Ellie calf pair to blow their trumpets

My two little studies of Paseka, that I posted recently, caught the eye of the Artist and Illustrator Magazine Editor. He has asked me to write a short article about the duo. Really pleased they seem to be creating interest already. I am in the process of putting the article together now and will post a publication date when I have it.

Paseka at play studies

Hot off the easel, as it were... two little oil studies.  

Back to my looser approach with these two and deliberately done as a pair; each on a 8" x 10" canvas board, so painted at the same time to keep the feel, flow and colour continuity fresh (hopefully). 

Both pieces represent Paseka, who was less than two years old when I saw her in 2011... she will now be over four years old and I expect quite a bit bigger with little tusks showing. She was a great little character of the Abu Camp herd and I am aware I have painted her a few times now. She seemed a happy little soul who loved to run around and play, especially with Lorato who is slightly older than her.

Zebras done!

Finally completed. The location for this scene is the old landing strip near Seba Camp in the Okavango Delta. The pale sandy soil lies starkly against the green reeds and grasses in March, reflecting light back up onto the zebra. It seemed to be a popular place for animals to congregate; perhaps the expanse of clear soil afforded some protection against predators who might use the long grasses to make a stealthy approach. At this time of year water lies to either side of the strip, attracting many birds like ducks, plovers, egrets and storks. On one day I saw zebra, lechwe, wildebeeste, tsessebe, a bull elephant and an eagle flying overhead around the strip area. What a great spot!

Zebras on last amble to finish line

Almost finished zebra landscape... has taken longer than planned, but then what's new? Backdrop went well, but zebras have been painted twice due to me not liking the first colours I had done them in. So all change.. that means, as I paint the body before the stripes... I have gone over these darn animals 4 times.. twice for body colours and twice for stripes! The soil got done once, but had a lot of adjustments to get colour and light as I wanted it.... so all that's left now is the blacksmith plovers and a small amount of grass at the front. Hopefully tomorrow will be the final day. Fingers crossed

Reshuffle and Journal added

I've had a little reshuffle of the content of this blog. I have now changed Pages for the Journal I wrote whilst in Botswana. Pages had been added in my last little redesign to be used for information on the exhibition. But I have since felt that maybe this was better to be seen unhidden on the initial viewing of the blog, as it explains what it is all about really. Any consequent news should be done in the general posts. Sometimes you just have to try something to see how it fits and then change it, if it's not quite right.

I took a little computer to Botswana with me, an Asus Netbook.. small and easy for travelling with. The purpose of this little piece of equipment was to write a journal on and send emails back to the UK as there was internet facility for staff use at the camp. As it turned out it was invaluable for storing all my photo's as well.. something I had not planned on, but I couldn't have done without in the end.

I like writing and tend to always write my trip adventures down as they happen and it was particularly important to do so on this trip as I could record thoughts and feelings, information and details about all aspects of my stay to help me remember and reflect on the time there for when I was back home working on the studio pieces for the exhibition.

I shall be adding to the journal every now and again, with each day in sequence. I hope you will find it interesting and transport you to the Delta to share in the experiences I had.

Exhibition news and Pages

Finally I feel able to let you know about the news regarding the venue for the exhibition. The date has been set at around September 2015 and the venue is the wonderful Museum and Art Gallery - Nature In Art in Gloucestershire. Simon, the Director, has been very supportive and enthusiastic about the project and has offered an event that will focus on elephants with my exhibition as the main feature. As yet we are still working on the plans and ideas for this event but it is all very exciting and inspiring. I will update you as details get sorted and more definite. 

I have added 'Pages' to the right hand side of this blog page. The first page relates to the background of the exhibition project which was previously viewed in an 'open box' on the right. I have changed this as it got confused (or more accurately - I did) with my profile and I recently realised that this text appeared on all three of my blogs, which meant, of course, that it did not relate to the other two. So hopefully now things make more sense across all three blogs.

The second page is for information about the venue for the exhibition, and will be updated as details come in.

Elephants For Africa

This is the small research charity that I am working on a fund-raising exhibition for. They have recently updated their website and it  looks great with lots of information and links to blogs etc. They have also added the limited edition print I donated to them (ten prints) to their Art for sale page. 100% of each of the ten donated prints goes to Elephants For Africa.

Progress on the zebras

The background is now complete and the grasses behind the zebras as good as done, although there is a bit of fiddling to do there yet. Next will be the soil beneath the zebras hooves.....

Zebras underway

Yesterday I drew out the position of the elements of my subjects and background and roughly drew the details of shape. I then covered the canvas with a glaze of burnt sienna thinned with liquin. I had to do this carefully so that I wouldn't scrub out my pencil marks too much. That was then left to dry overnight. 

The canvas is backed by MDF board (which I believe is called masonite in the USA) giving me a solid surface to work on and dimensions that I want, rather than buying a ready made canvas on a frame.

Today I started painting and found myself approaching this one differently to previous work. Usually I start at the horizon and work forward straight onto the glazed surface. But this time I found myself blocking in the landscape and animals to create an underpainting. Not sure why I did this, there wasn't much forethought or considered choice.... it just felt the way to go on this piece. It could be because I have many elements and to get them 'mapped in' with colour first will help me see where I am going. As I say, it wasn't pre-planned, it just kind of happened that way. As this is not the way I usually work, it'll be interesting to see how I continue with the rest of the painting. It's good to change what you do every once and a while, isn't it. 

This piece features a group of zebras casually ambling across the scene. Another painting in which I want a calm feel... a reflection of daily life rather than dramatic event portrayed. I saw a few dramatic events during my stay.... which I will paint, but my over all impression of the landscape was animals quietly going about their daily lives. So I want to try and get that feel for the exhibition too. This painting also features a few blacksmith plovers disturbed by the zebras approach and two elephants, who are tucked away in the background. This will be one of those paintings for the exhibition that are not about the elephants but show that they are very much there in the landscape either by evidence of their passing by with a few 'dollops' of elephant dung or by a glimpse of them through the trees in the background.

New landscape piece

I have so many ideas on the go at the moment, either in my head or roughed out on bits of paper, that I don't know which to do first. Got at least three paintings at the planning stage, 'ready for take off' as it were, so I should have gone with one of them, right?  But then suddenly a new idea hit, so I had to go with the flow of that and after two days of preparation I am now ready to 'fly' with it.

It will be 36" x 11", so a long thin landscape piece.... toying with how detailed I should or should not go with it... so I will just see how it evolves on the canvas. That's all part of the excitement... not knowing what you are going to do with it exactly, until you do it. :)

Comments

I have changed the settings of this blog so that you can now add comments. I thought I had this set up previously, but was alerted recently, by someone who had tried to comment on a post, that this was not the case. I hope I have now corrected this. If you would like to make a comment please do so, I would love some feedback; however as I shall be moderating the comments (to stop spam and other dubious messages) it may not appear straight away.
I look forward to reading your messages. If there are any further problems please contact me via my general art blog, Susan Jane Lees, which has a guestbook.

Artist in Residence at Nature in Art

Last week I spent six wonderful days as the Artist in Residence at the fantastic Nature in Art Museum and Art Gallery in Gloucester. Between February and November they have artists spend a week or less in their studio to chat to the visitors and show them their work. Sculptors, carvers, painters, printmakers, pastelists etc all come to be part of the programme, so each week there is someone/something different to see and learn from.

I set the studio up into zones... so that I could display my zoo work, painting stock, Botswana work and merchandise in different areas for maximum impact.

This is the display of my Botswana work which, I'm pleased to say, generated a lot of interest. 

As well as my studio work done since I returned to the UK I had one of my field sketch paintings and my sketchbook out to be viewed. There was a slideshow running of images taken during my stay of the wildlife and the research work, leaflets and photographs.

I took two unfinished paintings to work on and hopefully finish and had planned to start another piece. But I only managed to get complete the two unfinished paintings. 

This is the first one I worked on.... it is of a lagoon near the airstrip that was favoured as a place for sundowners and we also had a lovely evening bush meal here as well. I had planned this as a backdrop for a small flock of white-faced whistling ducks silhouetted against the clouds, but quickly realised as I painted it that nothing else was needed in the composition; it had enough interest as it was. 

This is the second piece I worked on... a study of a vervet monkey. These were regulars in camp and could be very naughty if doors or windows were left open!

Again I had planned a little more in the composition of this piece... there was to be something up in the top right hand corner that the monkey was looking at... a small insect perhaps. However on painting the eye I felt that the story was in that look. Anything else would be a distraction and ruin the interaction between the viewer and the painting. The more I painted, the more sure of this I became... and this seemed to be backed up by the reaction of the people who came into the studio and saw it.

I had a lovely week and would like to thank all those who came in to see me, whether by design or chance. I enjoyed meeting you all and appreciate your interest and support. To the lovely people who rounded up their sales spend as a donation to Elephants for Africa I am particularly grateful and will be sure to add that to the end of year cheque I shall send them from general Botswana work sales, I know they will be very appreciative of your support. Thank you.

Insight to an Exhibition Talk

'Hunter'

I have just put together a new slideshow talk, which I shall be giving to an art group when I am in Gloucester next week. It has taken me five days to write the talk, sort  relevant photo's to illustrate the subjects, resize/crop them and get it to a point that I feel happy to say it is done. Phew! Took me longer than anticipated but then, it always does, doesn't it.

The talk is all about the exhibition project from how it all came about, the preparation for the trip to Botswana, the stay in the Okavango Delta, the progress on the work and touching on the preparation for the exhibition event. I will be showing images of my stay in the Delta, as well as some of the work I have done for the exhibition, including a step by step look into the inspiration, composition and creation of one of the paintings. I shall also take along my sketch book and some originals for folks to see properly.

More batiks

This Bank Holiday weekend I have concentrated on getting a few ideas done in batik. I had two cotton tote bags hanging around that I thought I could batik with elephants in some form or another. My thinking is that I could sell these ahead of the exhibition and in particular wanted them for my week as Artist in Residence at Nature In Art which is fast approaching (10th - 15th September). The funds from them will go into the 'exhibition fund pot', but I shall first deduct 20%, which will go to Elephants For Africa..... if I sell them.

I did two designs, on the same style bag (42cms x 35.5cms)... one of a wild bull that is named 'Hunter' (which is a 'threshold' image) who 'walked' a mahout and myself back to the mahout day camp in a calm but resolute manner! I will have to tell that tale on here at some point! 

And the other one is a pattern made up from a repeated image of an elephant, based on a bull named 'Ivor' (also wild). 

The third batik is another threshold image, this time of a greater kudu bull. A magnificent animal standing tall (unfortunately the photo is slightly tilted in a clockwise direction, so he doesn't look as tall and proud as the batik actually is - sorry I didn't notice that before) and looking very strong; he definitely means business!  This one is most likely to be done as a wall hanging to go in the exhibition. It is on a piece of cotton measuring 34" x 21" (865mm x 535mm), the kudu image itself is over 16" (405mm) high.

Here are a few images of the creation of the greater kudu batik.

The computer printout (my plan), from which I do the basic outline drawing that goes onto the cotton, is to the left.. I work on a piece of Java cotton, which is pinned taut to a frame. I mark in the outline of the kudu with a pencil (around HB grade) I use it lightly as this cotton is particularly fine and the technique I am using does not require the line to stay visible after the first layer of wax goes on. Pencil lines are easily lost though the process as water and colour are repeatedly applied to the cotton. I wax in the detail using my plan as a guide, adding detail or leaving bits out according to how I want the final image to look.

Here I have waxed in around the head. For this I use a slow flowing fine tjanting (canting), which is a type of batik tool for applying the molten wax to the surface. Every now and then I hold it up to the light to see if I have made good marks (that the wax has sealed the cotton) and that there is nothing that needs adding or altering (I can never take away - if I go wrong... I just have to adapt it as I go!) Luckily I managed to wax it all in without any mishaps.... such a relief.

Before I add any colour I then cover the rest of the cotton with wax to protect it from any unwanted colour spills ... I used a large household paintbrush for this. I had done several colour ideas on the computer before settling with the pink and mauve combination and then I had played with the distribution of colour, also on the computer. I had that printed out also as a guide for when it came to washing the colour over the surface of the free cotton, as again it is often the case with some colours that once on they cannot be undone or covered up... so it was important for me to get the feel of it right before the colour is applied. I love my computer as a tool for my work... it makes the prep work so much quicker and it is easy to visualise your ideas.

The time it took to wax it was about 5-6 hours, and I had to resort to protecting my thumb from the heat of the molten wax whilst holding the tjanting for that length of time almost non stop. Even though I had a folded piece of kitchen towel cradling the 'hot end' of the tjanting, the stray wax eventually seeps through and I was getting a very sore thumb, despite frequent changes of the kitchen towel. A combination of a plaster with masking tape then covering it, did the trick. The first for comfort the second as a barrier against molten wax.... a plaster alone, I learned, just won't do the job.    

Batik finished - Impala

This isn't the best of photo's to show off this piece.... I just couldn't get the background a good white and get the colours to show up bright and as lovely as they are. But hopefully you will get the idea of it.

This certainly isn't a new idea, but having seen several different art works recently along the lines of silhouetted shapes with colour on black or white backgrounds, I felt inspired to try and create something for the exhibition. I liked the effect and thought it might work well in batik, so after some thought on subject and approach I chose this format. The impala shapes all come from numerous reference photo's that I took in Botswana that I then grouped together and arranged into a design that I liked. I toyed with colour backgrounds either a solid colour or wet into wet colours, dark colours, light colours, different blends of colour... until I settled with this. I do like the simplicity of this idea and may do more. Maybe I'll try some of the other combinations I played with.