AFC Featured Artist of the Day

I am a member of Artists For Conservation and they feature one member each day on their website. Today, 26th June, it is me. This link will take you to the Home Page of AFC where you can see me in the Featured Artist of The Day box and from there you can go to my profile home page. 
http://www.natureartists.com/

After today there will be a different artist featured each day. So if you missed seeing this post on the 26th June 2015 and you wished to see my AFC profile please use the following link - it will take you to my Home Page on their website. 
http://www.natureartists.com/artists/artist.asp?ArtistID=1609

New work

So... how have I been doing on the paintings front? Well, I've been working on a couple of bigger pieces lately as having the studio has given me that opportunity. I couldn't work on such sized work at home... there just wasn't the space. I acquired, through the incredible generosity of a friend, about 18 unused canvasses, some of which were lovely big ones. Well.. big for me.

The biggest was a 50"x60" canvas. This would be ideal on which to do a piece that would be an attention grabber perhaps, a focal point for the show... something to hang opposite the entrance to entice people in to look around. So This is the result..

The elephant is a young female from the captive herd of Abu Camp who was around 9 years old at the time I saw her. She was born to one of the other females in the herd, Gikka, and her father was a wild bull that visited the herd during one of their daily trips to the bush. Her name is Naya and she was a lovely character. During my three days when I went out for the day into the bush with the Abu herd and their mahouts, she would wander around with the two young calves, Paseka and Lorato, taking care of them whilst the adults got on with the serious job of browsing. 

The image I wanted was to be eye catching but not 'in your face' - more showing the quiet beauty and gentleness of elephants. The stick in her trunk was not planned initially, but as she appeared progressively on the canvas I thought it would be a touch to give her more of a story. 

This painting is called 'Serenity' and it is based on the young bull known to the Elephants For Africa researchers as 'Ivor'. I really enjoy this loose cameo approach and have done several for the exhibition.

I am currently working on something a little bit different, which I hope to finish soon. I will post a photo of that hopefully in the not too distant future.

Apologies and grumble

I type this feeling very ashamed of myself for it has been too long since my last post. January!! That's outrageous. I confess that the inability to post to my blogs on my mobile phone and time being a more precious factor has meant that I have favored posting to my Facebook accounts instead; which is so easy and quick to do. 

Posting images on this blog is not straight forward and involves one mobile phone download to pc, then transfer images via flash stick to Mac, adjust to size on Mac and transfer back to pc so that I can then upload to the blog. And until this year that was no problem but time, or rather lack  of it, is now a huge factor as I struggle to keep on top of everything. 

This, of course, is of no use to those of you without Fb accounts and prefer to visit here. I apologise for my lack of input and I will do my best to keep this blog up to date in the final run up to the exhibition; which is not far away now. Panic hasn't quite set in yet, but I am only too aware of the time slipping away when my jobs list seems to get no shorter.

I still have the rented studio space, which is proving invaluable in the run up to the exhibition not only for painting in, but being able to have several jobs on the go at once (something I could not do in the confines of our small house). So I can have something in process on the easel, a couple of canvasses or boards being primed ready, a painting or two laid out with varnish drying as well (as long as the framer isn't creating lots of fine dust with his saws etc) and a couple of pieces sat ready planned raring to go. 
I do love it... the studio is great, but by no means perfect... As I do struggle a bit with noise levels in there, particularly recently. Working part-time I find my days are short and precious in the studio and it doesn't help concentration when there is a grinding machine, mechanical saw, someone hammering, etc etc. Aaah the joys of sharing a room divided into rented units. The other people are lovely and I know they have as much right to be there as me, but I do find it hard, after being used to peace and quiet when I used to work at home to have so much noise around at times. The two newest people to rent are the ones with potentially the most noise making equipment. A framing business and also a jewellery maker (she uses the grinder for sculpting amazing intricate pieces). Then on Sunday there's the church service - which should be 10 -12 but often goes on to 2pm, and on a couple of occasions until 4pm. I have no problem as such that it's a church.. just that they play their music (they have a live band) as loud as a rock concert. I really do feel the floor vibrating under my feet as they use the room below. So it seems the times where it is lovely and quiet to work in are now fewer and farther between. For most of the last year's rental I have had mostly quiet days when I work there often with no-one else in at all and I would time my work on Sundays to miss most of the church service. But the two newest folk might have changed that as they have also been working at the weekends. Ah well... can't have it all ways can you :) 

Ostrich line drawing continued

After drawing up my three female ostrich, the next stage was to scan them into the computer individually.  

The drawings were scanned in and opened in Photoshop for the next phase of cutting out the background, so that it is transparent. I do this so that if I over lap the images I don't get the white background of the top image blocking the one underneath' and I can see clearly the shapes of each subject, in this case the birds.

To cut out the background I add a new layer to each image and using the eraser tool, (the magic wand could also be used), remove all the background. On screen, a grey chequered  pattern is revealed, this won't show up when I use this image later.. it just shows that the background has gone.

Once I have 'cut out' each bird I save them as a psd (photoshop) file, rather than a tiff or jpg. I then create a document in Adobe Illustrator, a design software application, to the size I need. Then I 'place' each bird image file onto this document. 

When I did the original drawings I didn't worry about getting them the same size, as I can now resize each bird image by dragging the corners in or out to make them larger or smaller, until they are comparable heights.

Once I was happy with the sizes I then played with their positioning.  My original idea was to have them in a row, evenly spaced, but I was thinking that looked a little boring, so after trying a few different layouts I ended up preferring a space and overlap in the composition. I then tried the birds in different positions in the layout to see which order I liked best. This was my final version.

I printed a 'hard copy' to the size I wanted for my final drawing and then using a 4B pencil I drew round the outlines of the birds on the back of the paper. Positioning the hard copy onto my final paper (white cartridge) for the ink drawing, I traced the main outlines gently through, being careful not to press hard so I didn't get an indent.

Then using a drawing pen with black ink I used my reference photo's to draw the ostriches being guided on size and position by my traced pencil lines. However my first attempt didn't look right, my drawing stroke technique was too varied. So I traced the outlines again onto another piece of good paper and started again. This time things worked better. The final step in this ink line drawing was to gently rub out the pencil marks once the ink was thoroughly dry.

The ostriches will 'sit' in an mount aperture size of 9" x 13". This photo isn't great, but hopefully you'll get the idea. 

   

Ostrich drawings

Monday I did not get down the studio as domestic duties and running around kept me occupied until mid-afternoon. I want to start a new piece in the studio next, so need a good run of hours to get the initial work on, as I shall be working wet into wet with the oils and don't really want to stop midway through. As I had only a three hours until I'd be home again I decided to stay home and crack on with one of the ink drawings I have planned.

I had previously picked a number of likely subjects for a series of ink line drawings, one of which was ostriches. I had not seen many ostrich in the Delta during my stay in March 2011 and those I did see were mostly females. I think I spied a lone male once, way off in the distance. But I did manage to get a number of photo's that I could now browse through and select good candidates to use as reference for the drawings. As they were mostly distant shots I can use these for general stances but zooming in close on the computer screen doesn't really give me great details like head shape or feet. Therefore I shall also use other ostrich photo's that are better for such details that I have taken elsewhere in Africa or in captive situations here in the UK.

After a short afternoon of drawing, these are the three gals I am going to use. 

The next job will be to scan them individually into the computer for the composition stage.  I know what is in my head.. now I just need to translate that into a 'hard copy' plan. I will write about that process in a follow up post to this one on another day.

Passing Monarch

Having painted the background a while before Christmas, I was keen to start this one of a lilac-breasted roller.

When in Botswana, I tried hard to get some half decent reference shots of this species. I saw rollers often during my month long stay, mostly sat atop a small tree or bush alongside the track. But whenever we approached, yup... you guessed it... it would fly away before I could focus my camera on it. I had many shots of empty space or if I did get it in time, they would be out of focus, blurred by movement or tantalising captures of ends of tail feathers.

My best ref came on the very last day as we waited for the planes to come in to the small airstrip. But it was against the light. On another day we saw a roller that was hunting and I managed to get just a couple of shots (out of focus) as it chased an insect through the air.

This gave me two ideas for roller paintings and they could sit together, telling a story. This piece is the first... where the roller sees an insect fly by. And the second piece will be it chasing that insect.

Enlarging my original ref photo's on the computer to get a closer look at the insect being chased, showed me that it could well have been a dragonfly, or at least that's what I originally thought. So I trawled through my own photo's of dragonflies from the trip to find something I could use. It became obvious that the shapes were wrong... so my perhaps it was a grasshopper? Also the more I thought about it the more I wondered... would dragonflies be part of their diet. Dragonflies are strong fast flyers... would a lilac-breasted hunt them? 

So I did some internet search and found several sites that listed prey items seen to have been taken by this species. Dragonflies were not on the lists, but grasshoppers were. So.. that was looking more likely. But a grasshopper wasn't 'doing it for me' as my secondary subject for my painting. How about another of the prey species listed...Butterfly? I liked that idea.. I had quite a number of butterfly photo's... but which one? 

I had a think.. I wanted a plain blue sky as the backdrop...and suddenly I knew what it should be. An African monarch butterfly. The orangey colour of this species would sit beautifully on the blue sky colour (complimentary colours) and with the blues of the bird. I had several photo's of this species from my trip and luckily a few out of focus flight ones that I could use to get the wing angle and several of ones sitting to get the colours and patterns.

When I painted the blue sky, I used three tones and softly blended them to create darker tones to sit at the bottom and right of the composition with the lightest colour top left.. where the butterfly will be. So that will be a subtle 'eye puller' to the butterfly.

I had photo ref of the bird sat in many positions on branches and in varying light conditions but not in the position I wanted - having the bird's head to be turned and looking up to the corner with the butterfly. So again I turned to the internet to find photos of this species with their heads turned so I could see the angles of beak and plumage colouration. Having found a few I could work from, I drew the bird up on tracing paper ready to transfer to the board of blue.   

Finally I got to start on the painting of the subjects this week. I was working on the vegetation today and hope to finish it tomorrow.

Sundowner

Almost done on this one... contemplating the next move. Again I am adding birds in flight. Originally I was thinking white-faced whistling duck, but am suddenly drawn to the idea of spur-winged geese as the white areas of their plumage would catch the colour of the low sun rays more so than the whistling duck; who also being much smaller would be too small, as I want them right back over the land mass in the image.

So, this morning, I have been looking at my ref pix and doing an internet search for backups and detail images (as mine are in the distance and slightly fuzzy). So I can use mine for shapes etc and get plumage marking positions etc from the internet images.

This is an oil on deep edge canvas (size approx 16" x20"). The painting continues around to the sides.

Unsure what to call this one, got several ideas, but unable at the mo to pick and stick with one.

Exhibition meeting

Had a great meeting with Dr Kate Evans of Elephants For Africa today, going over exhibition plans and arrangements... ideas to develop, who does what and when - that sort of thing. All very exciting and positive... lots to do, but it's going to be fun... Tis all exciting anyway, but came away even more 'buzzed' about it.... if that's possible. 

First off the easel in 2015

I am home on leave from the zoo this month (part of my usual 3 month leave, as I work at the zoo for 9 months every year), so after all the computer work I've been doing since Christmas, I finally got into the studio this week. It was good to be back and thinking of paint and Botswana, rather than sums and figures.

It's a tad chilly in the studio at the moment, as the heating seems to be off. I was in Wednesday and though chilly it was bearable. However there were 7 other folk in  their own studio spaces in the same room as mine, so it was quite noisy and distracting. This is the downside of the studio rental aspect. 

My space is just one of about a dozen in the same room and although each is separated with stud walling the unit is not enclosed. The open aspect is great for light, but rubbish for minimising any sounds from neighbours. And it does get noisy what with talking on the phone, music or talking books played rather loudly, dischordant singing of folk with their headphones on. Then there's the installation artists banging, sawing, drilling now and again as they work on their latest piece. 

I love having a separate studio space with no household distractions, with all my art stuff in one area and easily reached and have enjoyed meeting a few other arty folk. But I am so used to working, for the most part, in a house with few noises, so in the studio I do have trouble with concentration... even with my headphones on. 

Anyhooo... whinging aside..... My first painting job of the year was to finish the little warthog piece I had almost completed prior to Christmas. This was one of those ideas that kind of developed as it went. Initially it was just going to be a quick little study of a male warthog. But then I added a few more and then the elephants went in the background. 

At that point I thought something was needed to get the eye moving around the composition. I was finding the eye was conflicted and stuck in either the top area with the elephants or the bottom with the warthog. I needed something to tie them together.

I decided I should put some birds in but what birds do I add? I toyed with flying long-tailed starlings, fork-tailed drongos or white faced duck, maybe a saddle-billed stork or wattled crane standing in the grasses in the background. In the end I decided on coucal's, as their coppery plumage would bring out the colours I used on the warthogs manes. In flight they add some action and story to the piece .. their positioning also helps the eye move around the composition.  

Think it is as good as done... might tweek a couple of little things at some point, but for now I am putting it to one side to see how it 'sits' for a while.

This is an oil on a small canvas panel board about 7" x 8" although that is, at the moment, a very rough guess on size. I will check on that today when I get back down the studio later.

The start to the year

My New Year's Resolution is to try and post something here every week if I can. I got a distracted with work and things by the end of last year and let posting slip. That is not good enough... so must do better. With the exhibition just 8 months away I am even more conscious of the monumental task ahead. There will be much going on this year in the preparation for it, so therefore I shall have a lot more to report on. Or at least that is the plan. And we all know what happens to best laid plans!!

Before I could get back to painting, after Christmas, I had the annual task of doing my accounts. Not the most fun job to do, but if I can get them done and out of the way as the first job of the year then I can concentrate on the more fun stuff afterwards. Fun stuff like planning a few ideas for paintings and sorting the reference for them. This year my account job took a wee bit longer because I couldn't help breaking the serious stuff now and again with working on some fun stuff... a few of my painting ideas that I am eager to crack on with.It meant it did prolong the accounting pain, but at lest I am ready to go with several pieces straight off.

After the accounts, I had an ad to put together. For the last 7 years I have tutored a batik class at the week long event of the Gloucester Arts & Crafts Summer School (GSS) held in July. Although I won't be tutoring this year I thought an ad in their brochure, for my exhibition, would be a good idea. Just an example of how I've really got to start thinking ahead now. My brain just wants to concentrate on painting but there's all this organisational and promotional stuff to do as well.

I'm using the Ivor portrait piece as the image for all the promotional stuff so he is the 'face' of the exhibition and there is a unity to all the promotional flyers, ads, leaflets etc. The ad for the GSS needed to be with the organiser by the end of this week. It's a simple black and white image with wording but took longer than expected as I had an issue (which I resolved) with my text boxes in Adobe Illustrator - the design software I use and with saving it from an Illustrator file to a jpg. Kept losing my border.. but managed to overcome that issue too but my quick little job ended up taking two evenings. On Friday I sent the ad to Simon, the Director at Nature In Art to make sure he was happy with it and then sent it off to the GSS organiser.

This week, the Nature In Art magazine arrived. Their first one of the year with all the listings in a leaflet of their forth coming events this year. Was quite a buzz to see my exhibition image and blurb in there as well. Up til now it was still kind of just an idea almost.. the reality of it was not yet there in front of me in printed form. But seeing the Nature In Art leaflet really brought home to me that this is all very real now. Gulp.

Email banner design

Today I have designed a 'banner' to go as part of my 'signature' in my emails. For those that think I have just spoken some alien language..... basically it's a picture that will show up automatically, along with the other information text that I already have,, at the end of each email I send out. 

I am having to think now of promotion for the exhibition and find ways I can 'spread the word'. We use banners on emails where I work at the zoo and today whilst sending out a couple of emails it suddenly struck me that this would be a good thing to do with my own emails. Never done one before ... but I have based it on the flyer I did earlier this year. This is so I have a running recognisable theme for my promotional activities for this exhibition.  

Bearing in mind that I am not a graphic designer, although I did pick up some rudiments at college, please don't judge my attempt too harshly.

Artist in Residence week

Last month, for the first week, I was Artist in Residence at Nature in Art. Their programme of artist residencies runs almost a full year annually, starting in January and going on through to the end of November. A wide variety of artists participate, sometimes as a solo artist sometimes doubling up or as part of a group. A wide variety of skills are covered such as sculpting, printmaking, calligraphy, woodcarving as well as painting and drawing all in a diverse range of mediums. During my week I concentrated on oil painting, but started a pastel on the last day to save me transporting a very wet oil painting home in a very tightly packed car.

The front of Wallsworth Hall with a magnificent Geoffrey Dashwood sculpture, on loan for his exhibition, standing outside.

I set the studio up into 'zones'. As you entered the little 'porch' of the studio there was a display of my work from my job as Wildlife Illustrator at Bristol Zoo. Then moving into the main part of the studio you first saw a small selection of my paintings, then there was an area set out for my In The Footsteps of Elephants exhibition project, followed by a table with cards and other small merchandise on. 

Lastly I sat to one side of the studio painting at an easel.

I started the week off with a loose bull study. When I do these at home I usually limit the time I spend working on them to a max of 4-5 hours - just as a challenge to myself to speed up and not then go on to work in too much detail. The eyes are finding it harder to do detail work so, preparing for the future, I am developing a more loose style. This does sadden me as I do love doing detail, but I am also enjoying trying something that goes against my need to create something precise.

I have in mind a painting of a bull by water that has been formulating for sometime... so this study also doubles up as a kind of try out for it. 

Next on the easel is another piece that I have been consolidating in my mind for a couple of months.  I will do a post, called 'The Message Piece', all about the thoughts behind this piece very soon.. so look out for it.

I saw working on it during my residency as an opportunity to gauge reaction to it. It is something a little different for me to do and therefore I'm not too sure of a) how it will turn out and b) how people will react to it. But it is something that is in me and has to be done... so here goes...

This was as far as I had got by the close of play on the day before I went home. I am pleased that it seemed to strike a chord with a number of people who saw it, so I hope that it will work out well painting wise and therefore make it into the show. I have some worries (challenges) ahead, as I will have to battle with my desire to keep working into a piece to get it finished in detail. Holding back and making each subsequent elephant looser will be a huge challenge for me. I am confident the next bull in line will go fine.. but it's the three after that, numbers four and five in particular, that I wonder if I can achieve the look I am after without being able to keep on painting to 'get it right'. But hey, what's life without a challenge!

On my last day I decide to switch to doing something in pastels. The reason for this was I wasn't keen to transport and risk smudging a very wet painting home in a car that will have so much in it that it will be stuffed to the hilt. So I started this little study. The surface is a sandpaper finish that is almost black and I figured a brightly lit bull would stand out lovely on it.

I didn't quite finish it on that last day, so it was completed (as you see it here) back in my studio near home. I am pleased with the look and have plans to do at least one more like this, probably as a 'pairing' for this one.

I had a lovely week, as usual, during my residency.. meeting lots of lovely folk, some new to me, some well known. The interest in the exhibition is encouraging and I hope to see some of those, who plan to come and see it, again next year. 

If you popped in to see me - Thank you so much, I really appreciate you taking the time to do so.

Artist in Residence week fast approaches

I am looking forward to my Artist In Residence week at Nature in Art, which is coming up very soon - 2nd to 7th September. It is always a pleasure to visit there for a day, so a week is a real treat. 

At the moment I am busy getting projects ready to do whilst there and a gathering a few bits and bobs to have available to sell. I will be showing some of the work that I have been doing for the exhibition (which will be at this venue September next year) as well as other work such as some examples of what I do as Wildlife Illustrator at Bristol Zoo Gardens.

Nature in Art is a lovely place to visit and they have a great little coffee shop serving lovely lunches and super cakes and puds. If you are in the area, please do pop in and say hello... I shall be in the studio out in the gardens.

Elephant related news

The conservation research charity I am doing the exhibition for is, as you all should know by now, Elephants For Africa (EFA). They have recently updated their website and it is well worth a look to find out more about this small but important team. I am proud to be connected to them and the work they do is something I am keen to support. Please, if you have time, take a few minutes to browse their webpages and if you can find a way to support them through purchases of art or merchandise and/or donations you can be sure that the money goes directly to their work.  


For the last two years the study work area of EFA has moved to the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans National Park. Previously they were in the Okavango Delta for 10 years, and I visited them there a year before they moved. Another elephant conservation charity is now working in that area, Elephants Without Borders (EWB). They continue the release and monitoring of some of the individulas from the captive elephant herd at Abu Camp. One of the adult females, Gikka, and her daughter, Naya, who I got to know briefly during my stay, were the most recent individuals released back to the wild. Gikka was a Kruger N.P. cull orphan from many years back and Naya was born into the Abu Herd (fathered by a wild bull) in 2003. They are now living free together and Gikka has another calf - conceived and born in the wild. Recently EWB posted a sighting from the air of Gikka, Naya and the calf. They are reported to be doing well and I am so glad to see any postings of their progress. 

Gikka was one of my favourite characters of the Abu Herd, partly because of her spirited nature. I am so happy that she and Naya have made a success of their return to the wild. Long may they roam freely and without fear.

Catch up

Hmmm... My last post was waaaay back at the end of June!!! So what has been going on?

Well first off... I have a new work environment. Some funding has come my way which has enabled me for the first time EVER to have a dedicated workspace for my art. My own art studio. It's actually rented, so technically not mine, but the important thing is I have a separate space to work and gather my art paraphernalia together.  It was a bit of a long-winded process sorting out the money side and during June I started setting up. I have already been painting in there... Ivor's portrait was finished in there and I have started on a small pastel piece since but haven't got very far with that. 

The hold up has been a few other commitments to organise and prep for, so consequently I have hardly seen the studio during this month (July). Hopefully after the weekend of 9th and 10th, in which I am tutoring a drawing workshop in Devon , I shall be able to get back into the studio and crack on with some work for the exhibition.

Ivor has left the easel

So here he is... finished.. finally! Queue the fanfare, drum roll etc...

It has taken a while to get there, but hopefully the trials of the wrinkles has made it worth it. 

I am quite pleased with him: but as always an artist tends to always see what they could have done better perhaps, do differently. That I think is a good thing... keeps us striving to do better next time. That said I am tending to think this could be one of the main pieces for the show.. one of my best to date for this exhibition.

He is painted in oils on a 18" x 24" canvas and will be hung without a frame, as was always the plan. I want that contemporary feel for this piece, that I think frameless sometimes gives.

I had seen Ivor during my stay in the Okavango Delta... he is a very handsome young bull and was one of the bulls recorded in the work the Elephants For Africa research charity had been doing in that area for almost a decade. I asked Dr Kate Evans about him...He was first seen and recorded by the researchers on Valentine's Day 2009 when he was estimated to be 15 years old and appeared to be going through independence as after the initial sighting when he was with two other young bulls (two years his senior) and a female group, he was seen mainly with other bulls. His nature with the researchers was described as very sweet and easy to be around, never having charged (mock or otherwise) them.

When I saw him he appeared to be alone, but other bulls could well have been nearby. He would have been around 17-18 years old by then and was feeding in an area that was quite busy animal wise that day. Along with him there were a few giraffe, a troop of baboons and a kudu bull with several females ... all within very close quarters to each other. It was a lovely sighting as we watched Ivor (as a focal was done on him) and the others for over half an hour. 

Bristol Festival of Nature 2014

Last weekend (14-15 June) was the Bristol Festival of Nature. Elephants for Africa had a stand in the Green Forum Tent and it looked great. Well done to Kate for all her hard work putting that together to look so good. 

I was able to tear myself away from my new studio to help on the stand for both days and although it was tiring I enjoyed spending time chatting to Kate and her other friends who were helping man the stand. We met a lot of interesting and interested folk and raised a healthy sum to help fund the charity's research work. 

What was also beneficial to me was the boost to remind me what I was working towards... Not that I ever forget, but it was good to have that contact with the charity again. It is seven years since I first met Kate at the festival in 2007 and our plan for the exhibition began. 

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to chat to us about the research and elephants and especially if you bought something to support their work.

This is Dr Kate Evans - Founder and Director of Elephants For Africa and Josephine (on the left) who is one of the researchers involved with Elephants For Africa.

Exhibition Flyer

This week saw the arrival of my first In The Footsteps of Elephants exhibition flyer. Next weekend (14th-15th June 2014) I shall be helping out on the Elephants For Africa stand at the Bristol Festival of Nature, so I thought having some flyers to advertise the exhibition would be a good plan. I know the exhibition is not until next year but I am hoping to build up interest well in advance to try and reach as many people as possible. 

The front of the flyer features part of the portrait of Ivor (one of Botswana's free-ranging bulls) that I am currently working on. I wanted to use this image as I felt it was eye-catching and would work well to initiate interest - getting people to pick up the leaflet in the first place is half the battle. 

Keeping the amount of text as minimal as I could, I started to design the text around it and asked, Anna, one of my graphic designer friends if it it would work. She made a few suggestions, basically just tweeking text size.  I used a QR Code generator to get that funny looking black and white chequered box. For those of you who don't know what it is.. it enables smart phone users (who have a QR code reader app) to get a link direct to this blog. I'm trying to keep up with modern times.. and luckily it is very easy to do. It's great tool for getting more information, to those who might be interested, instantly. 

As yet we have not had confirmation of the dates for the exhibition, so I have only ordered 250 leaflets for now. As I designed and ordered them online, the dates can be added later easily enough and I can order more at any time.

As mentioned earlier, this image is just the front of the flyer... I have two more smaller images on the back with a brief exhibition description and internet addresses for  the venue (Nature In Art), the charity (Elephants For Africa) and the exhibition project blog and Facebook pages. 

Bristol Festival of Nature

Elephants For Africa, the charity for whom I am doing the fundraiser exhibition next year, will be at The Bristol Festival of Nature June 14th - 15th. 

I shall be helping out on their stand in the Green Forum Tent over the weekend.. not sure of when but possibly both days. Dr Kate Evans, Director and Founder of the charity, will of course be there, along with two of the students who have done research work for their PhD and Master studies with the charity in the field. Here's a great opportunity if you would like to talk to some 'on the ground' people working with elephants. 

The Festival is a great event with many wildlife, conservation and related organisations taking part... do come along and say hello.

Hunter

Spending time out in the bush for about 8-9 hours during the day, I inevitably met or saw other residents of the Delta, not just the Abu herd.  Mostly these were of the small variety- birds, invertebrates and a baby leopard tortoise. 

One of the mahouts, Boago, brought me this cutie to see. The mahouts told me it was a female, as she didn't have the groove on her scutes underneath and they estimated her to be about 9 months old. After a quick look we put her back where she was found, to carry on her way.

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Baby leopard tortoise

Mantis nymph sizing up my index finger

Although the bigger animals were around, they would have known about our presence and kept clear, that is, all except one VERY big resident.

I had been out on a route drive that morning with two researchers, Charlie and Mphoeng, since around 7am and on our return route back to camp, they dropped me off with the mahouts at their day camp with the Abu Herd, around 9.30am. The camp was under a grove of Langostine trees, which was at the edge of a large open pan. Right across the other side of that pan, in the distance, stood a large wild bull elephant. 

Charlie and Mphoeng headed off to get a focal on him from a respectful distance and to ID him, before they went back to Seba camp. As it turned out, he only had a number to identify him in their records, so Charlie named him Hunter, after a TV wrestling star.

I settled in with the mahouts, Mohambo and B (which is short for Boago – pronounced Boaho), and an hour or so after the researchers had done their focal on Hunter and left, I asked Mohambo if I could go and sketch ‘the girls’ before it got too hot around midday to sketch out in the open. I went with Mohambo, over to the tree line on the side of the pan to the right of the camp, Gikka, Sherini and Paseka were browsing just in front of the trees amongst shrubs and bushes. 

Sherini in the background, Paseka foreground left and Gikka foreground right

We kept an eye on Hunter, across the pan, who was staying relatively still in the same spot. We couldn’t see what he was doing, but he stayed pretty much close to the spot he was in when I had first arrived earlier.

Rough plan of camp in the langostine grove and the pan where Hunter was. This isn’t to scale.. it’s just to give an idea of the scene and where we all were in relation to each other.

We had been there a short while as I sketched Gikka, when we saw that Hunter was now slowly heading our way.  He was in no hurry and looked very chilled and relaxed. What should we do?

Mohambo told me it was ok and to keep sketching as he kept an eye on Hunter’s progress. Soon the girls were visibly aware of the approaching bull. I say visibly as it is quite possible they had been in communication all morning with the bull and knew he was there. Elephants can communicate at frequencies much lower than our hearing can pick up. As he approached they stood looking his way with their trunks up smelling the air. 

Gikka's reaction to the approach of Hunter

Hunter slowly moved towards us, or rather the girls of the Abu herd. Sherini was further away from us than Gikka and he headed towards her first, but never actually went up to her. I had stood alongside Sherini - her eye was above my head (I’m 5’8”) and it felt like she towered over me. But now as Hunter got close to her, this elephant I had seen as big, now suddenly seemed to shrink in size. Hunter stood way higher than either Sherini or Gikka. How tall was he? 

I asked Mohambo if wild bulls, visiting the girls, was a problem. He replied that the bulls aren't aggressive towards the girls so they were quite happy for them to walk among them. Sometimes a bull will mate with one of the adult females if they are in oestrus; a few calves have been born into the Abu Herd this way. 

Hunter comes to say Hi to Gikka. She turns sideways at his final approach and there were a series of low rumbles.

We backed off a bit as the bull slowly walked from Sherini’s position towards Gikka, but he seemed unconcerned with our presence, obviously more interested in the girls. The wind shifted direction slightly.. I was aware that it had been in our favour blowing our scent away from the bull, but a small shift changed the direction towards him. 

It was then that he took notice of us. I can’t believe he was not aware of our presence before that..  but the change in his focus was apparent. He lost interest completely in Gikka. His head went up and he stood still, ears forward, gently wafting as he sized us up. I knew I shouldn’t run, so I looked to Mohambo.... What do we do now? He reached smoothly down and picked up my backpack in a slow but fluid movement and indicated for me to put my sketchbook in it. Time to move.

Hunter studying us

Mohambo directed me to start walking back to the encampment, slow and sure.  “Walk smartly, but casually.” He advised. Easier said than done. The ground under foot was rutted and not easy to walk across without pressure, such as a huge bull elephant just yards away. Now it took some concentration to try and keep body movements relaxed as I stumbled over the ground. Relaxed, yet casually hurried!

As we walked away I looked over my shoulder and my heart leapt as I saw that Hunter had begun to follow us. That walk back to camp and safety, making a bee-line for the grove of trees, over several hundred yards of rough terrain away, seemed like 5 miles! Trying to hurry, but not look like it, whilst trying to watch the ground through rough grass for safe footholds so as not to slip or make any sudden jerky moves AND constantly checking over my shoulder to see the looming shape of the elephant coming up behind was not an easy task.

Mohambo positioned himself, so that he was always between me and the fast approaching bull. Kate’s words rung in my ears, “You can trust the mahouts with your life. They will take care of you.” Although Hunter walked slowly and easily, his long legs paced out much longer strides than our own and so pretty soon he had caught up and was walking alongside us! I couldn’t resist using the camera that was slung around my neck and took a few shots when I could. Hunter didn’t flinch or seem at all agitated. He just walked alongside looking down on these puny two legged stick animals as they made their way to the trees; he could probably sense that one was quite relaxed, but the other had elevated heart beat, breathing, excitement and anxiety, even if she did point that clicky thing at him a few times and look on him with wonder and awe. He kept pace with us then right up to the grove of trees. 

I was only too aware that at any time, he was close enough to create a problem, if he chose to.

Hunter strides slowly alongside

I had the standard lens on my camera at the time... no need for zoom!!

B was resting under the trees and so didn’t know we had a bull parallel walking us back to the now very flimsy looking camp. I was drawn towards the makeshift tent (a tarpaulin sheet thrown over a metal frame) and watched with a heady mix of some trepidation and excitement as Hunter’s big grey form skirted the camp, just visible through the thick cover of branches and leaves to my right. We were safe now, right?

He made no sound as he followed the tree-line. Then there was an ominous sound of branches breaking and a great rustling of vegetation as Hunter pushed through the outer line of trees and bushes surrounding the camp. And there he was! Larger than life! Standing in the camp area about 40-50 yards from where my feet seemed planted on the ground. His entrance had been noisy and showy.. not with trumpets or rumbles, but just the sound of him shoving through thick bush cover after the silence of his approach round the trees, was dramatic enough.

At some point I’m sure my heart must have stopped or my instinct to breathe was interrupted, or both! He was an awesome sight and I looked from him to the ‘tent’ I was standing behind, it was hardly a good ‘hiding’ place. Not exactly a place of safety; he could brush that frame aside like a feather! I wondered how out of practice my tree climbing skills were as I looked around for somewhere safe to go to, should I need it. The tree by the tent looked sturdy enough to withstand a bull elephant's pushing and shoving, but even that I couldn't be sure of. 

Mohambo and B stood watching him; they looked relaxed and unperturbed. Hunter walked showily across in front of us, coming out into a more open spot under the trees.. clear line of sight both ways. He was side on to us, his head held high and he shook it a few times, sending his large ears out noisily as they slapped his neck and shoulders.  He proceeded to pull a few small branches off a tree and thrashed some nearby vegetation. He was showing us his strength, his size and just letting us know he was the boss around here, I guess, in a relatively mild way for an elephant. Even so, the impact on this puny human was impressive enough. Whilst marvelling in the experience and spectacle, it was also on my mind of what would happen if this turned into something more threatening? Just before Hunter had crashed through into the camp, I had asked Mohambo what if this bull got aggressive and charged. Mohambo said he would shoot a warning shot and that usually works; he was happy though that it wouldn’t come to that, as this bull was “ok, just curious”. But he did say that should the bull come for me, he would have to ‘drop’ him. Strangely I felt guilty that this would have to happen, should things go that way. I fervently hoped Mohambo was right in his assessment of Hunter’s mood; I didn’t want to be the cause of an elephant’s death, even if it was to save my own life.

As Hunter did his thing… B held the twiggy branch he had been idling toying with whilst he rested and Mohambo casually leant on the rifle. They didn't look worried at all, just watched the bull displaying. So I took my cue from them..  what Hunter was doing was very showy, and I couldn't help but feel some trepidation at the power and strength he displayed,  but he didn’t come across as aggressive. His behaviour seemed to be about stating his presence with a little intimidation rather than anything more menacing.  

This phase didn’t last long, once his ‘point was made’ he then stood watching us for a bit before settling down to munch away on the trees and plants around him. At that point Mohambo and B motioned at me with their hands. I wasn’t sure if it was to indicate to me to back off or for me to come closer. I assumed the latter… surely!

I started backing up. Mohambo smiled, shaking his head “No, no this way.”

“Are you sure? I asked incredously… he nodded and said “You can’t sketch him from back there.” !!

So I carefully walked to their position, every broken twig underfoot sounded like a gunshot. I was now standing about 20-30 yards away from this incredible bull. Not knowing how long he would be there I quickly took a couple of photos before attempting to sketch. Talk about pressure! I could feel my blood pumping around the veins in my temples and my heart had been hammering so hard I could almost feel it now knocking the insides of my ribcage; added to that my hands were shaking slightly with excitement. It was hard to switch off from all that to get the brain into sketching mode. I have to say I struggled to sketch. I did something that looked sort of like an elephant, but it was bad and didn’t look much like him. I wasn’t happy with my attempts and it has taken me a long time to decide to show them on here. As a compromise, I admit, I have masked out one side of each head sketch.. it is just too embarrassing to show the complete mess I made, so I'm showing only the bits I'm happier with. Although not by much! 

Mohambo whispered as I sketched “Breathe Su. Breathe.” My brain had been concentrating so much on sketching and that damn big bull, it seemed to forget to keep my lungs going properly! I let out a long badly needed breath. Then it was hard to try and breathe calmly as my lungs fought to gain the oxygen I had denied it for… well, I don’t know how long. Obviously long enough for Mohambo to notice and suggest I remedy!

Eventually Hunter took his leave of us and departed from the grove of trees in a much quieter manner than he arrived.

He walked away slowly and steadily back out across the pan, leaving me with a 40 minute encounter I will never forget. As he left I silently thanked him and wished for him a long life, safe from human greed and cruelty, with many strong calves to continue his lineage.