Travels of a Wildlife Painter
Ostriches nest communally, one cock bird to several hens. Once a clutch is laid, the dominant female incubates the eggs during the day. This lead hen will expel the eggs of weaker females that do not fit within the nest scrape. Her eggs are also at the center, making them less vulnerable to predation. The male sits at night, his black color making him undetectable in the darkness. I’ll share a look at the male brooding this nest in a future post.
A difficult morning for a golden nomad– and a glimpse of the sniggering rogue’s gallery that stormed his solitary kill. Each hyena is a unique character in its own right, with one ratty old fellow (wait for the painting) confronting the lion with a wildebeest foreleg poking out of his mouth like a jaunty cigar.
A preview detail from my new Serengeti lion painting Primal Echo. The total composition also includes the cat’s forelegs and follows the sinuous lines of his back and belly out of the painting as he strides forward from his kopje resting place to answer an unseen challenge. I’ve applied the first layer of pastel to the background and to the lion’s head and ruff– and will proceed from left to right, building the picture layer by layer. Many more refinements to come as work continues…
Join me as I research new paintings in such spectacular African wildlife destinations as Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve, Rwanda’s Parc National des Volcans, and Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park– then follow me back to my studio in the USA where, step by step, I’ll bring the paintings to life. Thanks for visiting my website! — Charles Alexander
Field sketching in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
Artist In Africa 