Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Monday, 11 February 2013

The Waterberg ~ South Africa

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

The Palala River, flowing north towards the Limpopo.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

Bonsmara cattle.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

Old red sandstone cliffs.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

Horses.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

Iron age sites and wildlife ~

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville


Saturday, 9 February 2013

Painting in Zimbabwe ~



An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville


I was able to go on a number of trips to paint in Zimbabwe in the 1990s.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

British friends of mine serving with BMAT were stationed up in the hills on the Mozambique border where it was possible to fish for trout.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

I had other friends who were farming near Chegutu who kindly invited me to stay, giving me time to sketch 

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

Their daughter Jenny was thirteen then and we would sit, peacefully drawing together.

illustrations for 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville


An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

I left them several framed paintings including one of this lady washing clothes and another of their prize Brahman bull.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

When their farm was invaded, they had so little time to pack that some of their pictures were left behind. Eventually they made contact by e-mail from Australia telling me of their loss. I spent a wet afternoon sending them these scans from my sketchbook to remind them of their life in Africa.

Monday, 4 February 2013

Sketches of Victoria Falls

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

When I first reached Victoria Falls there was so much water that we couldn't see a thing - just a cloud of mist that soaked us to the skin.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

These quick sketches were executed on the Zimbabwean side in the Victoria Falls National Park.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

I'd reached the town by train and was enchanted by the railway station.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

This is of the bridge that spans the Zambezi Gorge.

An illustration from 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville

Perhaps the most exciting thing was canoeing down the Zambezi towards the great waterfall. We pulled up our green canoes on one of the islands in the middle of the river and walked across the rocks to peer over the very lip of the falls. Despite the roar of the water, which was so loud we could hardly hear each other's voices, we set up camp under palm trees, building a fire to cook an evening meal.

We were guests of Ben Parker who was running Tongabezi Lodge. They have a panoramic shot of Livingstone Island and a number of fabulous photographs on their website, which gives you the feeling of being there.