Reviews of 'Ride the Wings of Morning' on Goodreads

A collection of letters written between the author and her family during the time she spent convalescing and working in South Africa, this lovely volume also contains artwork completed during the years she was there. I enjoyed this book very much and would love to meet the author. 

A wonderfully refreshing book, innocent, appealing, very funny, insightful . . . a must read if you like witty, human life stories. Richard Pilbrow

Loved this book as it reminded me so much of my childhood in rural Zululand, South Africa, in the 1990s. Loved Sophie's adventures, and African experiences.

Thank you, Sophie, for sharing your experiences with us! 

Are you planning to go to Cape Town?

Sketches made travelling through the winelands ~

Visiting a friend at Roggelands, near Paarl ~

In the old Botantical Gardens looking at the South African Library ~

A map I sketched of the Cape Town area ~

Painting in South Africa ~

At this time of year it is high summer in South Africa.

When I lived in the Waterberg I went riding every morning before breakfast,

returning for mealie pap and bananas fried with crispy bacon

before settling down to paint in a room looking out over this lovely garden.

You too can stay with my friends on Triple 'B' Ranch 

~ home to Waterberg Cottages as well as Horizon Horseback Adventures 

with Ant's Nest and Ant's Hill  near by ~

Sketches from the Okavango Delta ~

I first went to the Okavango to ride horses with PJ and Barney Bestelink.

It is wonderful being on a horse as you can cross both the water-meadows and dry islands.

I then took friends on to stay at Tchau, a camp on the Borro River run by Jez Lye.

The camp looked out over the flood plain.

We slept in large tents on an island, standing in the shade of Jackalberry trees.

The location of the Okavnago Delta in Botswana

Please let Sophie Neville know if you would like to use any of her artwork.
sophie@sophieneville.co.uk

Have you thought of going to Malawi?

You can see Lake Malawi from the heights of the Nyika Plateau.

I spent time at Monkey Bay

where it was possible to camp on the beach

or explore islands

I appreciated the food at Club Makakola

and watching rock hyrax at otter point.

This map charts our journey. It was amazing.

Travel to Africa

If you were wondering where to go in Africa, and when

this might help, but important thing is to just go.

Sketches of Giraffe

Watching girafffe is an incredibly peaceful activity.

This is possibly because although they seem to be silent, the adults communicate at a frequency we cannot detect.

It's always rather alarming to see how long their tongues are.

It is diffcult to draw them when you are given a regular-sized commission, but not impossible:

I once produced this ink and watercolour to illustrate a brochure.

And this cartoon for a map of horse safaris in the Okavango.

But this quick sketch is perhaps my favorite.


All sketches are featured in 'Ride the Wings of Morning' and are (c) Sophie Neville. Please contact me if you need to use them on sophie@sophieneville.co.uk

Elephants I have known ~

I was once able to spend three days at Abu's Camp in Botswana. This is Abu.

I not only walked with Africa elephants, but we rode them.

What was enchanting was that the young elephants - orphans who had been adopted into the herd - came with us. Having completed these graphics for the Elephant Back Safaris I went on to sketch wild elephants in Damaraland, in Namibia.

I ended up with two sets of silhouettes of elephant walking acorss the desert in single file, as they do, which I sold as limited edition prints and as 'Elephant Writing Paper'. These sold through the David Sheppherd Wildlife Foundation and The Born Free catalogues.

It looks a bit odd without any writing on it. This is how it looked in the catalogue.

And on my own art website.

All sketches are featured in 'Ride the Wings of Morning' and are (c) Sophie Neville. Please contact me if you need to use them on sophie@sophieneville.co.uk

A review from Belgium ~

As a South African living outside of SA at the moment I am really enjoying this book, recognising places Sophie writes about. Sophie Neville and her family have a great sense of humour, and the letters going back and forth between them often have me laughing out loud. The art throughout this book is fantastic.
Tammy Visagie ~ Belgium

African Horseback Safaris ~

This is a profile of the horse safaris in the Okavango

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCQ8nl0IRe4&feature=youtu.be

As described in 'Ride the Wings of Morning'

Let me know
if you want to go
or use the image

sophie@sophieneville.co.uk

Geese I have drawn ~

I have always loved sketching geese. I drew these when I was exhibiting at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge. I was there talking on otter conservation. With out two otters. I am sure you can understand that not that much was achieved in the way of painting and can only imagine what happened when one of the otters escaped.

My South African friend Rupert Baber - who appears in Ride the Wings of Morning - bought five geese as a security measure. They wandered around the garden honking at strangers. I thought they were lovely. The only problem was that they had to be shut up on the tennis court at night so that they were secure themselves. It actually made them easier to paint.

An acrylic on canvas.

Back in England I drew a goose standing on the ice, executed by using a glass tube ~ thick black ink on smooth cartridge paper.

I made prints and experimented with different backgrounds. Many of the resultant geese were auctioned to raise money for charity.

The end result was an award-winning painting. We used the image for invitations and charity Christmas cards. I framed and exhibited black and white prints in a number of galleries, including the shop at Slimbridge. It proved the goose that laid the golden egg - or golden prints anyway.

All sketches on the blog are featured in 'Ride the Wings of Morning' and are (c) Sophie Neville. Please contact me if you need to use them on sophie@sophieneville.co.uk