African Wild Dog

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” 

- Mahatma Gandhi

Watercolour on Ashrad 200gsm watercolour paper 

The African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus) is a medium-sized canid found only in Africa, especially in Savannahs and other lightly wooded areas. It is also called the Painted Dog, Painted Hunting Dog, African Hunting Dog, the Cape Hunting Dog, the Spotted Dog, the Ornate Wolf or the Painted Wolf in English, Wildehond in Afrikaans, and Mbwa mwitu in Swahili. It is the only extant species in the genus Lycaon, with one species, L. sekowei being extinct. 

There were once approximately 500,000 African Wild Dogs in 39 countries, and packs of 100 or more were not uncommon. Now there are only about 3,000-5,500 in fewer than 25 countries, or perhaps only 14 countries. They are primarily found in eastern and southern Africa, mostly in the two remaining large populations associated with the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania and the population centred in northern Botswana and eastern Namibia. 

- This info from Wikipedia Wikipedia 

African hunting dogs are endangered. They are faced with shrinking room to roam in their African home. They are also quite susceptible to diseases spread by domestic animals.

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Cheetah on the rocks

Black Pilot FineLiner ink sketch and W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm 

Stalks of brittle grass, towering and light-russet in colour, rose several feet high on the breezy African plain. A faint rustle sounded among the grass. Two sparks of amber, the eyes of a creature, lit up the maze of grass like candle flames, and hovered there. The crackle of shifting stalks grew louder until the grass parted, revealing a magnificent beast, dappled pelt rippling as if made of glistening gold. 

Majestically, the cheetah strode into a rock clearing where a light breeze blew swirling dust at her head. She blinked, unfazed. Suddenly, crouching into a stalking position, her muscles pulsed with tension. With explosive speed, she propelled herself across the plain… 

- Read the rest of this lovely story at A Day on the Savannah 

The Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has unusually low genetic variability. This is accompanied by a very low sperm count, motility, and deformed flagella. Skin grafts between unrelated cheetahs illustrate the former point in that there is no rejection of the donor skin. It is thought that the species went through a prolonged period of inbreeding following a genetic bottleneck during the last ice age. 

Cheetahs are found in open and partially open savannahs, inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East and they are basically solitary animals. At times, a male will accompany a female for a short while after mating, but most often the female is alone or with her cubs. Cheetah mothers spend a long time teaching their young how to hunt. Small live antelopes are brought back to the cubs so they can learn to chase and catch them. 

Cheetahs do not roar like lions, but they purr, hiss, whine and growl. They also make a variety of contact calls – the most common is a bird-like chirping sound. They are the only existing felines that do not possess retractable claws.

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Keep Peace in your Soul

"In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul." 

I just love playing with free textures I find on the web and use them as back-grounds to a lot of my paintings. Here I have used one of Kim Klassen's textures, which worked out well with this arum Lily.

I often print out the texture first and then paint on top of it, but in this case I added my Arum Lily image to the texture in PhotoShop. Printed out on some watercolour paper it makes a lovely every-day card.

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Why grow Geraniums in pots?

Because it’s easy! 

W&N watercolour in hand-made sketch-book with satin-finish linen paper 

No sketching before-hand

Last year some time, I was given a small Geranium plant by Redbubble friend Antionette, a lovely little specimen which I planted in a terracotta pot, which now takes pride of place on my patio. I haven’t had geraniums for some time now, so this special plant is highly coveted! 

Whilst in a pot, watering and weeding are easy – there’s just the pot to water and weeding is almost completely eliminated. It’s easy to move them around – you can have color where ever you want it, almost instantly. No garden is required – you can grow them on the front steps, the back deck or your apartment balcony. 

One thing I have discovered is that Geraniums HATE wet feet and will not be happy in soggy soil. And with all the rain we’ve been having, that’s all that’s been required in the waterig department to keep ‘her’ happy.

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Ode to the Crow

W&N watercolour done on a textured back-ground by Skeletal Mess on Visual 200gsm

Ode to the crow
that finds its way
to fly straight home
on this most terrible day.
Through gusts of wind it takes flight
through rain and storm
through dark and light.
We cower down at the sight of bad weather
and it lands when its done
not missing a feather.
We act as though the world revolves around us.
yet when the finger is pointed
all we do is gripe and fuss.
we set our traps of jealousy
to capture which we yearn most
A white lie here and a grin of deceit
we are determined to make all
bow down at our feet.
through dust in ash
where all you can hear
is a wallowing cry
I say ode to the crow
that continues to fly.
- Cameron Daniel Brooks

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