Red dunes in pastel-Concetta Flore

As my exhibition is only a week away, and it's named "Terre d'Africa", I've only been painting lately from my Namibian observations. In these two pastels my starting point was a tiny moleskine and black ball-point sketches and colour notes.

Please wish me luck- i.e. sales!

live sketches from Namibia-Concetta Flore

Hello! A week ago I flew back from a trip to Namibia, my first experience of Africa and the desert. A heavy schedule, dry winter season, early sundown, pitch dark cold nights with beautiful, different stars...The long hours spent sitting in the car speeding across dry savannah and deserts have left me with the longing for more time to stop, absorb, learn more. But anyway, when I could, I did sketch. Here are a few samples: the dunes of the Namib desert, beautiful shades of rusty red and dark, blue-gray shadows; the seals in Cape Cross; elephants and rhinos at the Etosha lodge waterholes (more like sitting at theatre than being out there...)...You'll find more details on my blog,check it now and in the next days if you like.

Quick sketches from the West

I still do some car sketching, but only when Joseph's driving! This is in the desert somewhere between Henderson, Nevada, and LA...I love crows, and I always know I can count on them congregating at rest stops in the desert, where people = food! They're quite bold...Corvidae are normally fairly cautious, since humans seem not to appreciate them properly, but these guys are SO over it! Regular western outlaws...

So of course I used my Pentel Pocketbrush to catch those bold black shapes!

Check the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for more on crows...including a recording of their distinctive voices.