It’s all too easy to get caught up in the excitement of seeing ‘big’ animals such as lions, cheetahs, hippos, and fish eagles, and to neglect the ‘little creatures’ that are beautiful and fascinating in their own way. When you first head out in a mekoro, you’re distracted by the silence, the reflections, the thought that there are hippos and crocodiles in the water, the way a jacana manages to walk along the waterlily leaves without sinking in.
The tiny frog on Katie Lee’s finger in this photo lives among the papyrus reeds and is magnificently camouflaged. But once you know what you’re looking for, you start to see them all over. They may blend in very well, but once you stop looking for ‘a frog’ and watch out first for an odd ‘bump’ on a reed, or a shadow on a leaf, you start spotting them.
Part of the skill you need to be a successful wildlife artist is keen observation, and being on a Sketchbook Safari with Katie opens your eyes not only to landscapes and animals that are new to you, but to really seeing what you’re looking at. To see the details, to see the colors in things and relate them to colors in your palette. Back home, when you look at your sketchbook and photos, memories of what you’d seen and learnt will flood in.
