Before The Water
Before the Water Pastel and Charcoal on Fabriano 70cm x 90cm Early mornings in Namibia have a particular quality of light. There is a warmth to them that seems to come from everywhere at once. On this morning, the sun was still low behind the animals, glowing through the landscape and bathing everything in warm yellow light. That is why I chose this colour for the drawing. But it wasn't only the light that caught my attention. It was the repetition. When you spend enough time watching a herd, you begin to notice how often several animals will do exactly the same thing at almost exactly the same time. One lowers its head. Another follows. Then another. They stand together in almost perfect repetition — bodies, necks, heads, stripes — creating a pattern that seems almost too orderly to be natural. And yet nobody has arranged them. Nobody has told them where to stand. There is no choreography. They are simply responding to the same moment. Perhaps one animal moves and the others follo...