Tips & Tricks: September 2025

Welcome to this month’s Tips blog, great to have you here.

I have been having so much fun with the safari theme this month, it’s been great after a summer of landscapes to get back to animals again.

It’s no secret that I am a huge animal lover, I always have been and only ever lived in a house without animals for 18 months and it was too long. They are a tie, an expense and break your heart but none of that compares to the joy that having one, or in my case a herd, of animals bring to my life. With working from home it means that I always have someone to talk to and very often they talk back!

I’ve never been on an actual safari and I’m sure many of you reading this will have had that experience, what a thrill it must be to wake up and witness the many majestic creatures in their natural habitats and watch how they interact. Have you ever seen a springbok? That is the subject for this month’s Tips video, a small study using gouache and pastel, a favourite combination of mine when tackling an animal portrait.

I hope you enjoy watching and if you have any questions then please do get in touch, I always love hearing from you,

Ali