African Elephant:

Many collectors have expressed interest in Jan's creative process, so this area will feature photos of a current painting in progress from inception to completion.  It will be updated usually twice a week. Check back often!

Jan photographing elephants in the wild in Africa.

Jan has studied researched and observed elephants many times in a lot of different environments and situations over the course of the many years. In the photo on the left Jan is getting up close and personal with an African Elephant named Nancy at the National Zoo in Washington, DC about 10 years ago. This privilege is rarely granted and Jan was fortunate to have the opportunity to get hands on and up close to such a magnificent creature.

This painting is a little unusual for Jan as it isn't based on one experience, rather several combined experiences. Jan has been threatened by elephants in Zimbabwe, and once by a matriarchal herd in Kenya. This sketch in her journal was based on that encounter. She was also bluff charged once in Zimbabwe, but it was in thick brush. In this painting Jan decided she wanted an elephant charging through a dust cloud. She had many photos of elephants and other animals in the thick dust in Namibia, so basically this painting will be based on experiences in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Jan is transferring the drawing on the tracing paper to the surface of the painting.

The elephant has been blocked in with dark brown paint and the drawing transferred.

Jan creates the under organic texture of the elephant's skin by putting off white paint on wet and then crumpling cellophane on it.

Jan does not use an airbrush. To create the dust swirling around the elephant Jan applies the paint with a "mop brush" which she swirls around, and then she uses a foam rubber sponge to smooth out the brush strokes.

Here the elephant is mostly detailed out and you can see where Jan has been working up the dust clouds around him.

The painting was planned to have some flying sandgrouse in the foreground to create depth and movement. To be sure of the placement Jan has made some "cut outs" out of paper and has moved them around the painting to be sure of where she wanted them. This is the final placement.

Here the birds have been blocked in dark brown paint.

This is the finished painting - 24 x 18" "FULL TILT". This was auctioned at the DSC convention in January 2008. It has also beeen made into a full size canvas giclée print which was premiered at the convention. For more information contact James at foxxhollow@aol.com.