I spent February and March of this year in southern Africa. Round River Conservation Studies, an international wildlife conservation organization, invited me to their research station in Namibia. The project splits its three-month semester in Namibia between the Cheetah work near the Waterburg Plateau and the Rhino research in Dhamarland in northwestern Namibia.

Part of going to Africa was to reconsider my life. To let go of certain things. In letting go, I hoped that I would find my truth. Letting go is the reason I chose Africa. It was about as far away as I could get from Utah and still remain gravity bound. I felt I had completed a creative era in my life and needed to move forward. I was becoming tired of my graphic design business. I felt like I was too involved in my daughter and grandchildren’s lives. I felt bound by old ties. I needed some time alone. I wanted to paint. I craved simplicity. I knew that the healing would have to do with the passing of time. I decided on being away two months.

The two months began with a week at Cheetah View Ranch, my base camp. Before I could paint, I had to go through what I call the “Africa Learning Curve.” To survive in Africa you must become proficient at carrying extra gas and water, having a compass or global positioning system with you, carrying at least two spare tires (and making sure you have the expertise to change them), learning to go to town and not get anything stolen, develop a search pattern for snakes and other wildlife, obtain a mosquito net, learn to understand the Afrikaners English dialect, and basically stay alert.

In preparing to paint, I try to obtain the art materials that I haven’t been able to take on the airlines. I need Liquin, gesso, turpentine and boards. The last two are easy. The first two more difficult. The Liquin is an absolute necessity for painting in such heat and wind; without it the paint won’t paint. It takes a week and fourteen phone calls to Windhoek (Namibia’s largest city) to get it.. I can’t find gesso. I’m using an acrylic house paint primer, which I find I like better than gesso because I can sand it lightly and get a very smooth ground.

Deciding to go to Namibia to practice plein air painting, in retrospect, was absolute insanity. Plein air painting should be done in the South of France, where figures sit at cool and shady tables, with warm dappled sunlight spilling over everything. Impressionism could never have taken place in Africa  …

[the remainder of this essay has been lost]

Trent Alvey