Thursday, 9 January 2014


Don't you LOVE the cover of the book
Dr. William Edward Dillon, Navy Surgeon in Livingstone's Africa:



And where did this picture come from?

I met SOPHIE WALBEOFFE at a major exhibition in London, UK, where I had gone to see the display of sculptures, bronze figures and pottery by a cousin.

While there, I noticed a display by the Osborne Studio Gallery, where they had cards which declared:

'PAINTING OF THE MONTH' - SEPTEMBER 2006
Painting Details: 'Red Hot', Oil on canvas, 48 X48 ins., Sophie Walbeoffe

Sophie and I had a chat, and then more admirers came into the booth, and I moved along.  But Sophie had given me a card.

I took the card home to Canada and stashed it away in a file marked 'Africa - Special Pics.'  About 5 years later I pulled out the card, searched for Sophie on the internet, and emailed her.  Very generously, she gave permission for her 'Red Hot' to be the cover painting for the book.  Thanks, Sophie!!
 
British painter Sophie Walbeoffe was born in 1961. She studied at the Wimbledon School of Art 1980 – 1983. 

After much travelling and painting she settled down to live in Kenya for twenty years with Piers Simpkin, a scientist, aid worker and camel farmer. They have two children Lara and Jasper, and a herd of sixty camels.

Walbeoffe paintings have evolved by having the opportunity to paint out in the wild, or in the landscapes of Africa and the Middle East. She is currently painting in Jerusalem and working in the Jerusalem print studio, which she finds to be a great experience.

Sophie has a website, where you can view more of her paintings:


There are 4 further artists involved with the development of this book.  I'll tell more about each one in later blogs.


4 comments:

  1. Dear Julia,

    I will be very interested to read your book. Having spent some time in East and West Africa, will make it particularly interesting for me and Jane.

    Coincidentally, my own book "Small Hydroelectric Engineering Practice" will also be published in February 2014. But I suspect that yours will be much more interesting!

    Jane is writing a family book on her adventures in Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria in 1966/67 just before we met. She did some crazy things!

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  2. Your book cover is a work of art! I absolutely do love the cover and appreciate the information about Sophie Walbeoffe.Thank you for introducing her to your readers.

    Enjoying each blog - and of course looking forward to learning more about the artists who are involved. Cheers, Juliana

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  3. Love it all. Great work Julia.

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  4. Should have mentioned that last comment was from me, Diana

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