Ochre light and long shadows on canvas

Why African art

African subjects need warm walls and hard light to read properly

The palette is built from ochre, dust and low sun, so cool grey walls and flat downlights quietly drain it.

People often buy African art for the animals and then hang it in the coolest room in the house. Ochre, sienna and burnt orange sit badly against blue-grey paint; they turn muddy. Against warm white, limewash, clay or timber they open right up. It is also worth looking at the painting side-on before you commit to a spot, because oil built up in impasto ridges on a zebra's flank or a sunset sky only shows itself when light crosses it.

Go bigger than feels sensible. Wildlife subjects need room around the animal or the composition chokes; 120 x 80cm is a sensible minimum above a three-seater, and single-animal portraits can take a full metre of height. Hang the centre at 145cm from the floor, lower if you are looking at it seated. Avoid hanging these opposite a bright window, since the gloss on darker passages will mirror it. One warm picture light beats four ceiling spots.

How your painting is made

1. Choose the size and finishSeven standard sizes from 60 × 50cm to 200 × 135cm. Stretched ready to hang, rolled, or one of our frames. The size guide on every painting shows it to scale.
2. Painted to order, by handA university-trained artist paints your piece in oils on canvas, working from the original. Two to three weeks at the easel, then drying time.
3. Stretched, framed, checkedGallery-wrapped or framed in our workshop, then photographed and checked before it leaves.
4. Delivered free, Australia-wideMade to order in 21 to 28 days, then tracked to your door. Thirty-day money-back guarantee if it isn't what you hoped.