Polar Bear Play and more zoo sketches

Pitt Big Brush Pens in a Stillman & Birn 6x8" Delta

Our sketch group was back at the Bronx Zoo on Thursday. It was a spectacularly warm day, so we spent much of the time finally being able to sketch comfortably outdoors. We weren't the only ones with the idea to visit the zoo on that beautiful day; that was the most crowded I've seen it all winter! We started out with the Polar Bear. I'd been wanting to sketch him for so long, and this seemed my best opportunity, since he was outside. He was engaged in his morning rest, but did keep moving and looking around --- not nearly as still as our figure models in life drawing! One thing about drawing animals is that you realize that even though you thought the poses in life drawing were way too short, at least the models don't move much once they assume their pose!

I went past the Polar Bear again later in the day on my way back to the car. He was swimming in his deep pool, diving, splashing, and playing with pool toys! Who knew that Polar Bears would play like that? He'd throw them up in the air and chase them under the water. It was very entertaining to watch.

From there we went over to Jungle World to see what was there. Even though we've gone several times this winter, we never went there. Well, that is the greatest place to sketch!!!

 

The gorgeous black panther was lying on a thick log in his exhibit, which gave me a chance to examine that huge paw that he left stretched downward over the limb. The Malayan Tapir was in the exhibit just across from him, and I'd never seen one of those before. They have fabulous shapes to sketch. There was so much in this exhibit to draw, but since it was indoors, I felt it would be best to save it for cold or rainy weather, and I ventured back outside.

 

 

The deer in this herd didn't stay still for long. Even the ones lying down shifted position frequently, plus they were far away and hard to see well. I tried to capture some gestures though, and study the way they move and are put together.. I'd brought binoculars with me, but found that they are really impractical. By the time you look through them, find your subject and focus, the subject has moved on.

I love sketching camels. Like giraffes, I find they have fascinating, expressive faces. I did a quick portrait sketch of this one, and was about to start another when we were asked by the zoo staff to move. They were trying to move one of the camels from the enclosure into a building, and didn't want anybody to become a victim of a recalcitrant camel, so I only have this one to show.

All in all, it was another great day at the zoo! When I get home, I look at my photos and always wish I'd taken more. I get so absorbed in my sketches that I forget to take photos.

Bronx Zoo Trip

You can click this image for a larger view
Pitt Big Brush Pens (Raw Sienna and Nougat) and Pilot Petit1 fountain pen with Private Reserve Copper Burst ink
Page backgrounds and borders prepared in advance with diluted acrylics
Stillman & Birn 6x8" Delta wirebound sketchbook

I made another rather quick trip to the Bronx Zoo yesterday to get in some animal gesture practice and quick sketches. The giraffes are so much easier to sketch in their winter habitat. They are closer and don't move around as much as they do out in the big field, so I'm able to do some studies of things like hooves that are hard to even see without binoculars when they're outside. The pages above were done after several pages of quick studies (a couple of those shown below ---  also clickable to enlarge).

The giraffe all the way on the right must be very old, and had deep skin wrinkles. I loved sketching him.

Cramming animals as tall as giraffes into a 6x8" sketchbook was a challenge, but it sure is convenient to travel with such a small book. Since this is a wirebound book, working across the spread wasn't an option either, but it was nice to have this great super-heavyweight Delta paper, which is not available in a hardbound book.

After spending most of our time with the giraffes, we didn't have much time left. We went to the gorilla house, but couldn't find the gorillas. We did find these cute Wolf's Monkeys (below) in a beautifully laid out exhibit. They moved so fluidly....and constantly! Even getting gesture sketches was a real challenge. I wanted to test drive my new watercolor/gouache setup, so I pulled that out and added some color, then went on to World of Birds and did the same with the Great Blue Turacos, working more directly with color on them.

I love the way my new setup for watercolor and gouache worked out, so tomorrow I'll post about how I reconfigured my palette and show an image.

The Half Moon --- Replica of Henry Hudson's Ship

Today I went to paint the replica of Henry Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, but there was no good vantage point for an oil painting of the full ship. So, I painted something else, and then did this little sketch of the stern portion of the ship.

If you're interested, you can see the oil painting I did here.

Materials:
Noodler's Lexington Gray in a Lamy Safari fountain pen
Winsor Newton and Holbein watercolors
Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook

Eurasian Eagle Owl and Emu at Discovery Zoo

This two page spread features "Hoot", the Eurasian Eagle Owl, and "Freddy" the Emu. I never saw such huge feet on a bird as that emu has! I guess if you can run 31 mph, you need big feet to do it! This is my favorite border so far, done with red and gold acrylic paint. The birds were sketched with ink and wash, and some watercolor added after that for a bit of color. 

Merlin the Chimp and the Peacock and Tortoise friends

The challenge of sketching the chimps was that they were in the shade and so dark that it was hard to distinguish features. They presented as large, dark masses, so that's how Merlin was sketched!

This peacock seemed to be best friends with Tonka, the African Spurred Tortoise. He was in a large, concrete enclosure, and although the peacock could come and go, he mostly stayed. He spread his feathers in exquisite display several times. (My friend Gretchen got a great sketch of that!) Tonka had a wonderfully sculpted shell, with interesting shapes and peaks. Next time I go back, I'd like to do a two page spread just on him.

Materials:
Chimp: 0.5 Preppy filled with Private Reserve Velvet Black and washed with a waterbrush
Peacock and Tortoise: Sakura Koi Watercolors and a Niji waterbrush
Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Delta
Writing: 0.5 Preppy with Noodler's Purple Wampum

Camels and Macaws at the Discovery Zoo

Camels seem to be in perpetual motion, so a portrait attempt was no easy feat. Not only do their heads move continually from side to side, but also from ground level to about nine feet in the air! I'd wait patiently, popping in a couple of lines each time he looked straight at me.

The pair of macaws was a riot. In spite of the fact that the zoo owner kept putting them up on their tree stand, their will proved stronger. With clipped wings, they waddled around wherever they pleased, occasionally flying up to a low perch. They were especially interested in watching me sketch the camels. One came over and literally sat by my feet almost the entire time, saying "Mama". I figured they were waiting for their turn to be sketched. I did a few quick watercolor gesture sketches of each of them. Here's a photo of one of them with the sketches:

Materials
Camel sketch: 0.5 Platinum Preppy fountain pen filled with Private Reserve Velvet Black, washed with a waterbrush
Macaws: Sakura Koi watercolors and waterbrush
Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Delta
Borders: Golden Fluid Acrylics and F&W Acrylic Inks

Great Day at the Discovery Zoo

Life as an artist is sometimes too much fun to be legal. I had such a great time at the Bronx Zoo a couple of weeks ago that I started wondering if perhaps there was a smaller zoo closer to me. It turns out that there's one only four miles away from my house upstate! So, today I went with Gretchen to check out the Discovery Zoo in Catskill, New York. We brought our sketching stuff and bug spray and hoped for the best!

The zoo actually exceeded our expectations. It is small and they don't have a lot of animals, but one can only sketch so many beasts in a single day! The people were friendly, the habitats were inviting, and we were able to set up to sketch wherever we wanted. There were lots of nice, shady spots, and the owner went out of his way for us, telling us about the history of the little zoo and the names of all his "pets"!

These two camels are named Christopher and Serena. They are among the few animals who came to this zoo from the old Catskill Game Farm, which closed five or six years ago.  I did a bunch of sketches and got some great photos too. In fact, I had such a good time there that I got a season pass! I figured with it being less than 10 minutes away, I'd surely get there a few more times before the year is out.

Sketch: Sakura Koi 24-color watercolor set with waterbrush, 0.5 Platinum Preppy loaded with J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil
Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Delta 6x8"
Writing: Noodler's Purple Wampum in a 0.5 Preppy
Borders: Golden Fluid Acrylics and F&W Acrylic Inks

Two More from the Bronx Zoo

Watercolor, painted across a two-page spread in a 6x8" Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook. The pages were prepared in advance with diluted acrylic paint.

Giraffes from the Bronx Zoo

Watercolor and ink across a two-page spread in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook. These were sketched at the Bronx Zoo, with the page borders prepared in advance using acrylic inks.

Giraffes are so graceful and fun to sketch. The Bronx Zoo has a nice habitat for them with a shady spot to sit and enjoy their company. While we were sketching them, a peacock came along from the habitat next to them, and they all started following the peacock in a long line, as if playing Follow the Leader.

Flamingos at the Bronx Zoo

Last week I went to the Bronx Zoo with a group of artists. What a great place for a sketching trip! I even took out a membership so that I can go back for free. There is a cafeteria called the Dancing Crane Cafe, which overlooks a pond with beautiful Flamingos. Here are two that were begging to be sketched.

I knew I'd be sketching on the run for the most part, so I prepared some sketchbook pages in advance. This two page spread was done with acrylic ink. I painted the borders with brown, then sprayed it with water while the ink was still wet, and blotted it with a paper towel to further texturize the surface.

This is a Stillman & Birn 6x8" Delta Series sketchbook. I've done several multi-media pages in it of this type, and it's handled all the abuse spectacularly well. It's very heavy paper with a heavy layer of sizing, and not too much texture, so my fountain pens seem to like it as well.