Tiny animals

I feel so much more confident drawing than painting (esp. with watercolors). But my colors are more vibrant with paint than with colored pencils. Here I have the best of both my worlds.

Happy Halloween!

Paul Klee's Face is the inspiration for this pumpkin. For the first time I used an X-Acto blade to carve part way into the shell so I could have more color. It wasn't as hard to do as I'd thought it would be, but the pumpkin's walls are also 3" thick so it's not really letting much light shine out like I'd hoped. Luna helped.

Polar Bears

Polar bears are some of the wiggliest animals - especially the young ones.
Sketching them isn't easy, and I have a lot of drawings that are ears and eyes and not much more.



We're really lucky in Toledo. Two times the female has given birth in the last 6 years and there have been roly poly cubs to watch. I drew this in pencil from a photo my husband took of the mama bear and her baby.

A polar bear keeper told me that older polar bears aren't as interested in playing - no matter how much water you give them to swim. This bear must still have been at a playful age, because he delighted in leaping into the water and watching me jump. He's rendered in colored pencil.


This final drawing is in pastel. I drew on sandpaper which makes an even bigger mess than regular paper - it chews up pastels - and spits them all over the floor.

And so it begins

I carved my six tiny pumpkins this past weekend. It only took about half an hour. One spoonful and they were scooped clean. My usual knife was a little too big for the job and I was only happy with how one turned out.
After a day in the sun they were looking a little aged. They're feather light and I was sure one good gust of wind (and it was really windy here on Monday) would send them sailing into the neighbor's yard.

As predicted (and as seen through the sliding glass door):

One down, five to go. Get 'em while they're fresh.

Squirrel Monkeys

Apenheul in the Netherlands is a animal park where the monkeys roam free and the visitors are restricted to paths. They used to allow visitors to take part in scheduled feedings, but they no longer allow animal/ human contact. The squirrel monkeys didn't get the memo.

The pencil sketches are of squirrel monkeys that live at the Nuremberg Zoo in Germany. They have their own outdoor island with 24 hour access; they reach it by a rope that goes over the visitor path.




Feeding squirrel monkeys is so fun; they're soft and light. It's definitely worth holding wriggling meal worms to do.

Pumpkin, carved

Last year I looked to cubism for carving inspiration. There was more planning involved - and more structural toothpicks - than I usually have. Six tiny pumpkins are sitting in my kitchen and slowly getting soft. I'm planning to carve them this weekend. I know it's too early, and when I put them out the squirrels will be thrilled. Their demise is certain, though, inside or out.

Frogs

Lemurs

In Apenheul (near Apeldoorn, The Netherlands) the monkeys run free and the visitors are confined to paths. They used to allow visitors to pet the animals, but in 2006 there were signs that said not to. (The signs were in Dutch and I didn't see them until after I'd pet this lemur.)

The Cologne Zoo has a big collection of lemurs. Their ring-tailed lemurs were allowed to roam free, too, but it wasn't easy for visitors to get close to them. They were affectionate with the keeper, though, and when she went into their indoor enclosure they sat on her lap. This is from my 1997 pencil sketchbook.


The two following drawings are lemurs from Apenheul and are done in colored pencil.



And a final ring-tailed lemur in watercolor. Lemurs are some of my favorite animals (do I say that about every animal I post?) and I hope to see them in Madagascar some day. Soon.

October 8th - African Penguin Awareness Day

In honor of a day for African penguins.
A link and a pen and ink.

The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds

Millikan

In 1998 Millikan came to live with us. He was so nervous for his first 11 years that we were only allowed to pet him if we were carrying something and there was no chance that both hands could be on him at once. If we went out for an afternoon we had to remind him of who we were when we came back. In the last two years, though, he's gotten more confident and will sometimes walk across my lap.
I did these sketches in pencil when he was still a kitten.

He's so beautiful that I like to use him in illustrations. This is a pen and ink study.

In these paintings I started with the darkest areas and worked backwards to the lightest. I used pen and ink in the second one to get the darkest darks.

October Ostriches

It's October and I am ready to enjoy a whole month of Halloween anticipation. I did this illustration years ago with Toledo Zoo's MaskZOOrade event in mind. (pen, ink and watercolor)