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| 11/2/12 fountain pen, Diamine Gray ink, watercolor, Hand Book sketchbook |
In the same way that my sketches of people in coffee shops
tend to look like floating heads, my sketches of zoo animals tend to be
isolated figures. A crane, a giraffe, an orangutan – they all
seem to end up in my sketchbooks without context.
So just as I’ve been trying to give floating heads in coffee shops a place to be, I decided that on my frequent visits to the zoo,
I would try to give animals more context, too. This afternoon I had only an
hour before closing time, so I quickly trotted over to the African Savanna
exhibit and was lucky enough to catch zebras grazing. A voice on the P.A. system
was announcing the zoo’s imminent closure when I spotted a huge, lumbering
hippo. No time for context, but I did manage to sketch her (either Guadalupe or
Water Lily – I’m not sure which) from all four sides.
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| 11/2/12 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Hand Book sketchbook |
Drawing in the surrounding context is a a good idea to move your art forward. However, I really do like that hippo butt! It is so minimalist and yet so charmingly amusing.
ReplyDeleteI like that you added the savannah around the animals, but I like the views of the hippo too. I scrolled down to see what I missed...nice to finally "see" you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kate and Joan! I'm kind of fond of the hippo butt, too!One nice thing about sketching the hippo -- she moves slowly. :-)
ReplyDeleteI just smile every time I come back to look at her! I can just see the slow waddle. :)
ReplyDelete