Lake City Savanna

6/13/15 Platinum Carbon and Iroshizuku Kiri-same inks,
watercolor, Caran d'Ache Museum colored pencils, Canson
XL 140 lb. paper

Every time I go to the Lake City Farmers Market, right at Northeast 123^rd where I turn off Lake City Way, I see a giraffe. The first time I spotted it, I did a double-take.

For a long time that life-size giraffe has been on my list of “things to sketch someday,” and today was the day. From Lake City Way, it looks reasonably realistic. From across the street, not so much. It turns out that the giraffe is part of Dario’s Statuary Factory Outlet. Just beyond the giraffe within the barbed wire fencing are hundreds of statuary, bird baths, figurines and other concrete objects of all sizes and types. The sign on the fence said all garden statues are 50 percent off. I’m guessing the giraffe is not.

Strangely, a bird bath stood just outside the fencing near the parking strip. Returned by a customer? Rejected after the buyer realized it was too large to fit in the car? Ah, the mysteries of the savanna.