A Muggy Whirlwind

So the last couple of weeks have been an absolute vortex of painting and trying to let as many people know about WHY I was painting so much.

As I mentioned before I was a part of Zoo Atlanta's newest event, Art Gone Wild.  It was an absolute blast!  Aside from purposefully setting aside AN ENTIRE WEEK JUST TO PAINT (seriously, I NEVER have time to do that), it was an absolute joy to be at one of the nation's best zoos and painting animals you just don't get to see every day at the local dog park.

On Wednesday, I looked up from painting at the gorilla habitat and there is John Lemley host of "City Cafe" on the local NPR station with a giant fuzzy microphone asking if they can interview me!  The interview (as well as some photos including some of me) can be found here.  The local ABC station came down and filmed that day, too.  Here is the video from that segment.

Now then...on to business!  Here are the pieces which I submitted for the silent auction!

First up is Utenzi, the big male rhino.  (Listen to my interview to see why I liked him so much!)

Next is Zuberi (I could be wrong on this.  The giraffes move around a lot but I THINK this is the guy I was painting.).

Here is Taz, the guy I was working on when radio fame came a'knockin'...

I love warthogs so I had to go see the newest members of the zoo.  Along with Shirley (Mom) and Vernon (Dad) there are little Eleanor and Lex now.  They seemed to know I needed a good pose.

And finally is one of my all time favorites at Zoo Atlanta, Kelly the elephant.  She and Tara have been my muses and models for years (see previous entries about the children's book I've been working on.)

If you would like to purchase any of these or any of the other fantastic artists' work who participated, go here to purchase tickets to the event (Saturday, June 14th, 2014)!

It was a wonderful experience but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the part that made it all COMPLETELY worth being out and painting in the humid, Georgia heat for a week straight and that is the tremendous zoo staff.  From the volunteers who brought us all water and snacks to the docents who we got to learn from during our sessions (did you know that Willie B's ashes are in his statue?) to the staff people like Julia and Lauren who wrangled cantankerous and sweaty artists all week and made us all feel at home, I give a very big thank you and I cannot WAIT to come back and do it again!

Zoo Sketching

So the wife and I went to the zoo for our anniversary on Friday. I wanted to flex my on the spot sketching muscles a little so instead of a camera I took the trusty Moleskine, a pencil and some Copic pens. Here are the results.

Giraffes wiggle a lot more than you would think. Very hard to try and get the patterning down before they move away.

That lion is just like a big house cat. I picked this pose and the minute I started sketching he rolled over onto his back. Jerk.

I have done many sketches of Kelly for a children's book. I love drawing elephants.

I was drawing the cassowary and it kept coming to the fence right in front of me where it would just stop and stare. Creeped me the hell out. Stupid dinosaur...

And this guy was my best model. He just sat his vulture tail on the faux zebra corpse for about 10 minutes while I sketched away to my heart's content.

There may be news of zoo painting coming in the near future. Stay tuned and I'll let you know when I know.

Vacation Via Sketchbook: Pt I

So we took a little vacation this week. Nashville! (With a quick stopover in Washington D.C. beforehand.) Normally we take lots of photos but as we get older, we spend less and less time photographing stuff and more and more time enjoying stuff. This does not mean we do not want tangible evidence of our trips however. And after my recent inspirations, I decided I was going to make more of an effort to sketch while we were out and about. Here are the results.

Our stopover in D.C. included a quick run in at the Smithsonian Museums of American History and Natural History. Weird, right? Me going into museums, particularly ones of the natural history variety? Anyways, in the great hall of the Museum of Natural History is a full grown taxidermied bull African elephant. He is a monster. It is also the only place in that joint where you can find a small corner to yourself and sit and work without being trampled. Here is my first effort in pencil.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you. I took along my watercolors for the first time. However, my on-site watercolor skills SUCK. So, when we got to Nashville I found an art supply store and got some gouache. Then I fixed this thing. Still rough but as you will see, I may be getting the hang of it.

So after the museums, we went to eat. "The Flying Fish" restaurant was not first on our list but it was first as to which we came to. (Do NOT listen to people in Alexandria, Va. when they say "It's about a mile away". They have NO idea what a mile is. Especially if you are walking.) So we sat down to enjoy dinner.

This little guy was swimming around by our table as we waited on our server.

Seated at the table next to us were four middle aged folks who were enjoying their conversation. This gentlemen seemed PARTICULARLY fond of the future of electric cars. He was quite animated about it.

Tomorrow: Nashville. More to come...