Sketches from the San Francisco Zoo

Indian Rhino - minus his horn

Maribu Stork and Zebras

Sketching animals is such a wonderful challenge as they don't often keep still unless they are asleep.  We sketched with pen, then broke out the watercolors and I really enjoyed drawing with the brush.  I used an Escoda 20 round which has a great point and will make the finest lines and hold lots of paint.

I felt bad for the Maribu Stork, who is a rather ugly fellow and all the kids squealed with horror to look at him.  Certainly he has a face only a mother could love, but I liked him because he was so curiously odd looking.

This tiger was asleep - so we thought we could get away with painting him - but no he wakes up as soon as the paints are out and moves away!

We watched the giraffes being fed, then moved on to sketching the gorillas, which are one of my favorite animals

The kangaroos were all sleeping when we got to them - some of them just lounging on their backs!

The hippo (Brian Wilson) was the star of the day - just doing all sorts of fun things to entertain the crowd.  He loved to show off his big teeth!

Bottoms up at the Berryessa Library

I was in the mood for more plein air when I went home today, so I stopped at the Berryessa Library and did a little sketch of the pond and foothills.  The ducks were all bobbing bottoms up, and a little boy was running around shouting "Aflac"  (the power of advertising!)This library has a  lovely park and beautiful views of the hills. Well worth painting again on bigger paper - and hopefully doing a better job!

Hidden Villa

Hidden Villa

The hidden villa, at Hidden Villa! I decided to just do bits of it in my sketchbook.

View looking the other direction

Teepees and kale

Alum Rock Park Hike and Sketch

I have always loved this little stone bridge by the mineral springs.  Its like something from a fairy story - I expect a troll to appear from underneath.  Here was a school party looking for funnel web spiders - I hope they didn't see any! 

A fitting end to our reign as paintsite coordinators.  Brad brought coffee and pastries, the weather was perfect, and we had the best turnout ever for a hike and sketch with 16 participants - amazing!  Jenny and I were thrilled.

This was right before our lunch stop. Getting down at creek level was perfect.

A 5 minute sketch sat in the blistering sun!  The view from the South Rim trail was amazing, but it was way too hot to sit in the sun for any longer than 5 minutes so it was a case of splash on some paint and hope for the best.