8 June 10
Trip to the Zoo
Saturday June 5 was World Drawing Day. We took a trip to Sacramento Zoo, a small zoo on a completely manageable scale. It has been such a cool spring but it’s warming up now and we didn’t stay too long. I used only my Derwent Sketching watercolor pencil (Dark Wash, 8B on paper — and worked much larger than I usually do. It was fun and made a change from pen.
I started out around the pool containing waterfowl and the noisy and raucous flamingoes which are being somewhat shielded from the public during breeding season (it didn’t stop a lot of people trying to get them to “do something” loudly, which always gets me more upset than I think it will).
The greater hornbills have been doing well at the zoo, this male having been bred in captivity. I am always astonished at the protruberance on the head and find it difficult to draw to make it look different from the feathers.
Birds in cages: not my ideal, nor theirs. I draw these birds with respect and hope that what is learned about them here can help their populations in the wild.
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I love these, Pica, and good for you for going to the zoo on Sketching Day! My favorites are the flamingos and the hornbill. Just bought one of those Derwent sketching pencils myself and plan to try it on my next outing…