Otters and Sea Lions and Bears, Oh My.

More sketches from the Oregon Zoo adventure this weekend! It's interesting how differently you can catch details with different kinds of media; kept alternating between small-nib pens and big swooshy water-soluable graphite pencils.

Elephant Sketches

Lovely time sketching at the Oregon Zoo this weekend! The ASIFA animators were super nice, and it was fun to hear them talk about how to convey weight and motion in sketches. (I loved the analogy of fruit-bats hanging just like water balloons, and it was fun to have discussions about elephant movements--even when they are at a run, it's more of a shuffle--legs never all leave the ground at once like they would with a dog or a goat at a gallop.)

I drew a LOT on this trip, so I'll start off with elephant sketches and add more in another post soon.

Scavenger Hunt: Tree with no Leaves

I was waiting for a friend out in front of the Oregon Zoo, sketching the landscape to pass the time. I later realized that this would totally count for the "tree without leaves" item in the scavenger hunt! Also on this page is a sleeping fruit bat from the zoo. Love those bats. * Estaba esperando un amigo en frente del Oregon Zoo, y pintaba el paisaje como un pasatiempo. Luego me dí cuenta que tenemos "árbol sin hojas" en la lista para la nueva búsqueda de tesoro! También dibujé un murciélago frugívero en la página--me encantan estos murciélagos, aún cuando estan durmiendo.

Watercolor and ballpoint pen. Wish I'd brought a black pen instead of a blue one. * Acuarela y bolígrafo. La próxima vez, debo agarrar un bolígrafo con tinta negra en vez de azul.

Today I was impressed by the spectacle of my neighbor's persimmon tree. No leaves, but plenty of bright orange fruits hanging like some kind of holiday decoration. The neighborhood crows were very excited to get their share of the deliciousness. * Hoy descubrí la belleza de un árbol de Caqui que esta en mi vecindario--sin hojas, pero lleno de fruitas colorosas. ¡Los cuervos estan seguros que las fruitas son regalitos de navidad!

Watercolor and black ink. * Acuarela y tinta negra.

It may be cold and grey and wet, but I'm always impressed by how much beauty there still is this time of year. Happy holidays, everyone. * Es cierto que el frío, la lluvia, y el cielo gris es un gran parte del verano aquí en Portland. Pero hay tanta belleza, también. Feliz año nuevo a todos.

Umbrella Man, 3 Groins, and some monkeys

I went to the zoo today, and the colubus monkeys caught my eye. On my way back, I paused downtown to finally sketch the Umbrella Man. Seeing the two pages side by side makes me giggle. * Visité el parque zoológico hoy, y los monos colubus me agarraron la atención. Al regresar al centro de la ciudad, finalmente dibujé la estatua del hombre con el paraguas. La yuxtaposición de las dos páginas en mi libro me hace reir. 

I also took a minute to sketch "The Quest," aka "Three Groins in a Fountain." Can you tell that I like the street tree better than the statue? * También aproveché la oportunidad de dibujar la estatua "The Quest" (que tambien se conoce como "tres entrepiernas"). Es obvio que me gustaba más el árbol que la estatua, ¿no?