Hurbert is NOT happy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 01:29:00 +0000

My sister and I draw at Woodland Park Zoo frequently. One day we drew flamingos, but wore out after an hour. Who knew flamingos move constantly and morph their shape all over the place? So we decided to draw the lions. It was our first time drawing lions, but we figured, hey, how hard can it be? They just lie around. Easy.

Hubert and Kalisa were in the outdoor enclosure. Normally they do lie around.

And look magnificent.

Or not.

(All the photos above, by the way, are from Woodland Park Zoo. The photos after this are not from WPZ and not Hubert.)

But not today. Hubert was on the move and I could only get quick lines initially.

Gradually the sketches got better. Kalisa seemed much more relaxed, so I was able to get better sketches of her.

But Hubert was pacing angrily around the area, stopping occasionally to stare at the door at the back of the enclosure.

What was going on? Hubert wanted his lunch. Due to the time change, the lions were getting fed an hour later than normal. Well, a hungry male lion is not a happy guy.

Hubert spotted us across the enclosure behind the viewing glass and stared at us with the hypnotic gaze of many felines. I froze. The photos don’t show how hypnotic that is. You can’t move.

Suddenly he started running toward us. Sorry, I don’t have any drawings. I had other things on my mind. A really big, angry lion was racing toward us.

My sister is a pretty unflappable sort. Ever the artist, she thought, "A lion's head with the mane, is about as tall as I am." and “Does he think we have lunch?” My thoughts were more basic. “There’s big, thick glass between us,” I thought. But that old, primitive part of my brain was screaming, “Are we lunch?” (My sister once worked in a window-making factory, so I guess she knows more about window glass than I do. And I was sitting closer to him than she was.)

Hubert roared up to the window. Well, he didn't actually roar, but he certainly wanted to. That much was clear.

I mean, I was a foot away from him, sitting down, looking up at this guy.

Then he turned around, peed all over the window, and walked away. No doubt about how he felt.

Not long after that, the door across the enclosure opened and the lions disappeared. Weak, choking laughter was about all I could do. God, I love drawing animals at the zoo.

Painting outdoors

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:43:00 +0000

I think of myself as an outdoor painter. Here I am all geared up.

Why go to all that trouble? I’ve got a perfectly warm, cozy studio to paint in. Why buy all that gear, drive long distances, haul your stuff all over, and deal with weather and whatnot?

I suppose there are many artistic reasons--technical issues about the quality of the light, yada, yada, yada. These are perfectly great reasons for painting outdoors. But they aren’t why I go to all the effort.

Here’s why I paint outdoors:

Need more convincing?

You know, it's a heart thing.

Martha Means--Landscape Painter

Hurbert is NOT happy

Painting outdoors