Tag Archives: wildlife conservation

Zoo Sketches

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Much as I enjoy landscape painting, my favorite subjects are animals, especially wildlife, and, more than anything else, I love sketching them from life, when I can observe their behavior as I capture them in my sketchbook. It’s not easy to sketch live animals unless they’re sleeping, but that’s a challenge I enjoy. I tend to have many partially done sketches on a page and may or may not complete any, but those are some of my favorite sketchbook pages to look back at. Even looking at sketches from years ago, I can almost always remember the specific animals and their actions.

While I prefer to sketch wildlife in the wild, I appreciate the variety of species I can observe, learn about, and sketch at a well-run zoo. Here is a sampling of my Zoo sketches, most from the Bronx Zoo, some from the Trevor Zoo that’s run by the Millbrook School here in Dutchess County, and some from the St. Louis Zoo. These are all sketches done from life, sometimes in freezing or raining conditions. Generally I leave them as I’ve done them at the zoo, but sometimes I add watercolor later. I don’t consider these great art, but they were great fun to do, and I look forward to more sketching at the Trevor Zoo and the Bronz Zoo now that Covid restrictions are easing.

The hymn “All Things Bright and Beautiful” by Cecil Francis Alexander is a favorite of mine that I think about often as I enjoy many aspects of God’s creation, and it seems a fitting conclusion to my A to Z Blogging posts.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all. 

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Author: Ce­cil F. Al­ex­an­der, Hymns for Lit­tle Child­ren, 1848

A to Z April Blogging Z

Wildlife Painting and Website Update

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I’ve been in a slump since losing Rowan and haven’t done much painting at all. I have been filling sketchbooks, one with nearly daily sketching of birds, people, and life in general; and the other with stories and sketches from Rowan’s life, but I just couldn’t manage to do a full painting. However, I did finally get my brushes wet last week, and a tiger came to life on my easel. I’ve often found that when I’m feeling stuck as far as art goes, painting wildlife gets me going again, and this was no exception.

I wonder if one reason wildlife inspire me is that they struggle for survival every day, all on an individual level and some on the species level, and they don’t give up; they just keep on doing what they were made to do. That’s what I am ready to do again, and I’m especially hoping to do a number of paintings of endangered, threatened, or vulnerable wildlife and then donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of those paintings to an appropriate wildlife conservation organization, sometimes a local group (for example our local bird club or the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, where I sketch wolves) or to a larger organization, such as the Wildlife Conservation Society. I figure that allows the purchaser and me to be partners in supporting the cause of species needing help.

I’ve also just updated my website. A number of people have asked whether I’m listing new paintings in my ETSY shop, and for now I am not planning to. It’s a bit of a hassle to list them there, and I didn’t get much traffic, so at this time I’m planning to focus on my website (including this blog) and on facebook. So, if interested in something you see on my facebook page or this site, please email me (naturepainter@hotmail.com) or contact me on facebook. Most pieces are for sale, even if details aren’t listed with the image.

Tiger! Watercolor & Ink 8″ x 8″ $250 Tigers are the largest members of the cat family and are generally solitary for much of their lives. Several species of tigers have become extinct in the last century, and the remaining six species are endangered due to habitat destruction and poaching.