Reference: Zoos

I don't care how old I get, I will still retain my childish love for visiting zoos. Not only are they fascinating by the number and variety of animals and insects you get to observe, but zoos are also educational, and will appeal to kids (and adults) with many different types of learning enforcement (visual, kinetic, auditory).

Since this was my first time at the Woodland Zoo, I'm strongly considering buying a membership pass for the year--it's almost like the zoo designers made some fixtures with artists in mind! There's an 'Elephant Thearter' for guests to sit, much like an outdoor play, and have a full view of two Asian elephants eating, bathing, drinking and just walking about. There are also dozens of view points with large flat rocks or benches so someone like myself has full view of gorillas, lions, bears, etc from which to sketch.

Most animals provide excellent reference for drawing from life. The animals that move really fast or sporadically (sea otters, small monkeys and birds)may be harder to sit down and sketch. When sketching from life, I would encourage bringing charcoal, many soft, sharpened pencils and a medium sized sketch book (11x17 is my preferred). Soft pencils allow for quick and smooth gestures to be taken down quickly in a single motion. I also wouldn't worry about erasing; it would just be another thing you have to switch out while drawing and besides, the best part about charcoal and soft pencils is the value range is larger and allows for more changes to a sketch.

I highly encourage supporting zoos by going to your local one. I was also pleased to know that pretty much all the animals at the Woodland Zoo were rescued after injury and brought to be nursed back to health before being released back into the wild. I can't wait to visit again. Since I was meeting with some friends, I didn't get to draw this time, but I did capture some great pictures:


An ocelot (or a leopard, I can't remember) laying in the trees. Most of the cats were either hiding or sleeping at that time of day. They are cats after all. And it was almost 100 degrees.


That's a BIG MOUTH! Shortly after the hippo turned around and pooped in the water. I have a brilliant track record of seeing hippos poop in front of me at the zoo and there are always young kids around screeching, "Ewwwwwww!" every time.


The lioness looked much bigger than the male! Also I love my camera. Just look at this zoom! It almost feels like I'm right new to them!


If you haven't figured it out, I LOVE big cats. My favorite is the cheetah (too bad there were none at this zoo). Also there's a story with seeing this tiger: my friends and I were at the penguin exhibit about a block away from the tiger exhibit. As we walked towards the tiger exhibit, expecting our dreams of seeing a tiger up close to be crushed since all the other cats at that time were hiding or sleeping just out of camera's reach, we heard the loudest, blood-chilling roar from just beyond the trail. We found a bunch of excited tourist and one in particular who was desperately trying to muzzle his dog. We found out later that the dog's bark and close proximity to the tiger's area caused him to let our his warning roar. Did I mention it was VERY LOUD!