Sketching from Nature - "The Elephant and the Termite"

I promised you charismatic megafauna didn't I?  You can't get more charismatic than elephants; I honestly don't know what we humans did to deserve living alongside them.

And this episode helped me get right into my next Sketchbook!  I just happened to pop into a Five Below for the first time ever and it turns out they have a good selection of art supplies.  I got a really nice, really thick watercolor Sketchbook that's seen me through most of this year; an HQ Fine Stroke. I got two because they were, in fact, below five dollars each.  And that was a good move because they're every bit as good as the old reliable Strathmore Visual Journals.  Anyway, back to elephants!

Sketching from "Nature" - "The Alps" and "Scotland's Wild Heart"

I have a pair of very beautiful episodes this week.  First up is "The Alps, Winter's Fortress".  You'll notice in the pages with the Chamois, I wasn't kidding when I said this Sketchbook was handmade and likely one of a kind.  A beautiful home for my silly drawings.

"Scotland's Wild Heart" is another particularly beautiful episode - and I went ahead and drew some friends from the opening and closing credits.

Sketching from "Nature" - "Woodpeckers" and "The Egg"

I of course like the episodes of "Nature" that cover the big famous Charismatic Megafauna (and I happen have an episode like that coming up for you later).  But I LOVE the episodes that focus on the little guys; especially animals I think I know by heart.  The delightfully entitled "Woodpeckers, the Hole Story" is just such an episode.  Turns out our little treekeeper dinosaur friends are at least as important architects of the ecosystem as beavers and termites.

 

I'm pairing this episode with "Sir Attenborough and the Egg, Nature's Greatest Invention".  This was an incredibly good episode.

Sketching from "Nature" - "Santa's Wild Home"

 Happy Christmas in July!  As you know, I enjoy sketching from nature documentaries and I have a big backlog of sketches from "Nature" episodes to share here.  Today, we're going to Lapland in these sketches from... last Christmas.  Yikes.

These and the next few batches of sketches are from a nice little handmade Sketchbook I got at a New Agey store ages ago.  I'd love to recommend it but I think it's one of a kind.  I liked it, though, and it was a lot of fun to draw in.

Ye Olde Traditional National Dog Show Sketches!

 So.  It's been a while.  I'm going to ignore that and just try to jump right back in.  I can't think of a better way to do this than with the good old National Dog Show. 

More Art and Thoughts From Around WDW

 Okay, this post was originally going to be The Trip Report but as soon as I started writing that, it turned out to deserve a whole blog of it's own.  So look forward to that next week (Edit: Sorry, make that NEXT next week.  Probably.  I hope.)  

Meanwhile, more sketches and thoughts from Animal Kingdom park, the Coral Reef restaurant, and around the Beach Club pools.

So. The Pandemic.  It did not end up adversely affecting much that I could see.  (Indeed, we mostly had a great time and any bad times were almost always due to things neither we nor Disney could've controlled.  Almost.)  One of the big changes was how character encounters work.  You can't go up to meet them, so they'll show up in the little patios at EPCOT, or riding a boat along the river in Animal Kingdom. It is almost like how it was in the 70's-90's where random characters would just show up whenever, and I have to say, hearing music and looking around to see Mickey riding in a boat is a heck of a lot more fun than waiting in line to meet him in a room.

Above, you see my very brief impression of Disney's Kite Tails.  This is a new live show at Animal Kingdom, replacing Rivers of Light.  Rivers of Light was very nice when all of the effects worked, which, more often than not, they did not.  Kite Tails, as I'm sure you know if you've already seen the videos, is Very Special.  Part of me wants it to stick around for a while so everyone can experience it for themselves.  BUT!  Another much louder part of me wants it to end up a short-lived Bizarrerie like Superstar Limo or Barbie's Birthday Bash.  Only better because I was there this time!  I got to see the show!  And years later, I'll try to describe it to younger WDW fans -- and they will probably just assume I am recalling a weird dream.  Which is fair.

The parks were way more crowded than I ever would have guessed, given the reservation system.  I have heard since that there are no more "slow days" or less-crowded weeks at Disney.  What a bummer, especially if you're trying to eat dinner at EPCOT with no reservation.  There was no getting into Space 220, nor the Garden Grill.  But where the sky and land failed us, the Sea welcomed us.  Er, we got into Coral Reef I mean.  What a nice, underrated restaurant.  The sharks and rays were very active that evening and the food and drinks were excellent.

We'll round things out today with a trip to Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Kidani Village had a special tour of one of their savannas and I got to see their elusive Okapis up close!  This was another of my favorite experiences this trip; right up there with Harmonious.

2022 Animal Kingdom Sketches!

We went to Disney World earlier this month!  It was wild!  I may do a brief trip report next post but for now, we had a lot of fun.  And as is tradition, my drawings of the residents of Disney's Animal Kingdom:

I got to watch the Great Argus Pheasant "Peacocking" in real life right in front of me and I'm not even kidding, this was one of the coolest things I got to experience on the whole trip!  Right up there with Rise of the Resistance!

The Painted Wolves/African Wild Dogs/Cape Hunting Dogs/Lycaon pictus are, I think, a new addition to the Safari.  And they're very cool.  (And boy I wish I was not sitting adjacent to a very loud fool insisting "No, those are Hyenas like in 'Lion King'!" 😞 )

"Feathered Friends in Flight" is the latest and maybe the best iteration of "Flights of Wonder"/"Up!  The Big Bird Adventure"/"Whatever, IDK What You Call It Or What The Framing Story Is, I Am Just Here For The Birds".  Simply because - get this - there is NO framing story, just a lot of cool birds doing cool things!  What a concept!  I got to see a Harpy Eagle in real life!  That's right up there with the Skyliner!

Sketching from "Nature: Season of the Ospreys"

This was a really good episode. Almost as good as "My Life as a Turkey". Almost.

Sketching from "Nature: Big Bend"

 My New Year's Resolution is to exercise every other day and sketch every OTHER other day.  If that makes sense?  Anyway, here are sketches I drew while watching the very beautiful "Nature" episode "Big Bend, The Wild Frontier of Texas". 

I drew these sketches (as well as the National Dog Show sketches and all the Botober misadventures) in my Arteza Watercolor Sketchbook.  And this Sketchbook is very very nice.  So nice, in fact, that I've started using another one right after filling this one!

2021 National Dog Show Sketches!

 As is of course tradition!

Thoughts - But Also Mostly Sketches - From TetZoom 2021

So TetZoom 2021, which occurred about a week ago and ran all day and into the night, was an absolute blast!  This was the second ever TetZoo Convention I've ever been able to attend and I really really hope they keep the online/livestream portion of the show.  Handy Sketchbook on my knee, I took a lot of notes on the presentations and here they are, though considerably cleaned up: 

One of the highlights of the show was getting to attend the Paleoart Workshop, which I wisely snapped up tickets for as soon as I could.  And so I drew this beautiful Kronosaurus along with our teacher Mark Witton.  What an awesome experience!