Bees

"Mistaken for a flower"
HTC One camera phone

I almost didn't draw something today, but I convinced myself that it was worthwhile to try, even if it didn't turn out great.  And it would be okay if it didn't turn out well, because I'm rather tired and am on the eighth day of working twelve days straight.  Yesterday, during a very long and hot twelve hours of being on my feet, there was a bee that would not leave me alone.  (Foolish me, wearing perfume to an outdoor event).  I did have the opportunity to take some photos with my phone, since it was both quite persistent and docile in insisting that I had to be a flower of some sort.  One of the photos came out surprisingly artsy; my phone's camera was having trouble with the bright sunlight, but it yielded a very interesting effect.  Below is the drawing based off of the photo.  Bye the bee, we ought to be concerned about their declining population.  Plant native (or at least non-invasive) flowering plants in your back yard as a start to helping out- I'm planning on getting some veronica to augment my flowerbed.

"Bee the Light"
pen- sketchbook

Pronghorn Antelope and the Creative Process

"Pronghorn"
pen
small leather sketchbook

Originally, I was going to draw a horse.  A Morgan horse, to be precise.  As I was idly scrolling through my Google image search results, I saw some baby goats standing on top of a reclining equine.  I thought to myself, "Perhaps I should continue in the vein of broadening my horizons, and draw something other than equus caballus."  "Goat" was summarily entered into the search bar, but nothing captured my eye.  Somehow my mind leapt to gazelle, and from gazelle to antelope.  I'm planning on going to the American Southwest early this summer, so I thought of pronghorn antelope.

According to Wikipedia, pronghorn are not antelope at all, but the last surviving species of the North American Antilocapridae.  Their closest living relatives include giraffes and okapi.  They were almost hunted to extinction, but collaboration between the National Audubon Society, the Boone and Crockett Hunting Club, and President Hoover helped establish a large enough game refuge which put the population on the road to recovery.  Some subspecies remain on the endangered species list, however.

I spent a little over an hour on this little sketch, working only in pen.  His nose should be a little smaller, but otherwise I'm pretty satisfied with his proportions. I will count myself very lucky if I get to see one of these guys in the wild!