Houston Zoo Part 2

It was a very hot day the day we went to the zoo. Naturally the animals wanted to try to stay cool so...



I couldn't believe the size of the horns on these Ankole-Watusi Cattle!



A nice statue out of a few that were there.



There were all kinds of mother and baby pairs this year it seemed :)



Anyone want to go to Turtle Island? Might not be able to land as it seems to be packed right now...



I think these two were trying to tell each other something...

I Had a Vacation

I came back from vacation last weekend and spent the past week being sick and catching back up on life. I had went to Texas to visit my Dad and of course while I was down there I went to the one place I can never get enough of, the Zoo! I had taken a lot of pictures (130 of them) and picked out a few to share about my zoo adventure. It will be broken up in three posts over the weekend to spare you. :P

On a quick side note, went to Galveston Island the day before the zoo trip and didn't think to take pictures the entire time until right before we left and I saw these flowers. Way to go, right?



Our first animal at the zoo was this lovely Kimono Dragon. They are huge.



After the giant lizard, I had to go straight to the elephants. Houston has Asian Elephants, and this mother was trying to hide her 'tiny' baby. As you can see I had to peek through the bushes to see this adorable wonder.



There were a lot of birds at the zoo. This unlabeled swan was one of them.



Another large animal in the wild kingdom, the Rhinoceros.



There was a long pool almost in the center of the zoo. In the middle of the pool was this awesome statue of a lioness after her prey.

Rhododendron

So all the blossoms opened up and even though they are my least favorite color, they are still breath taking.







I had taken more pictures, but figured you didn't need an overload on them. The bush won't be staying though. At some point we will be tearing it out because the poor thing is stunted at five feet and I don't like how close to the house it is. I told my husband maybe we can plant another one somewhere else since they are so pretty.

Horse Finished

I didn't think I would finish it so quickly. I couldn't sleep yesterday so I sorta attacked it and wouldn't stop till it was done. Not sure if I'm completely happy with it, I know it's too run together and the mane is flat. I have a hard time with hair and making it look like it's not just laying there. (Or that it looks like hair period) Still need to clean the scan up, I hate when white spots show through like that and i want to get prints of this one to see how they turn out. If I like them maybe I'll start an Etsy and try to sell them.

The one thing I did differently this time was, instead of using black, I blended dark purple and indigo blue together for the eye and nostrils. When I was in art class in eleventh grade, the teacher took all the blacks away. I was so mad I refused to draw anything that would "need" black. Now I see that I don't really need it :)

More Flowers, and a Horse!

My plants are full of surprises. The two bushes that we have along the property line just bloomed a few days ago. I thought they weren't going to have any flowers at all, but I think these plants like to prove me wrong.



So it turns out I have two Weigela shrubs. Mine seem to be a lot whiter then the ones I goggled as they were all pink.
Another plant to make a liar out of me was the Rhododendron in front of the house. I thought for sure it wouldn't flower because they had cut it back so much. Well...



As you can see, it did anyway. Looks like they are going to be a bright magenta.
I can now say that is ALL of the plants in my yard and there shouldn't be anymore flower pictures till next year...unless I go walking.

In other news, I have started another drawing!



This is just a little ACEO, needed to do something fresh since the unfinished ones I tried to pick up on are just stressing me out. Thought I would try a different coloring method so it's in the ugly stage right now. If this turns out alright I have a rainbow of horses in store.

I -Have- Been Drawing!

I honestly couldn't tell you how long I had been working on this off and on. All it is is a folder for our menus from different places we order stuff from. I had bought a couple white folders in the past to do some artsy stuff on and never got around to it. I had fun playing with my Prisma markers for sure while doing this, but it was frustrating trying to match the colors up.
It's not perfect but it will do, now I have to go 'laminate' it with some clear tape. NEVER use a laminating machine with Prisma marker, the heat and glue will make the markers bleed and it looks horrible. I would know -.-

A Little More Spring

It seems right now I rather be pointing my camera at things then anything else. I do believe after these I have run out of things to take pictures of in the yard though. Lets just hope I don't go trail walking or something to that extent any time soon.

The Dogwood tree is in full bloom and looking wonderful.




These tiny lilies popped up like crazy after the day lily (the orange flower) let it's petals fall off and die.


We also have a new little family in our yard as well. Just witnessed yesterday them feeding their new little ones. Congratulations robins!