Giraffes

I have been drawing giraffes for a long time. These are from my 1997 sketchbook and were done at the Cologne Zoo in Germany.


This is from 1999 and it was the first time I felt good about the results of anything I'd painted in watercolor. I've heard people say that you have to use 100 sheets of paper before you get one good watercolor. I don't know if I believe it - I don't know if I want to...


I tried colored pencils for awhile. I liked the results I saw other people getting, and I've always felt more comfortable drawing than painting. Paint covers surfaces quickly and with a lot of saturation, though, so I didn't stay with colored pencils. This baby giraffe is from 2005.


I've also tried pastels. I taped paper to the living room wall to do a bigger pastel drawing. I used sticks of pastel here, because they cover more surface faster than pastel pencils do. The pastel dust makes a fantastic mess as it falls to the floor. There was just no getting the carpet under this painting clean.

I used a photo to draw the last pastel.


I know one of the giraffe keepers in Nuremberg, Germany. She let me come to the night holding and I got to feed the giraffes. They like Wasa bread.