after a long while not being happy with my drawings i spent a sunny and productive day at berlin zoo last weekend and now my sketch book is full of animals. yeah!
giraffes.
sleepy pigs.
angry looking penguins with great hairstyles (southern rockhopper penguins).
various birds (1. tawny frogmouth, 2. white-headed buffalo beaver, 3. spotted dikkop).
and some more birds sitting on a branch.
and some more birds (birds are the best!).
and that’s me, drawing the piggies…
some of the best encounters are with animals. here’s my top 3 from this summer so far:
no. 3: rose-ringed parakeets in rome. they live up in these huge and beautiful pines – especially in ostia antica. and they have very lively and loud discussions… while i was witnessing parakeets defending their big round nest against pidgeons, they let this little green feather drop down for me to catch and keep (i guess)… thanks for the gift, my little buddies!
no. 2: lizards! little, cute, fast lizards! we had lots of them around our bus at the beach in puglia. one night we had a very special visitor though…
das urtier (=”the protozoan”). it was some kind of dinosaur (clearly). and it wasn’t very good at hiding (thanks for that!)…
can you spot him in this picture?
no. 1: by far the most magnificent encounter was this one though: we. saw. a. barn. owl!
it flew past us three times at the shores of gargano. and it blew my mind with its presence! so majestic and beautiful! my absolute favourite memory of this summer. ❤
last week i started showing my summer’s collection of things i saw on holiday (click here), here comes part II.
venetian pidgeons.
things to find on and around vaporetti – the public transport system by boat in venice.
ravens seen from the motorway back in germany.
beautiful landscapes of abruzzo on the way from gargano to rome.
anne, david & i were on a little field trip to the spacious zoo of berlin-friedrichsfelde recently. here is some proof.
“so, where exactly do we find the penguins?” (we didn’t…)
we arrived at the park. we saw pelicans walking around freely on the grass. we stopped and stayed right there for half an hour under the burning sun.
aren’t they just great?! such good shapes! also the pelicans were very calm, so easy to observe for a start.
other birds were not as easy, quickly flying around. this is my impression of a strange kind of blue dove with long hair.
this bird was very beautiful, but too quick for the sketchbook.
rocks’n’rhinos!
who would’ve thought ducks can be this photogenic?
us, in front of schloss friedrichsfelde drawing the park:
my friend wiebke and i spent a sunday at the botanical garden in berlin recently. these are some of the things i saw there:
finally a plant pretending to be some kind of flower between armies of cactei: strelitzia.
just as i thought “this plant looks like an elephant’s foot”, i read its name. that’s exactly what it’s called…
hurray for quails! ❤ ❤ ❤
i’m going to move in here. watch plants & quails 24/7. bye.
ducks & owls. and a deer.
a wren.
a blue tit (yup, that’s what they are called in english) & another (badly drawn) wren.
a robin & (one of my all-time favourite birds) a sparrow.
non-places… places that exist, but you never really look at them.
there are quite a lot of them everywhere (maybe especially in darmstadt). like the bridge at the ostbahnhof…
… or the forever (-ever-ever-ever) ongoing construction sight at the hospital…
… or the crooked house that is (not so much) hidden at rosenhöhe…
blackbirds are always worth a second look though. ❤
this is what happens when i watch animal documentaries…
and i’ve been watching quite a lot of bbc’s “planet earth” on netflix.
rule for the drawings: don’t stop the film. just try to observe as much and as fast as possible.
this one doesn’t really exist…
… but the swimming and diving polar bear was very impressive…
and here? just some pengiuns, birds in flight, diving ducks and a very fluffy duckling in the bottom left corner…
last week i had the flu and on most of the days i was too weak to leave my flat except for little walks to the doctor or the pharmacy. exciting, i know. time to get back to basics. sleep. eat & drink. snot. and meet up with all those friendly beings around you that can help you feel better soon:
1. warm socks.
2. something warm around your neck.
3. ginger & honey or other kinds of tea like sage, fennel, liquorice root… (drink!)
4. stuff to help free your respiratory passages.
5. salt & hot water for steam inhalation. (yes, i have a bowl that almost fits my face.)
6. tissues!
7. creme to help your nose recover.
get well soon!
gekritzel. 