Oakland Zoo sketchcrawl

Judith and I planned to go to the International Sketchcrawl in San Francisco today but realized we weren’t in the mood for the urban jungle and went to see real jungle animals instead. We spent a lot of time sketching the two baby giraffes playing together and being cared for by their families until we got too hot sitting in the sun so we looked for a cooler spot. That’s when we found the fruit bats. They look like fuzzy brown otters wrapped in black leather umbrellas. It was amazing watching them unfurl a huge wings in order to better block the sun from their eyes or adjust which of their many hooks they were hanging from as they slept. From what we could tell with them all wrapped up by their folded wings and hanging upsidedown, they have several long talons on each foot and then another convenient hook at the end of each wing. Their wings looked like the finest leather and their furry teddy bear bodies looked very cuddly. Ink and watercolor pencils in sketchbook.