Some of the best featured animals at the Como Zoo, in St. Paul, MN, are the giraffes. The park has recently made improvements to the giraffe enclosure and featured the arrival of a baby born at the zoo.
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| Giraffe #1 - Pencil sketch on hand gridded tan Strathmore 300 series paper. |
Above is an early sketch I did of the mother giraffe several years ago. She seemed much calmer when I sat to sketch her at that time - perhaps she is such a cautious mother now that she is never at ease.....hmmmm. I decided to try the sketch into a relief print early in my printing trials, and she was actually helpful in encouraging more "critter" prints.
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| Giraffe #1 - Relief print using Daniel Smith black relief ink on tan 300 series Strathmore paper. |
By creating a straight-on image of just the head, however, I think the most "giraffe-like" features are not present, such as the long neck, cow-like tongue and jaws, and of course the towering height. My next giraffe relief print attempt, several years later, addresses the jaws and elongated cowish head features, but still doesn't get to any aspects of the height. I think a larger canvas, with paint, would better address the more giraffish characteristics missing in both relief prints.......haven't started one yet, but.....stayed tuned!
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