Critter Time

Recently I found two pictures that I wanted to sketch from. I hesitate because more than one instructor has said to never sketch from a photo. However, it's my sketchbook and my process, and I really want to sketch them.

The first was a walking porcupine, from a wildlife-related Facebook group. Hard to say what distance he actually walked, but for one shutter speed shot he was walking. I loved the humble face he has and, of course, I couldn't capture all of it true to life. He seems huggable! Then I received a mailing from a bird watching organization and their calendar had this chick on it. Again, I just HAD to try to sketch it. His legs were even longer than my sketch captured them.

Then there's the Japanese Beetle. He was a life study, rather a death study. We've been invaded this year! This critter is a new one to me. References state that they do no long term harm to plants, but eat the fruit and skeletize the leafs. They swarm over our peaches, pears and blackberries and eat the fruit to its stem! They gorge themselves so much that they are not fast to escape when I approach. I can shake the fruit they are on and they fall into a bucket I have with soapy water and a lid. The picture is a pile of their dead bodies, collected over only a few days, on just two trees! They are a beautifully colored beetle and I can't bring myself to hate them. They don't cling to me as the swarm around me, and their sluggish take-off is comical. They also eat only one fruit at a time, leaving the others alone for me to pick.