"The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans."

~Jim Fowler~ 

2013  (c) Obama the Elephant by Kathryn Hansen

a baby titan

 after a very early and lengthy morning of checking into our hotel in Nairobi, we jumped back into our white vans and headed off to the elephant orphanage. 

standing behind a roped off red clay area, mint green robed care takers placed baby bottles the size of which you've never seen before every few foot along the rope.

materializing from behind some vegetation to our left, approximately 20 baby elephants came charging down the path to get their bottles of delicious creamy milk. the crowd was entertained by these tiny pachyderms greedily feeding from the bottles held firmly by their care takers until the last drop was polished off! then the antics started...tug o' war with trunks, goosing, a few fights and a lively game of soccer ensued. i can't tell you how awestruck and overjoyed i was! never had i seen a sight like this before!

so this new drawing in progress is of one of these sweeter than honey baby elephants, who i came to love more than any other animal on our adventurous safari in kenya. funny, i really thought the cats would be my favorites!

They stand quiet in the breathless hush of beauty.

~Lazaris~ 

 Zarafa (c) 2012 Kathryn Hansen

progress shots of zarafa. 

"Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms." 

~George Eliot~

 Romeo (c) 2012 Kathryn Hansen

romeo was the  rush portrait i had to draw and send out to australia in two weeks time! i put in long and sometimes late hours to complete it but he was fun to draw!! always a challenge to fit a fast portrait into my busy life (especially with kittens vying for a prime spot to lay down on my drawing board after a good tussle...see below!!)

coonie

coonie, one of our fosters, has a terrible case of ring worm...and he's given it to all of us...emily getting the worst of it. but that may be because they hang in her room during the day when we're not home. he had to go to santa clarita for a few days to see the vet and be quarantined. 

nyan

nyan, his foster buddy, has really missed him! 

so far none of the other animals have gotten it!!  knock on wood!!

forward movement

josie sleeping to my left and diamond sleeping to my right

just have to complete his face, put the finishing touches on and it's a wrap!