Trip to the Zoo #4?: Blue and Gold Macaws

Beautiful Blue and Gold Macaws/ Blue and Yellow Macaws (Ara ararauna) at the Emperor Valley Zoo. 

The vivid colours of these birds made me want to pull out my sketch book and some bright colour pencils/paint. I settled for pictures instead for future reference.

The last 3 photos are from my trip a year before with a different camera. 

 Not as vivid as the first set, but it is such a more convenient camera for outings and capturing people moments. lol @ people moments. The camera I used in the first set does have better features, but sometimes it feels to bulky and it is too much of a hassle sometimes to find the right setting to capture those spontaneous settings. Small point and shoot for everyday and slightly larger better quality camera for landscapes and animal shots.

Poisonous Snakes of Trinidad and Tobago

An interesting read at the Emperor Valley Zoo. We know how to identify the 2 poisonous Coral snakes in T&T but what about the Mapepire? These charts were rather helpful.

Trip to the Zoo #2: Reptiles #2 (Iguana)

This cool dude is a Rhinoceros Iguana. Here he is chomping down on some veggies and then scampering off to join his friend in the shade.

From the ZSTT website,

The species, also called the Mona Iguana, can be found in Hispaniola and Mona Island near Puerto Rico. It inhabits semi-deciduous and dry to subtropical, moist forests, scrub woodlands and dry, rocky forests in coastal areas. 

Rhinoceros iguanas are named after their several enlarged horn-like scales on its snout. These scales resemble the horns of a rhinoceros. This species can reach a length of 60 to 136 cm. Their skin color can range from grey to dark green and brown. 

Females dig burrows when they are about to lay eggs. An average clutch of eggs can range from 5 to 20 eggs. Hatchlings are approximately 18 cm in length. 

Rhinoceros iguanas feed mainly on flowers and fruit but can also consume insects and eggs.

Trip to the Zoo #2: Reptiles #1

Here are some more pics and vids from my trip to the Zoo featuring this time some of the reptiles.

Caiman

First up, the Caimans, which look like smaller crocodiles. They are found in Central and South America.
The Emperor Valley Zoo has the Black Caiman (Melanosuchus niger) and the Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus)

Spot the 5 

My favourite shot of the trio

Turtles

This little fellow was quite hilarious in his antics. He is the Spot-legged Turtle or Common Galap. You can take a look and see for yourself as he paddles around in his 2cm of water.

These are the African Spurred Tortoise ( I believe). 

Check out his spurred shell. Better picture to see the shell of this magnificent creature here.

One year ago I took the above photos of the Tortoise feeding

Trip to the Zoo #1: New Lions

I went to the zoo today! Why am I excited even though I am no longer 5 years old like the kiddies that filled the many large maxi taxis today? Because the zoo is awesome! Need I say more? NO!

In case you are from Trinidad and missed this, or from another country, the Emperor Valley Zoo has three new additions: African Lions!

The three brother lions that have found their home in T&T are about 2 1/2 years old and are named after the lions from the Lion King.

Mufasa, Scar and Kovu

They are part of the zoo's initiative to add more animals to the zoo, and in the future when the zoo adds three more female lions, they would be part of a regional breeding programme to supply the Caribbean and Southern Hemisphere with lions.

The following playlist is comprised of some clips about the new lions.

So which one is which?

They do look very similar

I didn't take a photo of Scar's info, but his distinguishing feature was the scar above his left eye as well as one on the centre of his forehead.

These of course are not the first set of lions at the Emperor Valley Zoo. Special mention must be made to Simba.

Simba is the zoo's other lion who is 16 years old. (Remember when Lion King now came out? Fun fact- 1994!! :O! No wonder my bf was surprised at the little children who knew of the movie. I was their age when that movie was released!! I did not know that movie was so old! Not that I am really getting on with the age. lol! )

Anyway, Simba is currently housed in a separate enclosure next to the newbies.

Simba was born and bred at the Emperor Valley Zoo and in the past lived with a pride of lions in the enclosure that now acted as a quarantine for the three new lions.

We found Simba napping peacefully in the shade away from the heat of the midday sun.

Simba wakes up!

Then nestles down in a comfy spot and stares reflectively into the distance as he ponders life's mysteries. 

Sleepy time

What majestic creatures!

And very large!

Here is some video footage of what I recorded of the lions today:

Trying out the lion life :D After watching those lovely lions I decided I had to try it out myself. :D

For more info about the Emperor Valley Zoo and their animals, check out the Zoological Society of Trinidad and Tobago's website. The ZSTT is the organization that oversees the Zoo and manages it and all its policies.

Mt Hope Sketches #2

Some of you may recall my previous Mt Hope sketches post, where I posted one of my sketches of Mt Hope and my progress as I turned it into a painting. I did do a few more other sketches and this year I started work on another one of those sketches.

Reference Image and preliminary sketch

Current WIP!

The challenges with these pieces for me was mixing the right colours. The paint colours of Mt Hope....leave much to be desired (lol) I am not even sure what you would call some of the shades that you can see in the reference image.

I am not totally pleased with my progress in the above piece. Hopefully as I continue to work on it, things will improve!

Thoughts?

You can look at the following post to see more photos of the EWMSC by clicking HERE

Doodle in the Sand: Quinam Beach

I visited Quinam Beach on the South Coast of Trinidad in August. It was such a beautiful day and the sky was gorgeous. The sand had such an interesting quality to it- lots of clay if you removed the top layer of it. I had fun playing with it. :) The following is one of my creations.

My drawing in the sand of a view from the South Coast of T&T

One of my uncles was a big fan of this beach. I didn't understand the allure until I went myself. The last time I visited I was a child and I barely remembered it at all. It exceeded my expectations. After a lovely cool drive through a forest reserve with trees towering on either size to get to the beach, the calm waves gently crashing on the shore beckoned to me. I knew I had to take a dip. Trinidad is such a beautiful place!

Because of the time of day and slightly cloudy skies, the weather was perfect and the shores were not crowded with only a few other families having a similar idea to us as well. The beach facilities were redone in recent years and the beach and environs were well maintained. Also the drive as I mentioned before was relaxing on smooth well paved roads.  No potholes!! I don't think many people know this and usually have a negative image of Quinam. Though on that day, I can't say I minded. It was like having your own personal stretch of paradise, which may have been spoilt with a high influx of people.

It was nice to simply lounge in the water and relax with waves gently lapping around you as you stared out into the horizon, catching a glimpse of South America if you looked hard enough, or if you looked inland at the tall towering cliffs overgrown with vegetation, from your seat at the lovely rock pools only visible at low tide. Some parts were so untouched from man-made influence, that I pictured how it must have looked when Christopher Columbus first saw the 3 Sisters/ Trinity Hills. Did this area look the same as it had back then?

Some photos of my brother and uncle catching up on life together.

Mt Hope Sketches #1

Recall my post about the photographs of Mt Hope? Well here is a sample of what I did with those photographs. I'll write more about this current project later on but I thought I should update my blog on what I've been doing recently.

This is the first of the Mt Hope sketches that progressed into painting form. It should have been completed last week but as I have an exam on the upcoming Friday, I put a pause on all my artsy endeavours to study.

I hope to do a few more paintings based on the other sketches of Mt Hope that I did. Thoughts and views? Should I post the other sketches?

Ref Image: Mt Hope has definitely gotten its walls
power-washed since then. 

Trying out my Inktense Pencils on the pencil sketch

Usually I finish painting the entire thing first, then Ink over but I was a bit excited to finish it. Also I needed some new ref pics of the lower portion of the building. I had a feeling my prelim sketches weren't as accurate as they should be.

W.I. Cricket World Cup Win!

After 33 years, the West Indies cricket team has won a World Cup at the T20 Cricket Finals against Sri Lanka! :D Wasn't our last world cup win in 1979? Anyway 2012 is really an amazing year !! :D

I edited a drawing I did in 2010 for this purpose. The following is the original drawing I did, which was for my good friend Amit. It was part of my One-A-Day Sketch Series. Possibly he also one of the few people who didn't get one of my flower drawings as their sketch. 

I wanted to continue with the flower stuff but it didn't seem fitting for Amit. He's such a guy with all of his interests in sports. Not only interested in them, but he is pretty decent at them. Especially at cricket. The flower idea seemed a bit too feminine and additionally it was a bit difficult drawing leaf hands holding a cricket bat.

As I told him, pretend the hot cheerleaders in 20-20 cricket were holding up the letters for his name at the stadium cheering him on.

Blue gloves because I believe it was his favourite colour and a West Indian helmet and test cricket attire because when he was finished with medicine and wanted a career change, it was for the WI he was going to be playing for.

I realise that of late I have been focusing more on some architectural pieces. Should I be trying my hand again at portraits of people?

Photos of Mt Hope/ EWMSC

I've been working on some new projects for some time now. However my life has been a bit busy juggling those art projects with exams fast approaching, that I never make time to finish writing the blog post!

Until then here are some photos I took of the student section at Mt Hope/ Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) over my last vacation.

Mt Hope's architecture is so distinct from the other two teaching hospitals (Port of Spain General Hospital and San Fernando General Hospital). Its design is more contemporary and geometric while with the other two hospitals you can see the influence of our colonial past. Port of Spain General was after all once the colonial hospital in Trinidad.

Consider this a hint as to my current projects ;) Thank you to the people who are helping me make them a reality.