Tuesday 13th - met the new lemurs

This morning a group of reception school children visited the zoo. Nothing unusual there, we have many such visits, but this one was a little different for me because my brother's girlfriend was one of the adults accompanying the group. She is a teacher's assistant and I had arranged to meet them to say hello to the children and welcome them to the zoo.

I met them up by the entrance and after quickly telling the children what I did at the zoo I got them asking me questions - favourite ones among them were all related to dinosaurs, which have sadly now left the zoo. I walked with them on their journey along the enclosures of the top terrace, dropping in a few facts about the animals they saw, which was hopefully interesting to the children and adults and then said goodbye. I saw them again a few times during the day, as I went about my tasks outside.

Not long after I returned to the studio I got in touch with the mammal section. We have a new species of lemur settling in and I had the ok to go and get photo's of them. The two male red-bellied lemurs Eulemur rubriventer were not actually on show to the public, as the walk-through exhibit they are in is now closed to the public through the winter. However, it is possible to see them through the mesh fencing, so an ID sign needs to be done.

The two lemurs are in the process of being settled in and will shortly be slowly introduced to the other lemurs that share the enclosure, the mongoose and ring-tailed lemurs. So whilst all was quiet and the animals were happy being out and about I was able to go in the walk-through with one of the keepers to see them.

Now it is probably undisputable that all lemurs are very cute... and these two boys were no exception. They have a beautiful chestnut brown coat with a black face and tail. From the corners of their eyes a patch of bare white skin forms almost 'teardrop' shapes either side of the bridge of their muzzle. This gives them a very appealing and adorable 'expression'. The two lemurs we have are very friendly and although no contact is encouraged between human and animal, they both seemed very comfortable around us and had no qualms about getting close and even jumped onto the keeper a couple of times without encouragement. I was able to get a variety of photo angles of them and would be working from these as with the introductions soon to take place, I would not have access for long periods of sketching.

Photos done I returned to the studio to upload and provisionally sort through them.
In the afternoon I also put up all the ID signs (except the two that go in the Forest of Birds) around the zoo. Whilst in the nocturnal house I got chatting to a couple from Taunton who were visiting the zoo for the first time in many years; decades in fact. They were both very impressed and were thoroughly enjoying their visit.

I finished putting the new signs up and resticking some of the old ones just as it was getting dusk, the light was quickly fading. I finished the day off going through the lemur photo's more thoroughly.

Signs and little jobs

Started this week more or less as I left last week.... on the computer getting replacement signs sorted out and doing lots of little jobs in between. So nothing really interesting to report today and I didn't even get out of the studio for a walk around the zoo grounds, so no animal observations either.

So the only real thing to report is the continuing process of getting signs printed.Again I had a number of signs that needed to be converted from Quark to Illustrator files before I could print them which can be a quick thing to do or a little more involved if maps need to be redone, or text adjusted etc. I also needed to set up two new files. As we are running out of the coloured paper that we use for the bird blank IDs we are going to go start printing paper with the same colour we use for the signs. This will have the advantage of the printed signs and the blanks matching in colour better than before when different papers meant an exact colour match was very difficult.
 

Signs

There was one last Dinosaur sign to take down and that was in the zoo's gated car park. So I popped across first thing to removed that and also to take out a sign on a post in the maze. The post was quite firmly in place so I had to do quite a bit of wiggling to loosen it enough to pull out. 

On my way back to the studio I passed an aviary which houses the little black-cheeked lovebirds Agapornis nigrigenis and the brown-breasted barbets Lybius melanopterus. Back in the summer the two barbets (which were newly paired) were being observed by the keepers as it was suspected they had nested and laid an egg in one of the old tree trunks; these had been placed in their aviary just for such a purpose.  When I went past today I saw three barbets, so it looks as though the pair successfully reared their first chick... :)

The animal houses have switched over to the winter-time opening and closing times now, so at 11am I took over the 30 butterfly guides I had photocopied and laminated this morning to the Butterfly Forest house. These are to replace the shabby looking few that were all that was left from the last batch done a few months ago. I had to take out the old and put in the new guides into the holder very carefully as two large butterflies had taken up resting positions on the edge of the box and weren't keen to move. I'd love to work in the Butterfly Forest.. it's always so lovely and warm in there.

On my way back I walked through the Meerkat Lookout indoor house. The youngsters are quite grown up now and almost the same size as the adults. It was a bit chilly outside again but with no sun today so all the meerkats were indoors making the most of the warm sand in there. Two adults were lying nose to tail on their backs having a tussling game which was great to watch and two of the youngster were running around playing something akin to 'Tag'. I couldn't resist standing and watching them all for a couple of mins, listening to their constant murmur of contact calls and watching the play behaviour. Our group has now grown to 20 animals; this year the two litters gave their numbers a great boost.

Then I spent the rest of the morning getting the printing of my 'signs to replace' list underway as the printer inks had at last arrived (after another call to the suppliers and them being despatched by car right away!)  I carried on with these during the afternoon, changing 7 reptile species across from Quark files to Illustrator files in the process. This sometimes involved me re-doing map distributions to fit in with the different application and editing text to fit in a smaller space. Then I duplicated 4 of the species ID's to add extra wording with the species name saying 'juveniles' or '(hatched 2011)'. Then I printed, laminated and trimmed them to size before taking them across to where I was meeting Tim (Curator of reptiles) in the quarantine area. Here I was to take photo's of the common chameleons Chamaeleo chamaeleon that have been with the zoo for a month, after being confiscated by UK customs and border control at a British port off a ship that had arrived from Morocco. 

The animal above is thought to be a female and the one below a male; so to help to try and deduce this Tim put the two together and we watched the colour changes, which are strong indicators of mood. The  'female' was a plain green until the other was put in her vivarium and then she showed some black spotting and the creamy white dashes appeared on her sides. The 'male' stayed pretty much the same colouring as he is below. If the two had been males it is highly likely that they would have both gone extremely dark in reaction to each other. More trials of this sort will be tried to get a better idea of the sexing... a less invasive and stressful way to determine their sex as they are not sexually dimorphic and look mostly similar in body shape and size. Even the casque on the head is similar in size and shape.

They have a definite sexing on one of the four animals as she laid 14 eggs soon after arriving. These are now being incubated, which takes a total of 300 days as they need a period of 'quiet cool' incubation to develop and synchronise properly (mimicking the natural incubation of these animals in the wild). Tim's research on the correct husbandry on these animals has shown that shorter incubations at normal incubation temperatures have produced badly developed young.

Last job of the day was to upload all 106 photos that I took of the chameleons and start sorting through them to see what I can use as a temporary photo for the ID and the photo's I want to use as my reference for the illustration will do of it in the future (it lies about 10th on my illustrations to do list!).

Tuesday 6th

Went out this morning after a cuppa, to see if I could get any worthy photo's of the Autumn colours.. but sadly there wasn't much to see now. But I did get  a couple of other photo's.... now that the leaves are almost fallen, it is easier to see the red pandas as they perch high up in their tree.

I also saw the T.rex sat waiting to be taken away... he was tied down - presumably so he couldn't escape or harm anyone. However, he did manage to grab a workman's hi-viz jacket!

Kera and Namoki were playing on top of the outside den.. there was some chest slapping and playful tussles.

Young Kukena was being adventurous and kept wandering away from Mum, Salome; curious about the jackdaws and anything else that caught his attention. Poor Salome was kept on her toes trying to keep him in her sights. Several times she had to follow him and bring him back to the sunny side of the outside den where she was trying to sit and enjoy the warmth from the sun.

 I spent the afternoon on the computer changing a number of reptile ID's from Quark files to illustrator ones, adding the word 'juveniles' to some as replacement signs are needed for the young of several species. The process of re-doing a sign from one format to another can throw up a few problems like text not quite fitting in to the new format or maps having to be re-done. The printer inks still haven't yet arrived so I still can't print anything from my printer.

At the very end of the day Jim, from the Education Section, came into the studio to use the phone. He was waiting for a call from the Simon Mayo show 'Drivetime' as he was to talk to him live on the radio about Chameleons. 

November 5th - Back to work

Today was my first day back at the zoo after two months off to work at home. I started the day with a cuppa and catching up on what's been happening at the zoo whilst I've been away. Then with notepad and pen, cloths and water I set off on an 'ID Sweep'.

The Sweep is for me to check all the ID signs in the zoo around the grounds and in the various animal houses. I am looking for missing, faded or damaged signs that need replacing, noting what signs have slipped in their holders and need re-sticking and giving any a clean that are grubby. It is also a chance, after a period of absence, for me to see if any changes have been made in the animal sections  - like new arrivals or moves to other enclosures. And just to get myself back 'in touch' with the zoo - seeing familiar animals again and saying hi to folks that work around the zoo.

It was a sunny, if slightly chilly day; a lovely one to walk around and be reminded what a lovely environment it is to work in. The yellow, golden and orange leaves of a few trees glowing in the low weaker sun of Autumn, but a lot have already lost most of their leaves. We have many beautiful tree specimens in our grounds as the zoo has always been a Zoological Garden as well as for animals. At this time of year as the colours ripen on the leaves before they fall, the grounds harbour areas of Autumnal glory. because I have been away for most of the Autumn I have missed the best of the colour and just the remnants remain.

The large stump from the old tulip tree (a grand sentinel that once grew near the Top Terrace) was now removed completely. During the summer I had noticed it was now very rotten, the tree having been felled some years ago, and each time I had passed by, another chunk had been kicked off by kids (or even adults) doing what comes naturally when presented with  a decaying tree. We just can't help poking and proding.. our curious and investigative natures brought to the fore.  After it had been felled it had become an 'exhibit' with a pane of glass mounted over the cut section marking out the yearly rings of growth with notable events that happened during its lifetime. Decking had been laid around it mainly for the large 'bouncy slide' that sat nearby during the summer months. I was sad to see it now gone forever, the last vestige of it levelled to the ground and covered with decking - it had been a favourite tree of mine, a beautiful grand old friend that was often missed in its glory because not many look up to see its impressive towering canopy. But the sad day came when it was discovered it was no longer safe... strong wings in several successive winters brought down large branches and boughs... the tree was old and now in the natural scheme of things, shedding some of its weight. But in the zoo with people walking around, it was deemed unsafe and the grand old tree was carefully dissected where she stood and was soon reduced to just a large stump. A sapling tulip tree has since been planted not too far away but it has over a hundred years of growth before it matches the grandeur of its predecessor.

The dinosaur exhibits were being removed today, so there was no dinosaurs calling across the grounds... they remained ominously silent as I walked by each of them. But the beauty of the bird calls were now uninterrupted, as is Kamal sending out one of his long roaring calls.  "Aaarooon. Aaaroon"; followed by the 'chuffs' that seem to be expelling all the air in his body until he has none left. I counted 28 chuffs before he ran out of wind.

Further around the zoo  I went through the Seal and Penguin Coast exhibit, a few signs cleaned but otherwise ok. Going through the underwater section as I was in one of the perspex tunnels I could see a diver slide into the water. In all the years this exhibit has been open I have never seen the divers in to clean the perspex windows and tunnels. So I waited..... another diver jumped in and after donning their flippers they bobbed across the surface until they were over the areas they had to clean. One diver submerged right over the tunnel I was in and I realise it was Jonny... he waved before applying his suction cup contraption to the surface of the tunnel and started work on cleaning the algae off. I left him to it and carried on on the last leg of my sweep.

I finished just before lunchtime and went through my notes listing signs I needed to print and other points that needed action by others like, maintenance, Phil or the animal sections;  sending emails to those that needed them.  After lunch I discovered that I could not print anything because one of the ink cartridges was out in the printer and our replacement supplies had not yet been delivered.

Later in the afternoon Phil and I went out with a large wheelbarrow to remove the signs that were with the dinosaurs and swap over some interpretation boards in the Monkey Jungle exhibit as some animals had been swapped around. Surprisingly all the signs had survived the duration of the Dinosaur stay very well.. the only damage to one was caused by the guys who were dismantling the exhibit! A quick call on the radio from Phil to those in charge of the contractors removing the dinosaurs ensured that the other signs were left alone for us to deal with.

The last job of the day was swapping the interp boards over, by which time it was almost dark and there were very few folks left wandering the zoo. Back in the studio Phil gave me the forms for my appraisal which should be in the next couple of days.

Artist in Residence

Last week I was an artist in Residence at the Nature In Art Museum and Art Gallery in Gloucester. I have been lucky to be able to be part of their Artist in Residence programme every year since 2000 (with the exception of one year). Each week from February to November they have an artist or artists set up in their studio space to spend the week (Tuesday to Sunday) working so that visitors can see an artist producing their creations- whether that is sculpture, paintings, print-making, drawing or any number of other skills.

It is a long time since I have shown any of my zoo artwork as part of my display simply because I have shared the studio space with another artist and therefore have had to limit what I can show as the studio space is not that big.

This year I was flying solo again, the first time in many years, as I felt it was time to show my zoo work again and as I wanted  space to show my Botswana project work too. Too much stuff to fit into a shared space.
So here are a few photo's showing my zoo display. For more photo's of the whole display in the studio please click here.

On the table I had a selection of sketches, a portfolio of examples of my illustrations, a book showing examples of other work I do such as murals and a photo of Distinctly Different (Dee Dee) the gorilla sculpture I painted.

In a handy glass cabinet I put some original illustrations on show; one, the Kowari, also had a copy of the finished ID sign next to it so it could be seen as a 'before and after' example. 

On the wall I put up another couple of examples of finished ID signs, a couple of posts from this blog and a description of my job at the zoo.

If I am there again next year, and solo, I will add more to the display.

Sadly my time at home is nearly at an end and I will be back at the zoo to work from Nov 5th. I had so many plans to do to this blog during my two months off, but my preparations for a couple of workshops and the week at Nature In Art took up nearly all of my time; but the plans aren't forgotten I will add them as and when I can.

Off for two months leave

It was rather poignant that my last post was titled Butts End, seeing as I am now away from the zoo for a couple of months. I didn't think about that at the time, but maybe that was my subconscious working...

Yup.... am now on leave for the month's of September and October. This is part of my part-time package in that I work at the zoo (3 days a week) for 9 months in each year. Up until this year those 3 months were taken back to back from January - March. But this year we are splitting the time up to see if that works better for both myself and the zoo. So January was my first month off and I started this blog when I returned to work in the February. The idea behind this is so that I can concentrate properly for the those 3 months on my work as a self employed wildlife artist (as opposed to an illustrator).  Posts about what I do in that line of work are on my other blog www.susanjanelees.blogspot.com

During my time off I shall be doing a week's residency at the Nature In Art Museum and Art Gallery in Gloucestershire and this year I shall be showing a selection of my work at the zoo incorporating originals, signs and books showing many of my illustrations over the years.. of which there are over 560 species. This residency is from 9th - 14th October. If you are close enough, please do pop in to say hello and have a chat. The Museum is a fabulous place to visit with a stunning collection of art inspired by nature from sculpture, paintings and prints to ceramics, furniture and mosaics. www.nature-in-art.org.uk

During these next two months, I shall also endeavour to pop in one or two illustrations of work I have done in the past and maybe add a few new items to the blog such as pages to view illustrations more easily ... so keep checking back. :~)