This morning I put up the new signs in the Forest of Birds exhibit that I had put together last week. I got them up before the zoo got too busy with visitors. It is the last week of the Summer Holidays and with school starting up again next week it seems there is a last rush to get out and about by families.
I love going in the Forest of Birds.. not only is it invariably toasty in there but it's like a treasure trove. At first glance it just appears to be greenhouse of plants, but then you start noticing the birds hidden amongst leaves and on branches. Java sparrows, white-rumped shama, roul rouls, turaco's, hooded pitta, bleeding heart doves, Nicobar pigeon's and the splendid ornately headed Victoria crown pigeon's just some of the species in there. How many times have I been in there when people wandered in and said... "there's nothing in here" and wander back out, when I can see at least a dozen or so individual birds around them. Sometimes I have stopped them and pointed a few birds that are close by, surprised, they then start looking for themselves and often then end up spending some time there finding birds with a noticeable sense of satisfaction. That makes my day when that happens... seeing people look and appreciate with new eyes.
Back in the studio I traced the lion tracing onto the new board and mixing one of the greens with a bit of the yellow I started painting the foliage area on the board. I shall leave the lion until after I have done most of the foliage as then I can avoid having to carefully paint around things and paint over instead.
During the afternoon I had a visitor to the zoo, Dr Kate Evans an elephant conservation researcher with whom I am doing an exhibition project. She had dropped some leaflets of her charity 'Elephants For Africa' off to me and I took her on a little walk around the zoo before she had to leave for another appointment.
Tomorrow is my last day at the zoo for a couple of months... I am hoping I can get quite a bit done on the lion. If I don't finish it, then Anna will take over and finish it off next week or the week after.
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