day one-hundred-and-forty-six - laughing kookaburra

we all know (and hopefully love) kookaburras but here are some things you may not have known about them:

- they are kingfishers that live inland (that's just plain odd for a mostly riverine family). and the largest kingfisher in the family too
- they all 'laugh' but the guy i drew is specifically a 'laughing kookaburra'
- they are mesmerised by hot chips (if my trip to the zoo today is anything to go by)
- they are (apparently) known as 'the bushman's clock'. i wouldn't mind using one as an alarm myself
- you'll often hear them as a part of the jungle ambience in old adventure films, no matter what the continent
- i drew one today...

© jem barratt

i quite like him - i tried to do a more simplistic and less realistic drawing - but not as much as i like this guy

in other news, a red-tailed black cockatoo had fun trying to eat my bag today. i was tempted to scoop him in my bag so i could keep him, but that's 'stealing' or 'animal cruelty' or something

xj

day forty-four - zoo medley

today i went to the (adelaide) zoo, and boy do they have a lot of parrots now! it's so good. not to mention all the 'zooborns' - mandrills, wallaby, tamarins, bilbies and (as yet unseen) ghost bat.

© jem barratt

i like the happy accident of the music staves showing through from the next page.

so here i drew a razor-billed curassow, a kookaburra, a yellow crowned amazon parrot, a hyacinth macaw, and an archer fish. it would probably be nicer if they were all birds, but i haven't drawn a fish yet and thought it was time.

i need to practise drawing from live animals instead of photos.
xj

day twenty-four - bandito menagerie

yes, technically not AN animal (or even a gaggle) but it is what it is.

and what it is, is this:

© jem barratt

yep not much of an explanation needed. i like bandit animals (if you're unfamiliar with such beasts, just look up any of the above and you will see their all-natural bandit mask). i also like drawing with poscas on black card.

i do not like my skill level. but i do like you.

...who are you?
xj

(i'm tired)