My sister and I draw at Woodland Park Zoo frequently. One
day we drew flamingos, but wore out after an hour. Who knew flamingos move
constantly and morph their shape all over the place? So we decided to draw the
lions. It was our first time drawing lions, but we figured, hey, how hard can
it be? They just lie around. Easy.
Hubert and Kalisa were in the outdoor enclosure. Normally
they do lie around.
And look magnificent.
Or not.
(All the photos above, by the way, are from Woodland Park
Zoo. The photos after this are not from WPZ and not Hubert.)
But not today. Hubert was on the move and I could only get
quick lines initially.
Gradually the sketches got better. Kalisa seemed much more
relaxed, so I was able to get better sketches of her.
But Hubert was pacing
angrily around the area, stopping occasionally to stare at the door at the back
of the enclosure.
What was going on? Hubert wanted his lunch. Due to the time
change, the lions were getting fed an hour later than normal. Well, a hungry
male lion is not a happy guy.
Hubert spotted us across the enclosure behind the
viewing glass and stared at us with the hypnotic gaze of many felines. I froze.
The photos don’t show how hypnotic that is. You can’t move.
Suddenly he started running toward us. Sorry, I don’t
have any drawings. I had other things on my mind. A really big, angry lion was
racing toward us.
My sister is a pretty unflappable sort. Ever the artist, she thought, "A lion's head with the mane, is about as tall as I am." and “Does
he think we have lunch?” My thoughts were more basic. “There’s big, thick
glass between us,” I thought. But that old, primitive part of my brain
was screaming, “Are we lunch?” (My sister once worked in a window-making
factory, so I guess she knows more about window glass than I do. And I was
sitting closer to him than she was.)
Hubert roared up to the window. Well, he didn't actually roar, but he certainly wanted to. That much was clear.
I mean, I was a foot away from him, sitting down, looking up at this guy.
Then he turned around, peed all over the window, and walked
away. No doubt about how he felt.
Not long after that,
the door across the enclosure opened and the lions disappeared. Weak, choking
laughter was about all I could do. God, I love drawing animals at the zoo.
