Drawing Gentoo Penguins

As a business owner in the creative space, turning an activity that was formerly a hobby into a sustainable income stream has had its challenges, and much as I place myself firmly in the position of “doing something I love so it doesn’t feel like work” there is a lot of admin, marketing, research and promotion that goes along with it, as well as the financial rollercoaster of self-employment. It’s therefore tricky to find ways of having time off to pursue my own art practice, meet other people, and let someone else be in charge, and the Wild Life Drawing sessions are to me, a much-needed form of Continued Professional Development.

Knowing that I am supporting a small business (like mine) that is trying to navigate a way of doing good in the world of animal conservation and awareness (like me) means it feels very much allied with what I do, but being able to relinquish the control over the organisation is a great tonic, and it’s really important for me to require myself to draw different subjects.

Yesterday’s visit to the SEA LIFE London Aquarium got me out of the studio and up to London – in itself a good thing – and being in the aquarium after-hours was such a privilege. [I homeschooled my 3 children so I am fully aware of what such attractions are like over the summer; the advantage of home ed is that we used to go on a term-time Tuesday in February.]

After gathering for a quick bag-check, we made our way down to the penguin section, passing hypnotic jellyfish and magnificent sharks. There were about 18 of us, and we learnt a little bit about the Gentoo penguins.

There are 15 penguins, ranging in age from 2 – 28 years; they obviously live a lot longer in captivity. They are the fastest penguin, reaching speeds of 22mph, and one of them got the zoomies while (because!) we were watching which was very entertaining. It was getting towards their bedtime so some were sleeping while a few others were very active and playing to the gallery, scooting around their deep tank and hopping out on to the ice before plopping back in to the water again.

I did lots of quick sketches with my ink pen, just to try and get the proportions. I ducked out to see the sharks for half an hour or so, then returned to the penguins by which time a few of them were settling down, so I could get a proper look at them. I used my water pen to give a wash, which makes it easier to steer some of the lines – and wash away mistakes…

The sharks were quite difficult to draw, but there were about 7 of a particular species – black-tipped sharks – so I could sketch a kind of composite, which is always a handy thing to do. They are so long and streamlined, and I ran out of paper so I tried drawing them side on to foreshorten them slightly, with limited success. They were wonderful to watch, and again, something I would never think to draw so it was a good challenge.

It was a lovely evening, and I am looking forward to the September one which will be about the jellyfish. Half the proceeds from the evening’s ticket price is going to support the SEA LIFE Trust and help continue the good work that they do.