Fieldwork Friday: Snakes and Wine

The house plumbing went down again on New Year's Eve, taking the laundry, kitchen and upstairs bathroom with it. Luckily we have a second bathroom on a different line, so we were able to limp along until the plumber could get out to us on Thursday. (These things always happen on holidays, of course.)

David was scheduled for gigs in Manitou Springs Thursday and Friday, and I decided to go along and use more reliable plumbing elsewhere for a couple of days. It was a good theory, except that when we arrived home this morning we discovered that we might have cleared drains, but now we have no water. (sigh) The utility guy should be here in the next hour or two, the problem is a frozen meter at the street.

But, hey... yesterday was fun. I skipped out of David's morning gig and took my sketchbook to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. 2013 is the Year of the Snake, and the CMZ recently remodeled their reptile house, so it seems appropriate to share a corn snake sketch first.

I have to admit that not all snakes are created equal where charm is concerned. This one, I thought, had a rather cute face, what with its stubby nose and whisker-like cheek spots and all.

The Cuban knight anole was an unusually cooperative model, which was good because my first drawing was pretty wretched. I'm still struggling to manage the (ahem) changing vision issues of midlife... looking up at a model and down at the sketchbook is no longer the efficient operation it once was, even with my stylish spectacles.

But anole don't care. Anole don't give a sh@#. He just expects to be drawn with some respect and sensitivity and he will only sit still for so long. (Yes, this is a poor and "so 2011" reference to a certain honey badger video.)

It was too cold to skip out of David's Friday evening gig at the Mona Lisa Wine Cellar (and really, who doesn't enjoy an excuse to spend the evening in a wine cellar?), so out came the Sharpie and a more discrete sketchbook. (Patrick, this one's for you... no pencil!)

In all, a fine way to spend the first Friday of the new year.

Ah! Our intrepid Water Knight is here. It's going to be a very fine first Saturday of the new year now, too.