Yesterday was a TERRIFIC day for nature sketching!

My friend and veterinarian, Pete Rucker, is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator who works with the Missouri Department of Conservation--he's also federally licensed, and I often get to sketch and photograph his charges. LOTS of them have ended up in my books and articles!

Last week Pete called to tell me he had baby skunks I might like to sketch, and yesterday was the first day I had time to get out there. What a bonanza! You can click on the images to see the notes I put on them, on Flickr...

While there to sketch the baby skunks, I also got to do quick sketches of a baby raccoon, a little mink, and a nighthawk. It's a great time to put gesture sketching and memory sketching techniques into practice...

Lots of good sketching opportunities, much more than I had bargained for! I stayed for hours...unfortunately I forgot (AGAIN!) that you don't shoot videos with a vertical format...siiiigh...so here is the other one, a tiny, tiny movie of a tiny raccoon getting his afternoon feeding...(Pete is a real hero in my eyes!)

And no, I have no idea what he said...too short!