The Animals
One by one the animals lined up in my imagination to have their portraits made.
It all started with a little idea to give my nephew an animal drawing for his 10th birthday. I found out that he had a very specific list of favorite animals—zebra, polar bear, and white lion—all white and black. I was so charmed by this that I thought it would be fun to give him one of his favorites. The same way he and his sister gave me drawings as gifts when they were little.
For my nephew, I chose a zebra. I decided his zebra would like a fun blue sky with circles for clouds and lots of green grass to munch on. The whole process, from the drawing to the giving, was so enjoyable that I wanted to make more.
Well, I didn’t have to think too hard about what to draw next, because that zebra wouldn’t leave me alone. He kept pestering me to give him a purple sky. ”A purple sky?” I asked. “Yes,” he nodded, “a purple sky.” I shook my head and got to work.
The zebra must have mentioned his purple sky portrait to some of his friends, because by the time I finished it, a whole list of animals had lined up to be drawn.
The polar bear was next. How was I going to draw a white bear with colored pencil? I tried so many different versions and nothing was working—until he told me about the polar bear shaman, “The indigenous people think of us as spirit guides.” And that set the direction for his whole portrait.
Beyond that, he requested plenty of ice to stand on, so I gave that to him and thought we were done. But I was wrong. That bear had a lot more to say.
He wanted another drawing to share his full message. Polar bears, if you didn’t know, are very powerful presences, and I was not about to tell him no. I made the second drawing and quietly wondered if he would want a third. He seemed satisfied after drawing number two though, so I moved on to the next animal.
The flamingo was up next. Those birds are so much fun. All this one wanted to talk about was pink. Pink, pink, pink. I used three different shades of pink pencil to draw that bird, and she kept asking me to use a fourth—the hot pink. I avoided that one for a while, because, really, isn’t three pinks enough? The flamingo said, “No, you can never have enough pink.” In the end, I agreed to the hot pink and realized she knew what she was talking about. Three pinks were not enough.
All the other animals showed up on their own, but the monarchs came in as a fluttering group. I thought that would make them more demanding, but it didn’t. They just wanted milkweed—they always want milkweed. As a finishing touch, I gave them a purple sky like the zebra, and they seemed to really enjoy that.
I knew there was a hummingbird waiting for me, but I didn’t know what kind. When he showed me his bright red throat, I knew exactly who he was, and I hesitated. I don’t normally like to put red and green together in such an obvious way, but as the ruby-throated hummingbird said, “If I can wear it, you can draw it!” He was right of course. The combination suits him so well, and I love the way his drawing turned out.
And finally, the giraffe, ah, I’ve always loved giraffes. They’re so peaceful and elegant—unless you’re a lion trying to attack them, in which case they’re very powerful kickers. But this giraffe wasn’t in any danger, and she only had a few requests: plenty of leaves to eat, long eyelashes, and a diamond on her forehead. Why the diamond? She didn’t say, but the drawing never worked without it.
After I finished all the portraits, I tucked them away in an archival storage box to wait for the time when I’d be ready to tell their story. The animals were quiet in there for a long while, but lately they’ve gotten so noisy. I think they’re ready for me to let them out into the world.
I’ll put them in frames soon and see where they want to go.
The beautiful thing about gifts is that sometimes they just keep on going. What started as a little gift for my nephew turned into a whole series of drawings that were a real joy for me to make. And maybe, now that I’m sharing their story, they’ll be a gift for someone else too.