Arboretum art challenge

Hellor

I started this website last year and have literally not touched it in a whole year because I got busy with other things and didn’t really know how to move forward with my website and art journey.

Now that I am several months into my gap year, I have a little bit more time on my hands to devote to my art goals.

This blog post will be about an art challenge that I took part in August. I had wanted to take part in an art challenge for some time but couldn’t find the right occasion.

And I guess I found that occasion in 31 Animals August, hosted by Kick in the Creatives, a British art duo who podcast and host 3 art challenges every month.

Although the 31 Animals August challenge comes with its own set of prompts, I went rogue (or local?) and came up with a list of animals that are found in the arboretum right here in good ol’ Guelph, Ontario. 

I used my first-year university Woodlot Biodiversity textbook for inspiration (hell yeah), switching it up between birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians as much as possible.

Drawing 31 animals didn’t seem like a big deal at first but it was pretty hard to remain consistent at times. 

Despite wanting to create a fresh painting every day, I ended up painting in batches, just to save myself some time. The most important thing for me was to make 31 paintings of local species total.

On the whole, I just wanted to show everyone the range of animals exist right outside our front door. It’s easy to forget how special something is when you see it every day.

I learned a ton about the species along the way. Who knew that cardinals are so territorial that they attack their own reflection? Or that porcupines have natural antibiotics in their skin?

It was really lovely getting to know each species a little bit better :)