3.25.12

The last day of our trip - travelling home. We woke in Guayaquil and had breakfast at the hotel. I sketched the flowers on the table. At the airport in Guayaquil, we had some time before boarding and I sketched my panama hat (a little trivia - Panama hats are made in Ecuador. They are called Panama hats because that's where they became famous for being worn). On the plane from Miami to Boston, I sketched the Seychelles Islands from a photo in Outside Magazine - voted the best islands in the world. I wonder if the people that voted had ever heard of Galapagos!

3.24.12

This is Dad. I don't have too many opportunities to sketch him so I grabbed at this one. We were in the lounge on the Endeavor watching a documentary on Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his kind, so Dad was pretty still for this sketch. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time as the call to disembark came about 10 minutes into the drawing. I put him on my "Influential People" list, of course, but I'd like to do a better portrait of him some other time. For now, this will have to do.

3.23.12

This day, one of the last hikes, I brought my journal and sketched more and photographed less. Galapagos is a great place to sketch wildlife because you can get so close and the animals won't run away. These birds were either nesting or waiting for mates so they just let me draw away and I was only a few feet away from them. Very cool.

03.22.12

A distant island in the Galapagos sketched from the bow of the National Geographic Endeavor. The light in the sky was amazing. It was sunset and there were storm clouds on the horizon. 15 minutes after I sketched this the storm was over us and rain was coming down in buckets. No outdoor BBQ that night.

This is the start of a new journal approach. I've been sketching every day so I'd like to try blogging every day. There will be about a month lag time from the real journal to the blog but in the end I hope to have a more complete and frequent blog that will complement the real time journal.

Puerto Ayora

Galapagos Map

Here is the route we traveled in Galapagos. I love making maps. Maybe it's the way my mind works but looking here, at this one sketch, can flood an entire weeks worth of memories into my mind.

Miami to Guayaquil

Airports are great places to sketch - lots of time and the subject matter is endless. This is the start of an amazing - once-in-a-lifetime trip with the Foster Boys. My dad, brother, nephews and my son, Alex off to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. 

Boobies

I just returned this week from the Galapagos Islands. This is a sketch of the famous Blue Footed Booby bird. Actually there are a couple of other boobies on Galapagos - the Red Footed Booby and the Nazca Booby. These birds are seen on many tourists t-shirts dancing in pairs with the slogan "I Love Boobies" or "Hooray for Boobies" written beneath. But most people agree that the origin of the name is from the Spanish word bobo, which means "clown" for their large colorful feet and perhaps their peculiar antics during courtship which is better seen in person than described here.