This week was one where I had to do a drawing on a larger canvas, and decided to do the walruses. It was a difficult project because I also had to draw the water, which I have never done before, but was excited to try doing. The walruses also moved a lot despite their size, but I eventually decided on the position that the older walrus took on when they pushed against the side of the exhibit and swam away on her back. Drawing the walrus wasn't too hard, but it was definitely difficult to draw the surrounding water, and I had to study pictures of water to figure out how to portray it well as a 2D image with only pencil to give it shape. It was a really cool project, and in the process I also learned a lot about walruses because they fed while I was there once, and the keepers told us a lot about them. I do have some newfound respect for walruses though, because I just didn't know much about them, but now I know a few more details about them and they are really cool animals. They use powerful suction to suck clams right out of their shells, and they have very sensitive pads on their noses so that they can feel out their surroundings. One of the coolest parts of this week though, was learning from the keepers why one of the walruses was a different color, even though they were both female. The older walrus is blind, and has been blind for about a decade, and they think that because she cannot percieve light in the same way as the other walrus, she molts at a different pace. Walruses molt! I didn't know that, and that is really cool! Overall, there are aspects of my drawing that I don't like as much, and I feel fall short of the image I was trying to portray, but I did learn how to draw water better from this, and it was really nice to get out of my comfort some more. I had lost a bit of the zeal that I had at the beginning of this project, but this week has really brought that back out, and I'm enjoying exploring the zoo now that the weather is more condusive to it.