My mom and sister and I took a day trip to the San Antonio Zoo yesterday. I remember going there as a small child; two of the most prominent memories I have are riding an elephant (exciting and terrifying!) and falling in love with the pink flamingoes.
I was very impressed with the zoo; it was beautifully kept and obviously run by people passionate about taking good care of the animals. And as long as was safe for the visitors and animals, there were minimal cages and screens around the enclosures, so you could experience seeing the creatures as up close and naturally as possible. We walked into areas with birds flying around, butterflies fluttering, and got to see a hippo underwater.
As an artist, of course I was inspired by the myriad shapes, colors, and sizes of the animals and their surroundings. (The zoo is filled with colorful plants and flowers, too!) In one of the aviaries, surrounded by birds, I stopped to let these two pheasants walk across the path. And I realized something: they were the originals to sport polka-dot style!
Seriously. Normally we think of zebras or leopards when we think of animal prints, but could we not say the polka dot is one too??? I thought it was just too funny. :) You know, this bird's polka-dots have a nice circular pattern within the dots that would be lovely translated to fabric... #ideas!