For years I spent time drawing fish and turtles at the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, Michigan. Some were used to produce illustrations others to learn the finer points of drawing live fish – which can be a challenge.
One year while spending a long weekend in Chicago we spent a day at the Shedd Aquarium.
At Shedd I spent time drawing a Paddlefish, which is native to the Mississippi River drainage, as well as drawing saltwater fish and a sea turtle, which can be hard to see in the wild.
When I taught Natural History of Vertebrates at Eastern Michigan University we had three Saturday field trips. One of those trips was at the Detroit Zoo, where I had gone as a student with my Primatology class many years earlier. The Detroit Zoo was a good place to see a nice variety of mammals, birds and reptiles. Another trip was to the Belle Isle Aquarium, where students essentially got to watch fish. But the third trip was at Cabela’s in Dundee, Michigan. There was a huge aquarium with most of the larger native Michigan fish, many of these were not at the Belle Isle Aquarium. There were also taxidermy mounts of most of the larger animals of North America, along with some from other places.
For me, the great fun was in learning to draw fish. Frankly, I think that it is easier to draw them than to photograph them. In the wild is is nearly impossible to do either with much luck, as you are usually on a moving boat or canoe.
Tomorrow it is back to the garden, eating out and a special birthday…
Michael's Place 