Stingrays

I was at the Turtleback Zoo with my son the other day and we spent a lot of time at the stingray touch tank. At first he was not brave enough to go ahead and touch, so I cheered him on and he was able to do it. Then came the inevitable “Now it’s your turn mommy! You can do it, it’s not so bad!”. So, as much as I didn’t want to, I did it. I touched those stingray for fear of being a hypocrite, and I’m glad I did. I’m convinced they liked it too, because they would race to us as soon as we’d dip our hands in the water. As for drawing them, that proved to be even harder. They are so sleek in design, at first it seemed as if the drawing would be simple. But sometimes the simplest forms are the hardest to capture. Here are some attempts. I especially enjoyed how their “wings” gently flapped under and above the water. ~Despina