30-Day Drawing Challenge: Day 2

"An elephant's faithful -- one hundred percent!"

- Horton Hatches the Egg, Dr. Seuss

I don't remember when, exactly, I became obsessed with elephants. At some point in my elementary education I must have learned something about them -- learned how the females form tightly-knit family groups, how intelligent they are, how well they communicate with each other, how they mourn their dead. Whatever the trigger, I became more and more obsessed with them over the years until, at last, I found a way to meet a few.

My best friend, Alana, and I had signed up with a Canadian travel group to spend 40 days in Thailand. We'd both just graduated college, and Thailand was our last hurrah before feebly attempting adulthood. I love to travel and there were a million things to be excited about, but more than anything, I was counting down the days until I got to hang out with elephants.

We journeyed into the jungle of Khao Sok to meet our river-trekking pachyderm pals. I was on the verge of hyperventilating with anticipation. When the moment finally came, it was hard to fully comprehend that these enormous, dinosaur-like creatures were real, live animals. I'd seen an elephant or two from a distance at the zoo, but it was nothing compared to walking up to one, touching one, climbing on its back and scratching the rough skin behind its ears.

I would have been happy to spend the rest of the evening feeding them green bananas, awed and delighted by the immense power of their trunks. (Those things are totally genius, right? Why didn't evolution pass those out to more species?) I will never forget that feeling -- a purity of joy I don't experience in my day-to-day life.

The next logical step in the progression of my elephant obsession was, of course, to get an elephant tattoo. I did that in Thailand, too -- bamboo-style, the design an original from the Thai tattoo artist. (Up next? Landing myself some sweet elephant-created art.)

Thus, it was a no-brainer what I would draw for today's challenge: my favorite animal. I picked one of Alana's photos on which to base my drawing. That very quickly got out of hand -- it was entirely too ambitious... but then, I've never been good at setting realistic goals. It's not finished (and it's certainly not perfect), but it's a start...

P.S. If you want to have yourself a feel-good cry, check out these videos about Shirley the elephant. Part 2 is especially gut-wrenching -- elephant besties! Snuggling with their trunks! Aaaaagggghhhh ::heart 'splodes::

Shirley, Part 1

Shirley, Part 2