Glamavanning in Wales - New Quay Reptile World

I've been caravanning (but glamorously) in Cardigan, West Wales (or Aberteifi if you're Welsh) for the last week or so with my parents I'm sure I'll do a masterpost of my adventures, but I was quite happy with some of the photos that I took a couple of days ago so I thought I'd share them here.

I've had a DSLR for about a year and a half - and I've only just started to get the hang of using it. My love of animals means that my parents and I often go to zoos and wildlife reserves to take photographs of the cute little beasties! On Saturday, we ventured out in the Welsh rain and visited the quaint seaside village of New Quay. (Quay is a word that always stresses me out - why isn't it pronounced how it's spelt??) We decided to go to the Little Zoo on the Quay...

New Quay Reptile World 

Birds of the Atacama

I thought I should upload some of my illustration work up here (mostly because I'm stuck for ideas/terrified of posting anything about me because I'm an anxious wreck.) I draw a lot of women (naked and clothed!) but another thing I really enjoy drawing are animals. I've been a wildlife-lover since I was a kid (collecting snails in ice cream tubs) so when I misinterpreted a brief at uni, I used it as a chance to draw some cute birdies. I present to you, fair comrades; 

Birds of the Atacama Desert! 

grey hooded sierra finch

humboldt penguin (in the desert!!) 

chimango caracara

nandu

this isn't a bird

blackthroated flowerpiercer

andean flamingo

me holding a real sierra finch! look how pretty it is! J is v v impressed 

These were all done in gouache paint, which I really enjoyed using and want to play with again (but I've managed to lose my set of paints... Living in a house with 6 other art students is not good for keeping hold of supplies!)

I hope you enjoyed your forage into the wildlife of the Atacama!

Take care little birdies, 

This is my last summer free of responsibility - and I've spent it doing absolutely nothing. I've done a little university work here and there but nowhere near enough to tackle the almighty pile that will no doubt smother me by September. Other than that, I've worked very hard on refreshing the tumblr dashboard? I've wanted to run a blog for a long time but I'm a very anxious person and often crippled by self doubt. I figured I'd start one in the attempt to force myself out of my comfort zone and do something that's exciting enough to blog about!