Waccatee Zoological Farm 6'12

  Looking for a good place to to sketch exotic animals or are  looking for a place to photograph birds ?  The  Waccatee Zoological Farm is a small family run enterprise  that is run  entirely on private donations. 

 

  The zoo houses thousands of animals and over 100 species.
The first to greet you are the Peafowl (aka peacock).

 

 They are both beautiful to look at and good security.  At the least small disturbance these lovely creatures  begin  screaming ear piercing alarm calls, alerting  the staff and everyone else that mischief is afoot.

 From the road you see herds of buffalo and zebra roaming the open sunny grassland, but most of the zoo is located within 500 acres of private, carefully preserved, wooded property.

Some of the larger herd animals like the ( North African sheep above) are given  large tree sheltered enclosures. . Many of the animals are located in relatively small enclosures,  making them very easy to see and sketch.  

 But fair warning while clean and well fed, it did not seem entirely fair to keep such large animals in such small spaces. I was especially uncomfortable with the  cats and other predators. The zoo's website brags that  "big cats like the leopard, lion, cougar and tiger eye you up close".  It is true that one can get close.  I could get within a foot of this  little serval cat, but  it  wouldn't meet my eyes.  A  large lioness paced endlessly back and forth  between the cinder block walls of her  rooms.    It left me feeling guilty and sad to see these beautiful animals caged like this.

One are that I did find enjoyable was the raised wooden walkway that winds through the  wetlands .   A raised wooden walkway winds through  the

Located where the Waccamaw River, Intracoastal Waterway and Socastee Creek  join, Waccatee Zoo is a natural wildlife sancuary and breeding ground for many species of migratory birds.  At several times of the year it's not uncommon to see thousands of beautiful native egrets or heron in one small spot.  

The birds were everywhere, posing like photographers models

 The egret above had built its nest right over the walkway,

while a heron below posed on a branch beside the walk. The difference between the birds and the other creatures in the zoo is that the birds are free to come and go as they like.  If the zoo area does  not please them, they could simply fly on down the river to another site.

There's a lot more animals than I have shown, so if you are into wildlife art  check it out at: The Waccatee Zoological Farm 

 8500 Enterprise Rd

Myrtle Beach, SC  29588

843-650-8500

Little River Light House Aug '11

I had seen photos of a light house along the Little River in South Carolina, so today Bruce and I went looking for it.  It turns out to be a  replica of a light house that is used by a condo community  to store its pool supplies.  Functional or not, the clever camouflage has become something of a local landmark to boaters on the Little River, SC.

Bulldog Mascot 8 '10

I was in a local garden center a few days ago, taking photos of statuary to use as reference photos for still life paintings, when I ran across this adorable little statue of the Georgia’s Bulldog Mascot.  Now I’m not much of a football fan, but I am probably the only person in South Carolina who isn’t passionate about our local football teams.  Even I know that putting out  a statue that might be mistaken for Georgia’s  bulldog mascot   in the heart of  Clemson U and South Carolina U territory is a sure fire invitation to war.  I could just imagine  the owner of the nursery showing up in the morning to find the  Bulldog  ripped to pieces with Clemson Tiger footprints all about the remains … Or maybe it would be carried off entirely with  a few only South Carolina’s Gamecock feathers where the Bulldog had sat.  What is that nursery owner thinking?

Photo of statue at the True Blue Nursery

I laughed so hard that I had to paint a picture of the little guy while he was still in one piece.

My 12" x 12" oil painting of Bulldog Statue

Yawkey Wildlife Center March 2 '10

Several Artists had told me about what incredible photo ops the Yawkey Wildlife Center  on Cat Island offered  for artists who wanted to get some reference photos of  primitive barrier islands around the Winyah Bay. I decided to follow through with a call to their visitor information center, and soon found myself on a guided tour .

Invited tour guests are asked to meet at a dock on the banks of the Intercoastal .  The wait provides an interesting place to all of the large ships traversing the waters in an out of the Georgetown Harbor.

  I hadn't realized there was that much large shipping on the Inter-coastal.Waterway.

Eventually a small boat arrived at the dock to taxi us across to the Island.

Once on Cat Island, we were introduced to our Tour Guide and 

loaded into vans.

The tour began immediately as our guide began to explain the various ecosystems and subsystems we were passing through..  Much of it was forested land, but there were also a lot of early colonial archeological sites along the way.

Like this grave-site  of the Hume family (above)
or the rice chimney below

I had hoped to get some really good photographs on this trip. The guide did not have a problem letting us out of the van, but warned us that even this early i the year, the insects were voracious.
He was right.  I took the photo below then decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

The remainder of my pictures were taken from the within the insect proof van.

 We drove down the dikes that separated the former rice fields while the guide explained  what life was like for slave and master alike on a rice plantation.

  He also explained how  dam projects on the Santee River had reduced the out flow of fresh water allowing more sea water to come in with the tides and salinating the soil so it was no longer arable for crops. Today the fields are seeded to help act as a sanctuary for migrating birds.
and the canals act as protected havens for some of the largest alligators in South Carolina.

Everywhere  we saw evidence of a healthy ecosystem where the nature had begun to reclaim the land and wildlife was flourishing

As a final stop we drove to the point on the island where we could look across Winyah Bay at the  Lighthouse on North Island.

I was disappointed that I hadn't been able to get better pictures, but I gain an immense appreciation for the place. I did take a lot of photos, and I am sure some of them will serve me well for jogging my memory of the place. should I wish to paint it.

ITS - Bottle Tree 12 '08

Brookgreen Gardens has planted a Bottle Tree.

  "What's that?", you ask.  Its a southern holiday tradition.  Find an dead tree, cut  off all the think branches;  then back the  small branches to within 24 " of the trunk,  cover the ends of the branches with colorful bottles.

 ITS   (It's the South)