Ten years ago I filled my subway sketches with people one by one over the course of a few sessions.

I decided to try it again, but this time I would add animals from the zoo.

Some of the more popular animals at Ueno Zoo draw large crowds of visitors who block the view and make sketching very difficult.

But there are many other animals with lots of open space in front of them and very few people viewing them.

That includes many of the birds.

If I combine several animals and people in one sketch, then I am happy to sketch even the lonely birds and enjoy some peace and lots of elbow room.

The lonely birds are not so lonely now.

With this novel idea of combining commuters and zoo animals, each sketch can be an ongoing project.

I can carry several works in progress with me and have a more fun sketching no matter where I go.

I have a rubber stamp with a QR code that links to my website, so I thought I would use it instead of a signature.

Since everybody at the zoo already has a phone in hand ready to snap pictures, they can quickly grab the QR code when they look at my sketches.

Note about Amazon links: If you click on a link and buy something at Amazon, a few pennies per dollar goes into my Amazon account, so instead of letting Amazon keep it all, you can pry a few pennies from their fingers make them share it with me. Any other vendor links I may put on this website are just for your convenience.