Jamaican Iguana Exhibit

I recently painted this mural for the Jamaican Iguana exhibit.  It is one of the largest and most detailed that I have painted and it was an exciting job.   The Jamaican iguana is the largest native land animal on Jamaica and is critically endangered.  It is now found only in the Hellshire Hills on the mainland, but was once found all over Jamaica and on Goat Island off the coast.  I included Goat Island in the distance in the mural as a tribute to this. 

Opuntia Cactus and Grey Birch

I tried to paint only native species of plants, like Jamaican palms and grey birch, and Jamaican opuntia cactus.  The rocks are also painted to resemble the volcanic rocks found in the Hellshire Hills area. 

Panoramic image of Jamaican exhibit

Exhibit with some of the plants put in.

Ozark Hellbender Exhibit

I was very excited to paint this mural for the Ozark hellbender salamander exhibit.  Hellbenders (also known as "snot-otters," "mud-devils," "grumpus," or "water dogs") are one of the largest species of amphibian and one of my all-time favorite animals.  It is also a very important animal for the St. Louis Zoo.  The Ozark hellbender is an endangered species found only in the streams of Missouri and northern Arkansas, and the St. Louis Zoo has helped protect them from possible extinction by raising them in carefully maintained artificial streams and releasing them back into the wild.     

Panoramic image of hellbender exhibit

Because hellbenders are an important local species, I decided to go out of my way to include as many local species as possible within the mural.  These include white oak, watercress, sassafras, Ozark wild crocus, early ladies tresses (white flowers in first image), royal catchfly (red flowers), and morel mushrooms (a delicacy around here).  

And, just for fun, below is a watercolor painting I did of a hellbender a couple years ago.

Cotton-Top Tamarin Exhibit

This mural was going to be for the Three Toed Sloth, which I was kind of excited about because I like sloths and I felt sorry for this one because before they changed the lighting and before I painted it the exhibit was really dark and ugly and she spent a lot of time huddled on the floor.  However, the plan changed so now only the Cotton-top Tamarins will be living in here.  I guess I am fine with that.  At least she is in an exhibit with a skylight now.

Source: Mickey Samuni-Blank

Cotton-tops are cool too.  They have great hair. 

Now I am working on another exhibit at the Herpetarium, of which I will probably be posting pictures soon.  This one is for one of my all time favorite animals: the Ozark Hellbender Salamander. 

Mang Viper Exhibit--finished

Here are some pictures of the finished Mang Viper exhibit that I forgot to post before.

Mang Viper Exhibit

I am currently working on a mural for the Mang Viper Exhibit at the Herpetarium.  The mang viper is a beautiful snake that lives in the Hunan Province of China, known for its unique mountains and rock formations (it's where James Cameron got his inspiration for the floating islands in Avatar)

I Began with a quick and small color sketch on paper to get an idea of what the composition should be.

In the exhibit, I started by painting the sky and the most distant mountains.

Then I began painting the closer, darker mountains and adding trees, foliage, and mist.

Now I just need to add some final details to the foreground and I think I will be done. 

Spider Monkey Exhibit

I painted this mural for the spider monkey exhibit in the Primate House a while ago and forgot to post pictures, so I am doing that now.  

I included a lot of detail in this mural.  The fungus near the upper right corner of the picture above is supposed to be a cordyceps fungus growing out of a beetle.  If you haven't heard of cordyceps, it is a very strange variety of mushroom that infects insects.  It's pretty cool.  Follow this link if you want to hear David Attenborough talk about it:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8

I have hidden two other things in this mural, but I am not posting pictures of them so if you want to know what they are you will have to waltz over to the primate house and find them for yourself! 

Armenian Viper Exhibit and Spider Monkey Exhibit

The St. Louis Zoo Herpetarium is highly involved in conservation and protecting endangered herps (snakes, turtles, lizards, amphibians, etc.)  One of the species Jeff Ettling and other members of the herpetarium have worked hard to protect is the Armenian Viper, so I was very excited to paint the mural for this awesome snake.  

I did my best to include as many of the native plants and landscape features of the viper's habitat in Armenia.  The poppies and other flowers were a fun excuse to include colors I don't usually get to work with.  Rocks are fun too.

Although the mural is done, the exhibit is still being worked on, so if you want to see the vipers in their new home you may need to come back in a week or two.

I am currently working next door on the Spider Monkey exhibit in the Primate house.  The spider monkeys are in the the last exhibit I painted: the Tamarin exhibit (no idea where the tamarins and sakis are).  

I am painting another amazon rainforest scene.  This time I am depicting the deep forest on a wet and misty day, so there are a lot of cool colors.  The exhibit rocks are very hard to move around on without tripping and almost landing on my head, so progress has been rather slow but it's coming along.

Thank you to everyone who has been sending or posting encouragement and praise!  It is always nice to hear what people think about what I'm doing.