The Humboldt Penquin

Bleubeard and I are hosting Art Journal Journey this month with our themes My Favorite Season or 'Tis the Season.  

Today we are visiting the Humboldt Penguin at our local zoo.

It is definitely "The perfect season

to visit the Humboldt Penguin at the Zoo."

Note the large and dangerous looking claws.

According to Penguin World:

Humboldt penguins are visibly thinner than other species that store more fat and plumage in their body. They belong to the group of banded penguins and look very similar to the African penguins.

They have a black area that starts at the top base of its beak and cover their forehead; it continues between the eyes up to the head, and it is distributed all over its back, flippers, tail and the upper part of the throat. C-shaped white stripes start at the base of their beak and join the white area in the bottom of the throat.

Their chest is white with a thick black horseshoe-shaped stripe that starts from the legs and goes upward to reach the top of the chest and then go back down to the other leg. They may have random black spots on their chest and belly, which are different from each other. Their beak is black with some white spots and a callous pink area all around the base of the beak and reaching their brown with red eyes. Their legs are black and pink with large claws.

 Whoever drew this penguin for our local zoo did a really good job.

Note the random spots on its chest and belly.  Further according to Penguin World:

Humboldt Penguins are distributed along the coasts of Chile and Peru, keeping their largest colonies in Chañaral Island and Punta San Juan. The climate they inhabit is warm in some areas, and intense sunlight increases their body temperature.

I began by painting both sides of this spread with lavender craft acrylic paint.  While the paint was drying, I fussy cut the penguin I received in the mail from my local zoo.  I cut four strips of cardboard from a cracker box and, after stacking them together, I painted them white.  Once dry, I laid cheesecloth over the top and glued it in place.  I then positioned the penguin on top of what I hoped looked like rocks these penguins might climb.  Next I added several plastic snowflakes randomly around the page to go with the Santa hat.  Finally, I added the sentiment.

Bleubeard and I are so happy you chose to join us today and hope to also see you (and your art) at Art Journal Journey. 

EDIT: At Susi's request, I am adding this to Try it on Tuesday where their theme is Guess who's coming? Santa (of course) and this time disguised as a Humboldt penguin! 

On a side note, please check out my right sidebar.  A few things have changed and a few things will be leaving soon.  Some will soon be on my Previous Collaborations page located under Bleubeard's lovely face.