#p-22

Los Angeles is well known for its celebrities, so when the fearless cougar P-22 gained fame for making its home in the midst of the city, he inspired an effort to build the world’s largest wildlife crossing and helped spark a national campaign to support crossings and corridors everywhere.

When he came of age, P-22, like other young male mountain lions, set off to find territory and potential mates. Against all odds, he successfully traversed multiple freeways to find a new home in Griffith Park. However, this small scrap of land, like the Santa Monica Mountains he came from, remained isolated from larger mountain ranges to the east.

I got in a bit of drawing time this past weekend. On Saturday I decided to try out the new sketchbook I got that has paper specifically for markers; I also played with a little heavier line width than what I usually do, 1.0 as opposed to 0.3. 

On Saturday I drew a plant that I have a love-hate relationship with, trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus.) On the one hand, it’s a native species and I frequently see leaves that have been chewed on by insects, which means it’s feeding the local ecosystem. On the other, it grows VERY quickly, and I’ve had to clear a bunch back as I’ve been slowly trying to introduce a greater variety of native plants to my yard. 

I really like the marker paper, especially for blending colors. However, it’s all new fibers as opposed to 100% post-consumer recycled, so I’m going to see if I can find any recycled marker paper. 

And then yesterday I did this pencil sketch of P-22, the mountain lion (Felis concolor) who has lived in Griffith Park in Los Angeles the past decade. Over that time he became more than a bit of a celebrity, and his popularity helped to increase awareness for the need for wildlife crossings over highways, and other methods of connecting increasingly fragmented piece of habitat. The sketch is based on a well-known public domain camera trap image from 2014, after he was released having completed treatment for mange. 

I chose this pose because I wanted to challenge myself. It’s a difficult pose due to the foreshortening, and the fact that two of his legs and his tail aren’t visible, making his silhouette unusual. So it was a good chance for me to practice portraying depth. I’m probably just going to leave it as it is, rather than ink and color it; it was good practice.

CW DEATH

Sadly, P-22 was euthanized this past Friday due to multiple illnesses, and injuries from being struck by a car recently. He had attacked two dogs that were being walked by their owners, a sign of desperation as his hunting ability dropped due to those many health issues. Because of the extent of his injuries, his overall poor physical condition, and his advanced age (twelve is VERY good for a wild cougar) it was decided the kindest thing to do for him was euthanize him. He would have had a long, lingering death in the wild preceded by a lot of suffering if he had simply been released, and a sanctuary--even a good one--would have been horribly stressful for an old cat that had spent his entire life in the wild.