BLACK SNAKE

I recently found a Black Snake over in the reserve, it was sunning itself on the rocks of a broken down wall that were once outbuildings next to the old white farmhouse. Only the foundations remain now but this is a favored place of mine to visit where I can usually sit quietly for awhile and observe the comings and goings of wildlife. Since this snake was quite tame, I was able to do a few pencil studies in my sketchbook along with some photos. I did the watercolor study shown here when I got back in the studio. Black Snakes can range from tame to aggressive, some I have been able to gently stroke - others react violently to any touching and attempt to bite. We once had a particularly tame individual that lived under our front porch, I named him Ding Dong - for reasons I won't go into here. He lived happily for awhile probably feeding on mice etc - he once tried for one of my goldfish in the pond but I was having none of that! Then one day he strayed and was caught up by the community mowing machine and that was the end of him. RIP Ding Dong.