Henry Vilas Zoo Volunteer Work
Before
After
My latest project was completed in October 2021. I volunteered at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, WI to paint the Capybara enclosure. Their enclosure started as a white, dingy room at the back of their outdoor area. There are no windows and is closed to the public. I was asked to repaint the room to help boost their spirits during the cold winter months when they couldn't be outside.
The only requirement was to paint a water scene to help tie into the pool on the back wall; other than that I had free rein on what the rest would look like. Since I had to work with a non-flat surface, I decided first that the big bumps on the wall would be rock sides.
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It was a bit of a challenge to create a smooth gradient look to the piece due to the wall plaster being bumpy and full of small grooves that needed extra paint. For the rocks, I painted a few colors on top of the base color, then I rubbed them together by hand. For the trees, I painted in layers. That was a long waiting game. If I painted too soon my colors would become muddy.
I had some help painting the sky portion of the room. My dad, who is a zookeeper at Henry Vilas, used a paint sprayer for the ceiling and the upper walls. Which I was glad for his help, because I am short and the ground (especially in the pool) was not flat. The pipe on the back wall above the pool was even with my forehead, so there was a good amount of time where I was painting backwards on a ladder.
In all it took about 3 months to complete. The head zookeeper says that the capybaras and their handlers are very happy with the new room.
Other Work
My dad (Zookeeper at Henry Vilas Zoo) was redesigning an enclosure for geckos. A couple of the mushrooms needed new tops, so he re-foamed them and asked if I could paint them to match the bottoms.