About the Rough Green Snake Drawing
Rough Green Snakes have been among my favorite snakes since childhood, and finding one is still always a treat. Their slender bodies and graceful movements seem perfectly suited to life among branches, vines, and leaves. Their green coloration also provides such effective camouflage that I have probably walked past countless individuals resting in vegetation only a few feet away without seeing them.
One of my earliest encounters occurred when I was very young. I caught a Rough Green Snake that everted its cloaca, which I mistook for a serious injury. Convinced that I was helping, I placed a bandage over it, wrapped tape around the snake to hold the bandage in place, and released it. Looking back, I can only hope the tape soon worked loose.
Despite that misguided attempt at reptile first aid, the experience became one of many childhood memories associated with these beautiful snakes. In Sinuous Beauty, I focused closely on the animal’s large eye, elegant profile, and carefully arranged scales. Although graphite cannot reproduce its brilliant green color, it reveals the subtle contours and details that contribute to the snake’s delicate appearance.
Sinuous Beauty is a graphite wildlife drawing of a Rough Green Snake (Opheodrys aestivus) by Michael E. Dorcas for Tantilla Art. Reference photograph courtesy of W. W. Lamar.