A young hippopotamus peers over an invisible barrier, its head tilted with curious, expressive eyes and textured gray-brown skin rendered in soft watercolor and ink. The composition is intimate and playful, with the hippo occupying the lower half of a cream-white ground, creating a sense of gentle wonder and connection. Bound with 52 pages of 70lb paper, lined or unlined, behind an anti-scuff matte cover with wraparound artwork, made to order. Notes and sketches kept behind an independent artist's work, not a plain composition cover.