Ruby was an Asian elephant at the Phoenix Zoo. Her keepers once noticed her using a stick to draw patterns in the dirt of her pen and they were amazed what happened when they gave her a brush, paint colors and a blank canvas. For years, she has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the zoo through sale of her original paintings. Bold, brash, and daring with use of colors, she was the un-adultered pure artist. (We're not talking "Dogs Playing Poker" at the Motel-12 Starving Artist Sale!)

Ruby was sent to flirt with the studly "Sneezy" at the Tulsa Zoo so that she could put her energies into motherhood. She returned to Phoenix pregnant, but sadly the fetus died inside of her and in October 1998 an attempt at a C-section on her found Ruby to be too sick from infection. She died. (see news stories from CNN and Ruby, An Ambassador for Her Species from the Phoenix Zoo's web site). A week later, the Phoenix Zoo offered a one day free admission as a special tribute to ruby.

Ruby's Art Pad is dedicated to her fun spirit, as a tool for people like me that lack the artistic skills of Ruby.

Try the shockwave web version or download the desktop versions for Macintosh (500k) or Windows (470k).

Select any of Ruby's Tools, and click and drag in Ruby's Pad to create beautiful, yet somewhat, random art!

You are responsible for making your own sales!