Sketching the Dodo at the Natural History Museum

The Dodo at the Natural History Museum
pen and sepia ink in Moleskine Sketchbook, 8" x 10"
all images copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On Friday, the Drawing London Group which I belong to visited the Natural History Museum for our monthly outing.

I was on a mission to produce a sketch for one of the Sketchercise members participating in "A Postcard from my Walk".

Like I said in my last post, museums and art galleries provide lots of opportunities for walking out of the nasty winter weather .  They are particularly valuable for me with my dodgy feet which don't like the cold, wet or icy underfoot!  So I figured the outing would give me lots of opportunities to find a subject for my postcard.

I was rather worried as I was going to be sketching at a completely new size for me 7" x 5" (having abandoned the idea of even trying 6" x 4".  The problem is I'm used to sketching big and this new size proved to be a bit of a problem.

I decided to have a go at sketching the Dodo.  I reckoned that had to be a bit unique as subject matter goes!  There are several types of images in the Natural History Museum (of which more in another post on Making A Mark). I started by trying to sketch the engavings and paintings of a dodo in the Images Gallery.

Engravings of the Dodo - Thomas Herbert

Well - I don't whether it's because it's a very odd looking bird or I just don't like sketching small but the first sketches came out looking rather odd.

Tiny Dodo sketch #1 - during which I learned they should not have a bulbous crop

Dodo #2
7" x 5" pen and sepia ink in Moleskine sketchbook

Having managed to get the second dodo sketch to actually fit a 7" x 5" space, I decided that maybe this wasn't the ideal subject as I felt I was cramming him in.  Obviously my eye was not used to having to sketch so small.

Also what I really didn't like either of the sketches as the dodo in both looked.....stuffed - if not wooden!

I finally came across "the real stuffed dodo" in the birds gallery and was able to produce the sketch at the top after I abandoned the constraint of the 7" x 5" format and went back to 8" x 10" which is the format I've used for a long while.  I'm much happier with that one!

The Cocoon at the Natural History Museum - floor to ceiling
Those tiny marks at the bottom are people walking up stairs!

At the end of the day I found completely different subject matter to sketch for my Postcard from my Walk (to Orange County California).  The subject in question was right at the entry to the Cocoon and next to this floor to ceiling window  - which left me feeling very wobbly and rather queasy!

It's ages since I've felt myself impelled to fall off a vertical drop!  Thank goodness there was a window inbetween!

Canaletto & His Rivals at the National Gallery

Venice: Canaletto & his Rivals - National Gallery, London
pen and ink and coloured pencils in moleskine sketchbook, 8" x 10"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

These are a couple of sketches from Venice: Canaletto & His Rivals - the recent exhibition at the National Gallery in London

This is now in the process of transferring to the National Gallery of Art in Washington (see Venice: Canaletto & His Rivals February 20–May 30, 2011).  If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it as an excellent exhibition of its kind.

The exhibition celebrates the rich variety of these Venetian views, known as vedute, through some 20 masterworks by Canaletto and more than 30 by his rivals, including Michele Marieschi, Francesco Guardi, and Bernardo Bellotto. Responding to an art market fueled largely by the Grand Tour, these gifted painters depicted the famous monuments and vistas of Venice in different moods and seasons.

It has a lot of amazing paintings. What I particularly valued was seeing the same view painted by different artists, some of whom were influenced by the earlier paintings.

One of the interesting aspects about the painting is the difference between

• artists who painted the figures - and Venice was the backdrop
• artists who painted Venice - and the people are part of the scene in the same way as every other part of the scene

Canaletto is one of the latter.

Venice: Canaletto & his Rivals (Room 1) - National Gallery, London
pen and ink and coloured pencils in moleskine sketchbook, 8" x 10"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I find I sketch the interiors of galleries much more in winter when the scope to sit outside is limited by the wind, rain, cold and snow.  I have my fingers crossed that we're not having any more snow.

These sketches are determined by: where the seats are, locations where I can get a good view of one room looking into another; drawing figures one at a time - as they come and go.  I find it's important to get the height of the first one right and to note the general proportions of people in front and behind are relative to that figure.  Guards are good for this as they tend not to move much for long periods.

While doing the sketch of Room 1 I found out what happens if somebody attempts to take a photo of one of the paintings with a cameraphone.  The gentleman in question was politely but firmly escorted out of the exhibition by one of the guards......and I didn't see him return.

Links:  

• Canaletto - Resources for Art Lovers
• Top 10 Art Galleries and Museums
• The Top Ten Museums in London

View from Portrait Restaurant, National Portrait Gallery

I was at the National Portrait Gallery this morning for a Press Breakfast about an exhibition next year to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee - and stayed on afterwards to sketch the view.  Despite the fact it was a miserable grey rainy day in January and I had to look very hard to find the colour!

The view from the Portrait Restaurant, 3rd floor, National Portrait Gallery
11" x 17", pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

At least it isn't raining as hard in London as it has been in Queensland and Brazil.

This is a not very good photo.  I'll do a scan and stitch when I've got a bit more time.