Museum Again!

School has resumed and the museum is back to its eerie old self again. I could easily lose track of time in there if it wasn't for my drawing buddy's occasional huff of frustration.  This time we hit the skeletons straight away. It's usually a good idea to do some quick warm-up sketches first, but no, we both got bogged down in a half-hour marsupial marathon. Having not warmed up, i probably spent much longer than was necessary, but i'm pretty pleased with the result.

"Gah, can we do something with fur now??", came a very sensible suggestion. Sitting still on the floor, hunched over a sketchbook is hard work for you back - remember to move around, kiddies! 

My friend, who is just getting back into drawing, found the 2hr session simultaneously relaxing, meditative, challenging and exhausting. It wrings your brain in much different (and subtle) ways to what is required in day-to-day exchanges and problems.

She watched over my shoulder as i drew this last one, so i felt pressured to set a good example and not be lazy with my looking and judging and shape-relationships. Subsequently, mr monkey has very nice proportions.. but i used a HB pacer or something, which is great for skeletons, but the tone/texture didn't turn out as nice as it could've.

In the end, we still didn't make it past the buffalo. Next time, i'm going to see what's around the corner.
Also, i'm quite sure there was a small child who kept substituting the word 'dinosaur' as a desriptor for 'skeleton'. Awesome.

Another bit of serendipity: On the way to the museum, met an old artist with a lot of opinions about a lot of things. I sat and talked with him and another artist for a bit; he was surprised to find a student so into drawing in an academic environment where the war between concept and craft rages on. I actually find the debate extremely helpful and stimulating as long as i can observe it at arms length, taking everything with a pinch of salt and forming my own philosophies that can withstand arguments from either direction. Art for me is no longer something to be learned, but a platform from which to learn about the world.