The Birds of The Horniman Museum

Last week, having dropped off another supply of my Crystal Palace Monsters greetings cards with Brave Girl, in SE19, I travelled on to The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill. It's a great South London museum, created by a wealthy Victorian collector who decided to share all his finds with the public at large. I focussed my attention on their Natural History Gallery where they keep cases and cases of preserved animals, birds, fish (and human skeletons, too). Fans of taxidermy should pop in (it's free of charge) but also people who like drawing wildlife that doesn't move should find it useful. As a drawing exercise, I stayed with the birds, drawing them one after another on the same piece of paper, slotting different specimens into the gaps. I think the main pencil drawing took me about an hour and a half. They are/were: (L-R: back row: Golden Pheasant, Mandarin Duck, Senegal Parakeet, Red-Legged Partridge. front row: Greenland Falcon, Common Scoter).

I'm a bit concerned that I may be straying into the current fashion for drawing animals, though. This is compounded by the fact that my follow up to Crystal Palace Monsters features prehistoric deer. Aaah! I'll be drawing foxes and pandas on brick walls, next. I'll let you know what occurs.

painting of a senegal parakeet

As a spin off from the pencil drawing, I singled out the Senegal Parakeet. Using that oil paint transfer method, I enlarged it and added some watercolour to his beautiful plumage. Yes, reader, I managed to create a dead parrot sketch all of my own.

Dragons of London Prints

illustration of three dragons

Just a quick post to say that prints, featuring one of the designs I did for that OhhDeer.com competition last year, are now on sale in my store. Click and shop away. ;o)

Derelict Buildings - Vallance Road, E1

I've completed the first of what will hopefully become a series of personal work, based on derelict and forgotten buildings in London. Using the initial drawing (see below) I developed my transfer technique to create the outlines in oil paint. I then added colour with watercolour (it won't paint over the oil outlines), with a little bit of acrylic white for highlights. The method of essentially creating my own carbon paper was something I thought I'd invented whilst doing my degree. I only recently discovered that Paul Kleé was doing it years ago. It must be fate, good Karma - or a happy coincidence...

These empty shops are at the bottom of Vallance Road, East London, E1, just around the corner from Whitechapel station. I suspect they may be going through some form of refurbishment, and think they are fascinating. If you fancy seeing them yourself, hurry, as they are bound to become betting shops or gold exchanges very soon.

pencil drawing of a street

Drawing for Life - 12

Drawing of a female nude

The old life drawing, again. Escaping the crappy wet weather and drawing in a cosy room above a pub was the right thing to do. A pint of Guinness, some old blues/swing tunes on the iPod and two hours of drawing: works for me.

Instruments of Medicine - 2

Here are some more of the drawings I did at the Gordon Museum, in London, SE1. I have a few ideas of how to develop them (coupled with another visit to the museum if I can wangle it). However, that may not happen in the near future, so I thought it was only right to share some more, rather than keep it up my sleeve(s). An interesting array of devices and procedures here, but in case you can't read my writing I've listed their descriptions underneath.

Drawing of old medical instruments

Drawing of old medical instruments