Sketching in Museums

A photographer visiting the museum that day offered to take my picture! 

This past Tuesday, I returned to the California Academy of Sciences to sketch animals from their habitat dioramas in the African Hall. I will admit that I am deeply disgusted by this museum's remodel, but I believe in supporting museums and the sciences, so I purchased a student membership last September regardless. The membership also pays itself off in 3 visits and allows you to bring one free guest.

The African Hall feels like a feeble shadow of its early days before the remodel, but those dear frozen animals that I grew up with are still there, posing proudly for their viewers. I adore drawing them!

The old Simson African Hall. How I miss you and your North American counterpart! 

Tusher African Hall, after the remodel. 

Sketching in a museum is a wonderful experience, and I encourage all artists to try it at least once. Drawing from a model is far more immersive and educational than drawing a photograph. As you draw, you may be surprised by small details that you hadn't noticed before. All background chatter and noise seems to drain away as you quietly contemplate form and shape.

Curious onlookers? I have never had a problem with them. Even children rarely peer over my shoulder. Most people who want a look at my sketchbook tend to do so at a respectful distance and I'm almost never interrupted.

I should also mention that if you let your mind take little breaks to focus away from your subject, you pick up on the most humorous conversations, remarks, and attitudes from the museum visitors. My personal favorite from this last visit was "Bees are not cigarettes. I learned that from this place..."

In addition to a half-finished sketch of an oryx, and a pen study of reindeer antlers, I completed this portrait of a male Roan Antelope (Hippotragus equinus).

Roan Antelope Study by ~Stagsleap on deviantART

Photo by Sinh_Phun. Click for more of his amazing photos of the dioramas!

Getting ready for The Gatsby Summer Afternoon Picnic!

Some people enjoy reading The Great Gatsby. Others prefer to live it....


The San Francisco Bay Area has a little secret. Every so often, little pockets of history open up around the delta, beckoning the public to take a peek inside. If you give it your all and take the plunge inside, you are able to travel back through time for a few hours of peace. Some of these wormholes are stronger than others. Some still let fragments of the modern day pass through - A modern plastic chair here, a nylon backpack there. While many have learned to filter these artifacts out of the picture, they still create a slight disturbance.

One little pocket, however, will send you straight to heaven. Straight to the 1920s. No other adventure is so complete, so accurate, and so total as The Gatsby Summer Afternoon. You leave your auto-mobile on the asphalt and begin to walk. Concrete turns to dirt, which turns to grass. The bushes and shrubs rear up on either side of you as the lawn parts to make way for a small stream. You continue walking deeper into the park, the sound of the freeway fading into brass. Laughter tickles the air as the birds join in. You turn a corner...and you are in the past.

If you have ever read The Great Gatsby, take a deep breath - you're going to fall into its pages.

The modern world is gone. In its place are ladies and gentlemen (real gentlemen!) in pastel dresses and knickerbockers, sun hats and boaters. Plastic is replaced with the tink of glass, and lace tablecloths drape and delicately kiss the green grass below. Those great chrome beasts of the road stand long and proud on the lawn, their handlers standing close. The band plays away, their singers warbling with true, unadulterated voices as couples dance on the parquet floor before them.

No experience is as immersive and real as The Gatsby Picnic. It will be difficult to find remnants of the modern day, since no one in attendance wants to find them either. If you still delight in your denim pants, your hooded shirts, and plastic plates, be prepared to go no further. Unlike other experiences, which embrace the "secular" public, Mr. Gatsby would prefer you return when you are fully ready to travel into his world.

I made this wonderful journey into the past only once before, and now it is only days before I get to make it again. I do hope the pineapple upside-down cake comes out well!

Heading to "Civil War Days"

We have a smattering of all sorts of historical events here in the California Bay Area, including an American Civil War reenactment! Civil War Days is a weekend event in Duncan Mills that I have been attending for the past few years. A picturesque valley near the Russian River is turned into a battleground flanked by the Union and Confederate campgrounds. While I'm not a Civil war buff, I do greatly enjoy this event - who doesn't love cannon fire and horse-drawn artillery?

In addition, the merchants at this event are truly intriguing - instead of selling stupid nicknacks, night lights, clay cherubs that hang from your teapot, and clumps of gears glued together, they sell actual historical accouterments for reenactors in addition to other useful and tasteful products. I have purchased more at this event in just 2-3 years than I have in my 7 years+ going to Dickens Fair.

This year, my beloved Duke and I are going together for the first time. We intend to watch both battles and spend the evening in the funky town of Guerneville!

Heading to New York City!

I never would have imagined....that I'm going to New York city! 

I am not much of a traveler at all. As for highlights, I've been to Las Vegas, Ohio, LA, and San Diego with my mother - and that's it. Going to NY will be my longest (distance) trip ever!

What brings me to New York? Kyle's parents currently live in Manhattan for work, but it's not guaranteed that they will remain there for long. With a fine apartment in the middle of the city, it's the perfect excuse to go!

(((I left for New York on Saturday, June 2 at 7am...)))