I never normally do drawing visits back to back, it requires a lot of focus over many hours and is completely knackering! But working around university timetables, school hours and so many different museum schedules, meant I visited two museums in two days.
The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology was closed on a Monday, when I went. The galleries might have been empty, but the museum was a hub of activity, staff working away in their offices and preparing a new exhibition.
I met
Lily Pencliffe, Senior Collections Assistant; I was delighted to see her in the daylight and out of her solitary isolation in the bunker (read my account of drawing in the nuclear bunker here!). She led me to a smaller, but still massive table, in a room with windows! It was a very grey day, but I was grateful for the little daylight there was.
I spent this drawing session looking at two items. The first was a learner’s ceramic vessel Having made a few clay pots myself, I recognise this as a thumb pot, or pinch pot. It's very simply made and actually pretty well-made too, the cup wall was a consistent thickness right down to the base. However, the clunky handle on the outside, with a cute little hole through it and the very uneven rim, point to the fact that this may be somebody learning the craft, or whipping up something very quickly, the size, (which is just enough for an espresso- although I'm sure it's never contained one!) indicates it may have been made for a child. It is usually displayed in their Children section, kindly taken out for me to get a closer look.
The surface had the most marvellous patina, from age and from the firing and part of its beauty was the tiny label fused to the inside, beautifully handwritten with copperplate script, “Found in Haslingfield College Farm in 1872”.
For me this adds another layer of story to this ancient object. It’s most probably an iron age pot which means it’s between 2-3000 years old. I imagine the podgy child's hands cradling this cup, sipping milk and the unlikely contrast with the gentleman amateur-archaeologist uncovering it dressed in his tweeds and leather boots in the 1870s.
This features in my Spell for Learning- a celebration of wisdom and the fact that learning is really the experience of collecting mistakes and failures.
The second object I was drawing was an incredible little brooch. Found in Barrington, Cambridgeshire, another local object, it dates from the 13th century.
It depicts a couple holding hands (or high-fiving!), their other hands over their hearts, standing on a yoke. It’s a tiny object, and it’s not until you spend a long time with it, observing closely that you begin to recognise the extraordinary craftsmanship. The skill of observation of the body forms, the tiny, tiny details of hair and clothes folds. The delicate balance of shapes and symmetry. The skill to express so much character and animation with such efficiency.
I am in awe of the maker. This is a perfect addition to my Spell For the Heart. Just imagine being bought this by your love. How romantic! A refreshing portrayal of the couple as a team, equal and stronger together.
Another day, another museum.
My next drawing day was back underground with no daylight. I returned to the Zoology Museum, where I was very kindly met by Matt Lowe, Collections Manager. He had already prepared some examples of cuckoos for me to draw. A whole drawer full of cuckoos actually!
The variation in size and colour, as well as plumage from juvenile to adult was incredible. Also mind-boggling to think that these birds are older much older than I am! Some of the specimens I was working from were from 1886.
I was struck by the fact that some eggs and specimens came from the village I live in. I imagine the bird-hunter walking the same streets as I do, maybe having a drink in our local pub after he successfully killed this beautiful bird
I was stationed in the bird room this time, (read about my trips to see skeletons and moths here). I had foolishly forgotten how freezing it is in the stores. The smell of the ancient preservatives was rather overwhelming and the loud thrum of the air conditioning gets in your head.
I swear there’s some kind of time-warp that happens when you go underneath the Zoology Museum, because before I knew it I had been there two hours and had hardly done anything! Part of the challenge in working from such a vast collection is choosing the specimen and how to include it in the existing painting. It’s like being a child in a sweetshop. There are so many possibilities and they are all alluring!
After a time-check, nipping out of the store to warm up and have a swig of coffee, to try and get the cloying, sickening smell of all the chemicals that the 19th century collectors used on the specimens out of my nostrils; I elected to spend my remaining time sketching-in my ambitious circle of cuckoo feathers, which will frame my Spell for Lost Heritage. This meant very quick and loose sketches and taking a ton of reference photos, which I will have to work up in the studio later.
By lunchtime I felt that I was actually unable to focus much longer in quite extreme drawing conditions and after 2 days of looking hard! There is something, wonderfully immediate and spontaneous about quick sketches and I’m very much hoping I’m able to preserve the energy and directness when I work them up in the studio.
It was a busy day for Matt Lowe, Collection Manager and I was very grateful that he made time and space for me and to keep checking in. I hope to return before too long, for my next painting, and this time I’ll remember my thermals and fingerless gloves!
That’s it for sketching outside the studio before Christmas. Lots to work up in the comfort of the studio and ever more possibilities sparked for future visits and paintings to come.
Make sure you subscribe to see the next stage of these Cuckoo feathers and how these three paintings get completed.
And check out how these elements get included in my Spells here.