On the train, I tried to draw a stylised dandelion head. Work in progress, it looks a bit like an allium...
I don't know how to convey what a thrill it was to enter the building. Its already impressive red stone façade doesn't prepare you for the delights inside. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face, taking in its vaulted ceilings, carved wooden interiors. I sat eating my lunch in the café, gazing up at the ceiling of plant genuses. A beautiful, magical place.
I followed the signs to the bird exhibits and the first reference to a magpie was a tail in a cabinet of bird portions (how else would you describe it?): heads, wings, claws and this tail section.
I took out my sketch book and pencil, dropped my bag to the floor between my feet and began to sketch those feathers. Can I say at this juncture - the cabinet was bathed in natural light, no poking around in the dark here, thank you very much (take note, Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery).
Halfway through drawing that magpie tail, tiny stroke after tiny stroke, studying the light, I shed a tear. I was overcome with the concentration and the reward of seeing what I was creating come to life. I surprised myself, truly I did. Around me the chatter of passing people became almost rhythmic - thanks to movie influences - as penguins, owls and parrots were routinely pointed out to young children...
A few people stopped to chat or to compliment my work, which was nice. I had a lovely chat with a spanish student who asked me intelligent questions and conveyed her own interest in drawing people and fabric folds. She looked through my sketchbook and it was one of those moments you feel understood. Yeah, understood.
A surprise was to bump into Michelle Cioccoloni, whom I knew from Bristol Drawing Club. I didn't know she'd moved to London - and there we were together!
After drawing non-stop for TWO AND A HALF HOURS (I hadn't noticed the passage of time, so engrossed I had become) I packed up my stuff and stepped outside into brilliant sunshine. It was there that I burst into tears. It took a while to compose myself. I must have looked an idiot, leant over the wall sobbing into my hands. Something in that period of time had moved me. Some process other than drawing had occurred and I couldn't work it out.
Finally pulled myself together to order a coffee and a cake and sat in the sunshine. Michelle found me again. She told me a bit about the exhibition she'd been to - the one with plastinated, stripped down animals (Gunther Von Hagen). I tried to explain the effect drawing the magpie tail had had one me. I'm not religious, but it was a spiritual experience, in a way it fed my soul to immerse myself in studying and sketching for that period of time. For the second time that day, it was so good to talk with someone who understands where you're coming from.
Ok, here's the sketch.
I'm definitely going back to the Natural History Museum.
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