Drawing in the British Museum African Galleries

Last Tuesday   we were meeting up at the Petrie Museum  at 1pm  to sketch  but  I still  caught my usual 8.59  train  and headed  to the British Museum  beforehand . Fortified by a coffee and pastel del nata  in the  Members Room  , I spent an hour in the African   Galleries .

 I've drawn the knives before  but its always the pottery  than inspires me.

 A couple of quick drawings  then a wander around.

While I love seeing the shadows of the El Anatsui  work, it was good to remind myself of  his   wooden  ' Kente Cloth' ( below)

 I loved this drawing ' Tree'  by Ibraham Mohammed El Salahi  based on the 'jibba' worn by sufi brotherhood.  I missed this exhibition at the Tate, looks amazing 

  My lunch of soup in the members room was cut short   by  an evacuation of the building  ( fire sirens  went off , they initially said it was a false alarm but then we were all told to leave ) We were directed through a  side entrance  through   what looked like the boiler room.  We were out there about 20 mins , no point in returning to my soup so collected my bag and coat from the cloakroom  and headed off to the Petrie. There was strike   and demonstration going on outside UCL ( on  outsourced staff rights)  so  respecting  their wishes  not to cross the picket line, had to make  a detour. My geography of the area is getting much better!

Drawing Tuesday - Birch Baskets at the British Museum

Yesterday  was the first Drawing Tuesday of 2017 and  10 of us turned up at the British Museum ( must be all those New Year resolutions about drawing more...)   We had a very convivial lunch  spread over 3 tables, but  first the drawing . The  venue was room 91 , the shadow puppets,  which were wonderfully  intricate, colourful  and diverse but  after my visit to the BM in December, I knew I wanted to spend more time with the vessels and prints  next door in Room 90

 This  display was the print 'Winter Soderstorm' by Gunner Normann  with various  baskets by Finnish artist Markko Kosenen.  I loved the  combination of the delicately observed trees in the lithograph with the vessels made of the  material of the subject matter.  

  I started off with a very rough sketch  of the objects over a faint version of the trees, soon discarding the idea of drawing the willow basket, , gorgeous as it was.

 The notes on the construction of this birch bark basket were informative  about the use of  white birch  asymetrically woven  so the outer white part of the bark was inside. It really glowed.  It was challenging to draw, I kept getting lost, but persisted.  So many ways it could be represented, I  got involved in the quality of the edges, it would be interesting to have a go drawing it on a larger scale.

After such a labyrinthine  subject , I turned my attention to  the more substantial vessel made from layer upon layer of birch bark  which was then hollowed out, very satisfying to attempt to capture it's combination of fragility and solidity.  

 This exhibition   is so well thought out , every object and print so pleasing,   that I'll definitely be  making a repeat visit.  That  could not be said for 'South Africa' Art of a Nation ' which I visited after lunch.   I wanted to like it having  very fond memories   of a plant conservation  work trip there  several years ago but was underwhelmed.  It was just too broad  with  tribal artefacts  mixed up with contemporary art, neither a historical  or an art exhibition but a mish-mash.  The African  gallery downstairs is  far more interesting.    

BM Drawing from the Collections: Volume and Mass

 

3rd session 'Drawing from the Collections' at the  British Museum was focused on  volume and mass using the pots in the African Gallery ( and the addition of burnt sienna pastel to charcoal and white chalk of last week).  I just love these pots and have drawn them before 





 I remembered this time to take photos as I  went along both to record the process but also to spot where things start to go wrong .

  After practising mark-making and 'swooshes' with the side of the burnt sienna pastel and  a wrm up with a quick drawing in charcoal, we sketched the outline of the structure in charcoal

 Next step was filling in mass with the pastel   then adding  darkest areas in charcoal.

There was a lot of small adjustments between these 2 stages, gradually adding tone, marks and textures. I thought I was ready for the white chalk  but wasn't allowed it until I'd properly defined the dark areas. Good advice,  along with showing where I hadn't quite described the shape, how to hint at texture without putting every last mark in, areas where I needed to work into more to balance more finished areas  ( bottom right still need attention)  

 Overall, I was really pleased with what I achieved  - unfortunately I won't be going next weekend as  bus replacement  service for rail  would double the journey. But as I'm heading up to Rydal tomorrow, I won't be short  of inspiration ( my packing mainly consists of art materials and thermals!)

 

On the way home, the reflected evening light over the marshes between Stratford and Ebbsfleet  was  lovely despite  being a bit out of practice taking photos at speed from the train.

 

Sketching in African Gallery at British Museum

 Today's sketching in  British Museum was supposed to be back in the Barkcloth but on arriving early and going up in the lift, there was a notice to say that gallery was closed!   Texted Margaret  that  I was heading off to the African Gallery  and the others joined me there. It was a mixed choice - wonderful objects but rather dark and very busy, mainly with school groups who were also drawing so bench space was at a premium! I  bagged a bench in front of these amazing throwing knives  with their wonderful shapes and patinas. The disadvantage of being some distance away ( and the poor light) meant I missed the exquisite incised designs on them. Next time I'll see if I can get a sketching stool.

Swivelling on the bench ( reluctant to give up my hard won seat)  I gazed up at a huge tower of large pots.

 You can just see a bit of the 'warty' one in the photo ( I enjoyed making marks in my sketch)  The water pot I drew with it's multiple openings looked, the others thought, like a heart.

 

 

And finally   in the last 20 minutes, on a different bench shared with some students,  a wooden mask ( they were very impressed I was drawing with a pen!)  Then lunch and a visit to Ai Weiwei at the RA on the way home ( another post)