Researching at the Natural History Museum

I was in Europe for most of December, while in London I took several trips to the Natural History Museum to draw the animals. I have seen taxidermy in the past and they have always seemed wrong, just stuffed animals. But the ones at the Natural History Museum were different, they felt very natural and even had character and personality! The artists who did these were superb craftsman and I learned a lot from drawing at the museum. Birds are something I need to work on, they are a challenge to draw and bring to life.

The above photo is Michael sketching on our iPad. 

The poor owl below the one he was painting had a pencil in the side of it's head, very strange!