Drawing Very Still Life

You know what's neat? Drawing at the museums is neat. The dioramas are full of "exotic" life that you may never get the chance to see in the wild. Granted, and sadly, they are stuffed but the animals don't move and you aren't knee deep in tick infested grasses or tangled in poison oak. Depending on the display, you may move around the animal to find the angle that works best for your drawing. And best of all, you are not likely to be eaten.

Page Museum - Los Angeles, CA

I reluctantly use photographs for references, so it is nice to draw from real-time observational opportunities. I also like to draw fossils and the natural science museums generally have a collection on display.

Page Museum - Los Angeles

And speaking about birds - they really don't hold still or the most interesting ones are inevitably at the top of a sycamore tree. I don't know about your eyesight but mine just can't see tiny birds in big trees very well. Of course, I pulled a fast one on the birds that fly around my patio, I started feeding them and that gave me a chance to do quick gesture drawings (and sweep up the seed mess they make). I had quite a collection of house finches and sparrows that began to blossom out into goldfinches, doves, the world's biggest pigeons, and finally - red-tailed hawks who came to feast on the squirrels that ate my collection of succulents and pounds of peanuts. All of this wildlife on a 10ft. x 10ft. enclosed patio.