dinosaurs |

Chantal and I headed off to Ottawa on a five day trip to visit our daughter. Of course, I hoped to get some sketching done as well but on this trip it wasn’t the high priority.

Nevertheless, I contacted folks in the Ottawa Urban Sketchers via Facebook and one of the members said she’d send me an email to arrange a session. Sadly, my host server’s spam mail filter decided it was spam so I never received it. While disappointing, truth was, the rain would have likely scuttled any chance of meet up. Next time for sure.

While waiting for our daughter to get out of work, Chantal indulged my passion by agreeing to wander around the nature museum while I sketched this guy. While Fred Flintstone’s pet looked like a baby brontosaurus, I suspect that cavemen might have been happier with this dog-like beast. The display only had the leg and back armor on one side, I drew it as it sat and thought it pretty cool.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5x8.5softcover), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5×8.5softcover), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

We had a ball the rest of the week but there wasn’t much sketching involved. I did a bunch of quick-sketches as people ran up and down the shopping malls while the family shopped. We visited museums and walked a lot. We ate too much. We dodged the rain…lots of rain.

One evening I was sort of antsy about not having done any sketching so while the family was reading, I tried to channel Paul Heaston and drew my daughter’s kitchen. I’m afraid that Paul and I had a bad connection because I don’t have the hatching/drawing skills that Paul has but I had fun doing it and that’s all that matters.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (3.5x5.5softcover), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Stillman & Birn Alpha (3.5×5.5softcover), Esterbrook J9550, diluted DeAtramentis Document Black

Sadly, it was time to leave but Ottawa hasn’t seen the last of me yet. Besides, someone was coming for a visit in Quebec City and I had to be there to greet her. More on that next time.

My favorite place in Ottawa is the Museum of Nature. It’s four floors of sketching heaven. Museums seem to be turning into videos and photographs but not the Museum of Nature. It’s all about “stuff” and most of it is worthy of a sketcher’s time.

Right now, the Museum of Nature has a special dinosaur exhibit. While their permanent collection holds a large exhibit of North American dinosaurs, a new exhibit features dinosaurs from other parts of the world. The significant thing about this is that while those of us in the US and Canada know the dinosaurs of North America, the breakup of Pangea and resultant dinosaur species radiation on their respective continents produced a diversity we don’t normally get to see. And there I was, looking up at a whole bunch of them. All of these sketches were done in a landscape format (5.5×8.5) Stillman & Birn softcover sketchbook.

Amargasaurus sp. from Argentina. Huge herbivore (9meters)

Suchominus, a bipedal dinosaur with a crocodile-like head. This guy was 11 meters long

Drawing bones may not be for everyone but for me, there is no better exercise for the visual brain as there’s so many facets, so many overlapping parts, and so many contours that they really require keen observation and some relationship planning if you’re going to get sketches even a little bit correct. And so I did a bunch of them during my time in Ottawa. The fact that the museum is air-conditioned and Ottawa was quite toasty while I was there didn’t hurt my motivation either.

Another reason this sketching was fun was the kids. The museum was full of them everytime I went there and while this meant is was quite loud, there’s nothing better than kids when you’re sketching. They ask all the right questions and none of the wrong ones. They don’t ask you why you do it or give you excuses for why they ‘have no talent for drawing’ because all of them draw. Many fine discussions with the kids.

Carcharodontosaurus from Egypt. This guy is distantly related to the Great White shark and its teeth reflect that relationship. Huge is the operative word. I sketched this from the only skull example of this animal

Carnotaurus from Argentina. I found this on interesting because while it was huge, its head was much smaller than most of the carnivores

The newest acquisition to the museum is this skull. It’s called Xenoceratops foremostensis and it lived in Alberta. Similar to other ‘ceratops’ species in the permanent collection, but with two huge horns above its eyes. I thought it was gorgeous and had to draw it.

If you want to improve your drawing “eye”, give dinosaurs a try. They’re fun.

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