Drawing in the Museum of Natural History

I usually go to Naturalis in Leiden to study and draw animals. Sometimes I go also to the museum in Rotterdam and Tilburg.

In a Museum of Nature History I can easy look and draw animals from all angles and very close. It's also nice to see the differences - for example - of a crow, rook and raven. Buf if you have seen many animals in zoos and in the nature, you can notice a difference anyway. How clever is the work of stuffed animals you can see that they miss somethig. Their colors, for example, are duller.

Last week I went to Naturalis again to draw birds from their back side for a drawing (see please my flickr).
Here a few sketches from my sketchbook (two sketches from last week en others from the last two years):

Naturalis has a good bookshop. This year I bought these two books: “Bird, the definitive visual guide” and “Smithsonian Natural History, the ultimate visual guide to everything on earth”. Both books are published by DK Publishing. These books are not only as reference but also for enjoying the pictures.

Poinsettia

I always wanted to paint a Poinsettia for the beautiful color contrast red and green. By lack of time I could only sometimes draw this plant.

sketch book, 2003

One day, when I went to my work, I found a Poinsettia on the street. The plant was broken and therefore discarded. I took this plant and decided to paint it. Sometimes something from my daily life has touched me, something caught my attention and then I go to work. I do not know why, maybe a bit of the feeling of something to rectify for this plant that is discarded.

sketch book, the discarded Poinsettia, 2006

I made ​​sketches, painted and made a story about a neglected Poinsettia that again flowered because it received attention and care.

acrylic on canvas, 18x13 cm, 2007

acrylic on canvas, 18x13 cm, 2007

leporello book 'Het Kerstplantje' (Poinsettia), 25 ex., 2008

acrylic on canvas, 20x20 cm, 2008

Avifauna

Mr. Van den Brink purchased the property "Huis ter Rijn" (in Alphen a/d Rijn) as a garden for his private collection of birds. His park was in August 1949 one day open to the public. The people were so enthusiastic about his birds, that Van den Brink decided to establish a bird park. Avifauna was opened on 17 May 1950 and it was the first bird park in the world.

My parents went to Avifauna maybe between 1953 en 1955. They had a page in an album made ​​for this trip. My brother fond this page:

For my sketches in Avifauna I use a ball point pen and sometimes color pencils. I draw directly on the paper, this is why sometimes the proportions or details are incorrect. I use these sketches for further works (as paintings and linocuts) and they are also a reminder of a nice day I spent in Avifauna.