National Museum of Scotland

Saturday I took care of two homework assignments at one time by visiting the National Museum of Scotland. (Worth a click-through.)
     My first assignment was to sit somewhere and for two hours try to record everything I saw through text and illustrations. The point being, it's an impossible task. When we interpret or try to describe something, anything, we can't help but fall short. It's an important lesson towards trying to describe or interpret your own work, let alone anybody else's.
     The second assignment was for Vivian French's writing workshop. She told me to go sit in the cafe of the National Museum and live sketch - observe the children - the gestures, the outfits, the motion. So that became my location for the first assignment and a wonderful exercise for the second one.
     Stan and I went early to just wander about for a few hours. It really is a spectacular museum with its lacy Victorian atrium and metal work. And the coolest thing is, it's FREE - always. It has dinosaur bones and beasts of all sizes, both land-dwelling and aquatic. The exhibits are eclectic and varied between the old and the new. This is a part of an Atom Smasher used between 1950 and 1972. Isn't it beautiful? Stan and I had lunch, then he went to run his errands and I went to plant myself in the cafe. This was my view to the left.and the right. I had purchased a cute little moleskin in the gift shop. It had a blank page on the left for sketches and a lined page on the right for my descriptions - perfect! (Click the images to see them larger in a new window if you're curious about the writing required by the brief. I used a varied nib pen and a palomino pencil for my sketches.
About half way through, the head of our TEDx Talk walked by, so she joined me and we chatted for a while. Otherwise, I wrote and I drew, wrote and drew.
     The whole exercise was surprisingly relaxing. As I wrote at the end, "Observing others takes you out of yourself and I find myself eager to keep going - to record everything. But of course, I can't. And isn't that the point of this project after all?"
     What I did find is a lovely place to hang out, sketch, drink tea and enjoy some fabulous references. I can't wait to go back.