Dublin Sketchers - Dead Zoo

Well I'm not sure if this qualifies as urban sketching (must check the definition again), nor live sketching, but I caught up with the Dublin Sketchers Group on Sunday afternoon. They arrange outings every Sunday, with a different location around Dublin. They have great ideas for indoor locations in the winter, which is what attracted me to it in the first place.

This week was the National Natural (silly me) History Museum, also known as the Dead Zoo, as you might remember from my previous post on the subject!

A very different experience from my last time:

1. I was early, and it actually wasn't open yet when I got there. So I decided to go for a quick ramble around Merrion Square, after chatting to one of the artists, Dermot Brennan, who exhibit there every Sunday and getting tips from him on watercolour skies. He was very friendly.
2. As I sat down on a bench in the park, I was starting to draw a stand of trees, but I got interrupted by a friendly robin red-breast who came to say hello to me (he was disappointed, I'd say, as I had no crumbs to give him). He kept moving of course, so that's why he looks more like a dead pigeon in the top drawing, but he kept coming back, so I was given a few more chances to catch his likeness! The stand of trees never got finished.
3. When I got to the National Natural (silly me again) History Museum just after 2, I was at the end of a queue of families,  and the place was packed! Very different from a Saturday morning. But I did manage to find some spots where I didn't feel in the way from all the kids, toddlers, prams and double-prams. 
4. And this time, I knew about the sketching chairs, so I found them (they're in a little corner upstairs, beside the gorillas) and I was able to sit where I wanted.
5. I felt a lot more confident - maybe it's because I had done it before; or that there were other sketchers around; or simply that I'm drawing more in general.
6. You know me, I'm chatty. And I got talking to a good few children who thought my zebra was cool. Good boost to sketching confidence!
7. I didn't take out the watercolours. Just too many people around. If I wanted to do watercolours on a busy Sunday afternoon, I'd have to find a little corner where I could set up without risk of anybody bumping into me.

So, all in all, an exciting outing. Thank you Dublin Sketchers!