Free museum admission? Check. Sketching all over the museum? Check. A supportive and inclusive group of sketchers? Check.
Urban Sketchers is a global community of artists who draw on location. Ottawa has its very own chapter!
I randomly came across the Facebook event for the session and decided to attend it—it was very popular with many people interested. I sketch at home—a given with my artist mother—but not much en pleun air, so the challenge was welcome.
After bearing with bus #14, which behaved well for me, I was overjoyed to enter the Museum of Nature and see people sketching everywhere! There were sketchers in every gallery: on the stairs, in chairs, on the floor, with pens, with watercolours. Drawing in public alone can be daunting, and passersby are always incredibly curious, but in a group, there was an incredible sense of camaraderie and accountability. The principle of body-doubling—working with someone else—played its part.
I created three sketches: thick-billed murre and muskoxen from the Arctic Gallery and the yesteryear stone and mosaic windows on the 2nd floor. The museum’s animals are taxidermied, which benefits the sketchers—your subjects stay still while you explore every angle, piece of fur, and feather.
By Sonya Gankina.
By Sonya Gankina.
At the end, we gathered as a group and took a photo of everyone’s work laid out on the floor. And my favourite part—we post our artworks in the Urban Sketchers Ottawa Facebook group, where everyone is kind, supportive, and leaves compliments on the sketches!
While many of us creative creatures enjoy alone time, I love the in-person and online socializing aspect of the group, creating together with others in the same space and sharing the works openly with others.
Meet me at the next one?
The Canadian Museum of Nature is free every Thursday evening.
