Drawing Buddies at Castle Museum.

The Drawing Buddies visited the natural history section at Castle Museum, including Frank who I haven't met before, very nice to chat with him about what Drawing Buddies means to him. So far we have consistently asked 'what we can see at or what can be seen from the Spontaneous City sites? and today I asked the group to identify which of the wildlife that is on on display at the castle might be seen around the sites. We identified a surprising range of land, sky and water based wildlife from foxes to the peregrine falcon which nests at the Cathedral. I wanted the buddies to think hard about why they choose to draw what they draw, about their relationship with that subject as an artist, intellectually or emotionally and how they physically position themselves in relation to it. I wanted them to take real responsibility for asking questions around their subject, about what they could see and what is hidden. We had a lovely spontaneous questioning session about a heron and then they proceeded to choose their own subjects as well as the appropriate scale, materials and length of time spent drawing it. We also drew 8 birds feet in 8 minutes which produced some magical little scribbles and the group critique focussed a lot on the act of choosing a subjects and the speed of drawing, when is it finished ? We were joined by an education officer who shared handling objects, including owls and a bisected squirrel which allowed us see the internal taxidermy. Sue told me about a letter (or was it an article) that she has about the collective nouns for birds e.g 'a charm of gold finches', this feels relevant somehow and I wonder what would be the collective noun for a group of drawers or a group of bird & bug boxes ? Ideas for next sessions include drawing living wildlife at Strumpshaw Fen or Salthouse wildlife centre as well as a session at the Castle study centre.