My boys Leon (16) and Tom (11) couldn’t be more different in what they consider a good time. This half term we headed for Oxford and Avebury, in an attempt to tick all our boxes.

Oxford Museum of Natural History

We arrived at the museum on Monday afternoon, and 2 out of 3 of us were compelled to sketch urgently and IMMEDIATELY! Unfortunately we had dropped our cases off at the Air Bnb, so we plundered the shop for their (very serviceable!) sketchbooks and (HB) pencils. After a circuit of the ground floor, Leon pootled off to explore upstairs, and took a great photo from the 1st floor:

Tom and I got out our little pads, and settled down on the helpfully positioned chairs. Tom went straight to this splendid lifesized triceratops model. I love the way he included the supporting pole, and shaded the jaw so thoughtfully. I couldn’t resist tucking out of sight behind the taxidermy bear, positioned enticingly at the museum entrance. It was fun watching visitors engage with it, stroke it (expressly permitted), and take selfies. I really enjoyed the negative spaces between the legs, and the way the fur changes direction at turning points in the underlying form (jaw, elbow, knee).

The main hall is lined with beautifully carved marble statues of historic establishment figures in the world of Natural History. A few years ago I would have leapt at the chance to sketch these as cast drawings, but through today’s lens it was a rather depressing reminder of the lack of female representation in science through the ages. There was an encouraging A4 poster extolling Mary Anning, and a section in the museum’s strategy document about challenging established inequalities, so here’s hoping she gets a statue one day.

In case you’re inspired to draw a bear or two, here’s a live demo I recorded, including references you can use:

The Ashmolean

Tuesday: While Leon had a lie-in and did some video editing, Tom and I went early to The Ashmolean. We got sucked into the art collection upstairs, and suddenly an hour was gone. It is delightful watching Tom’s drawing and art appreciation evolve. As third child, he can suffer from not being listened to, so it was a great opportunity to pay attention to his reflections on the work.

I had vaguely planned to have another go at sketching the cast of Laocoön and his Sons (having previously sketched the stunning one in the Royal Academy, see my post here), but I didn’t want to commit that much time in case Tom needed attention. As it happened, we both opted for marble portrait busts, which are displayed in the ‘Greek & Roman’ section… some of the sculptures are literally a combination of both.

He was keen to continue with his hard pencil and little pad from the previous day. He is far more restrained than me, more orderly, enjoys textures, and is very sensitive to subjects’ expressions and mood. Tom was engrossed for a good hour doing the beautiful pencil sketch (below) of a head and torso medley. I chose Hadrian’s drowned lover Antinous, with the improbable shoulders. The statues are lit in various ways, which create interesting drawing challenges - fluctuating shadows, and combinations of warm and cool light.

Leon joined us for a lovely lunch in the museum, then we headed to the castle & prison for an entertaining tour. It was sobering to learn about the very young past inmates (eg locked up for stealing bread), and to sit in cells that have been in active use until the 90’s.

Now that Leon can navigate on buses and Google maps, the boys were able to head off together for a kickabout. I returned to the Ashmolean to draw a full length figure, made up of a Hellenistic (200-100 BC) body, topped by a Roman (20 BC - AD 20) head. It was impressive how the later sculptor had picked up the gesture of the torso, and inferred a really convincing head. As an occasional museum sketcher, I find staff can get twitchy near closing time. I’m happy to report there was no premature ushering out at either the Ashmolean or the Natural History museum. Both sketches were done with my normal sketching materials

Once outside, I shambled around the streets looking for something to draw, feeling tired, achy, and a bit cold. To be honest I was disappointed with myself for not having had the guts or energy to get my easel and oil paints out, but it had all felt a bit much. So I sat alongside the boisterous local teenagers on top of Marty’rs Memorial, sketching the Ashmolean and the corner of Magdalen street.

Losing steam at a rate of knots, I called my sister for a chat, and reflected gratefully on how different my life would have been if I’d made it into Magdalen College back in 1987. Before long, the boys and I reunited in a Carribean restaurant, where we reminisced about the plantain, breadfruit, and soursop we had enjoyed at Easter.

Avebury

The following day was jam packed, even by my standards! Avebury is a prehistoric world heritage site, near Stonehenge, on the way back from Oxford to Bristol We had lunch there, then the boys amplified their gastric churning by rolling down the steep grassy banks. Next we walked round the Neolithic stone circle, constructed nearly 5000 years ago, in search of the best spot to sit and draw.

Leon sat with me, chatting to tourists and taking their photos in front of the stones until I was done. Tom went to another spot, even asking to miss tea and cake so he could finish his second drawing. The regularly shaped stone in my sketch is a recent marker, indicating where stones are submerged/lost.

Finally we tempted Tom away to see the museum and manor. In the barn there was a “Sentinels of stone” exhibition of work by Tony Galuidi - fabulous large oil ‘portraits’ of the monolithic stones (available to buy here). The tudor manor rooms have been decorated in period-themed recreations, including dressing up costumes, very friendly staff, and lots of artefacts to handle. Created for the BBC series “The Manor Reborn”, we loved the fabulous chinoiserie mural by Mark Sands and the copy of a Jakob Bogdani painting by C Sands <need ref>.

Next we headed off to view Silbury Hill, and climbed up and into the ancient burial chambers within West Kennet Long Barrow. On the way home we caught the evening sun by the Kennet & Avon canal for pub dinner, before walking down and up the towpath alongside the spectacular Caen Hill locks.

Thank you for reading, I hope that gave you some sketching/tourism inspiration. Leave a comment, including if there’s anything you’d like me to cover in future blogs.

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