Out & About: Greek figures at the British Museum

Greek section of the British Museum

My weekend in London at the start of August seems a long time ago now, especially with the autumnal gales and rain we are experiencing today.  However, my trip there is still having an impact on my work.  I spent ages considering what I should do on my second day: should I find some contemporary work to enjoy; have a trip to the V&A; or go to the Greek section of the British Museum.  In the end, the British Museum won, partly because it was just round the corner from where I was staying and partly because it felt relevant to my work.

Cycladic figure at the British Museum

I ended up passing my full day there.  I photographed, drew, tagged onto a tour (which was fascinating) and eventually spent some time in the bookshop.  At one point I was clutching over £200-worth of books, but I decided I had to be a bit more sensible and maybe read one at a time, rather than just buy lots that would join the ever growing still-to-be-read pile besides my bed.  The book that made the cut was ‘The AegeanWorld’ by the Ashmolean in Oxford and I have referred to it several times already.  The slightly less sensible purchase was three rubber ducks for the kids.  But they were cute and look good on our bathroom window ledge.

Latest drawing in tinted charcoal pencils

With well over 100 photos, I chose to edit them and get some printed so I could work from them.  However, when they came back from the photo service, they were all cropped in strange ways as they were not standard sizes after I had played with them.  I thought they would have been shrunk to size but no – so beware if you do the same.  Still I have been drawing lots of images, working away at copying, but also thinking about how these will translate into my work and my goddess figures.  

From the Greek section at the British Museum

My version of one of the above

from the Greek section of the British Museum

My drawing of the one above