Tag Archives: National Museum of Scotland

Daily Sketch

A night at the Museum

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NMS afterhours photoLast Friday I enjoyed making festival fringe collages as part of the After Hours evening at the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street.

Similar to the successful Lates events at NMS, the After Hours nights are for adults only, with live music, food and a bar to keep guests happy. On each Friday night during the Edinburgh Festival the museum opens its doors to a variety of acts in town for the fringe.

Find out more about which acts will be on this Friday, and book your tickets at the link below.

NMS Museum After Hours website

Daily Sketch

The Celts are coming … to the National Museum of Scotland

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Celts_Sandstone Cross
Tomorrow, the 10th March sees the arrival of the eagerly anticipated ‘Celts’ exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street, Edinburgh.

 

This major exhibition, their first of 2016 spans more than 2, 500 years and unravels the story of those who have used or been given the name ‘Celts’ through the extraordinary art objects they made and used.

 

The piece I have sketched using cross hatching and shading techniques is a grey sandstone slab from Monifieth in Angus Scotland. Probably carved in the 9th century it is decorated with a cross carved in relief and filled with interlace and spiral patterns.

 

I’m looking forward to seeing this and around 300 other treasured objects from across the UK and Europe, assembled together in Scotland for the first time in this fascinating exhibition.

 

Find out more at the NMS website below.

 

This sketch is drawn in black fine liner, drawn free hand with no pencil.

 

National Museum of Scotland website

Daily Sketch

Father’s Day at the National Museum of Scotland

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FathersDay_MuseumLast week I was at the Father’s Day Family Takeover at the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street, Edinburgh.

For the second year running Dad’s Rock and a huge number of local companies and volunteers took over the stunning venue to celebrate Father’s Day. I had a stall in the main hall this year from where I ran sketch tours and provided lots of drawing, painting and messy fun with my Edinburgh themed activity sheets.

 

The colouring in sheets were hugely popular, especially the Shore and Victoria Street. They were beautifully and enthusiastically coloured in by the parents as much as the children, so thank you to everyone who stopped by to mess up the table!!

 

My activity sheets went down so well I’ll be creating  an Edinburgh colouring book. More to come soon…

 

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See the Dad’s Rock website for their free summer events in 2015.

 

 

Daily Sketch

A mammoth show at the National Museum of Scotland

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Mammoth_ColumbianMammoth_molar Currently amazing visitors young and old the Mammoth Exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland is an essential day out.

 

Filled with life size, interactive exhibits the show, which runs until April 20th is jam packed with facts and figures, all you could ever want to know about these woolly beasts.

 

Encouraged to touch visitors can find out what mammoth fur feels like, joust with tusks and see an exact replica of the 42,000 year old baby woolly mammoth, Lyuba.

 

Originally curated by The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the exhibition includes objects from the Ice Age which have been brought together for the first time in the UK. Catch them in Edinburgh now, before the heard moves on.

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Daily Sketch

A night at the Museum

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MuseumLates_SilentDiscoLast night I attended the RBS Museum Lates event at the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street, Edinburgh.

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The after hours event is an extravaganza of entertainment, culture, live music and surprises; like this silent disco (left) which was very popular. Very strange to hear only dancers singing the words, and whoops of delight as a favourite song was played.

The night coincided with the final final few days of the current exhibition: ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’, which runs until the 17th November.

I arrived early and headed to the Museum Brasserie for some dinner, and found this delicious gluten free burger, along with chunky chips.

 

With the main hall filling up with revellers and the DJs playing the dance music I headed up to the top floor to see this view of the main hall, the exhibits look on as guests mingle and have a drink at the bar. Including the mighty moose at the back of the room, can you see it? Click  on the sketches for larger versions.

 

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The smaller rooms were free to explore and as well as the usual exhibits to look at there were also a few surprises. Above centre you can see people having there faces painted while underneath a huge plane hangs from the ceiling. And above right visitors get chance to make there own artwork and badges with help from the Red Door Gallery, underneath the skeleton of a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex!

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Finally I love this one, it sums up the night perfectly. An Amur Tiger, one of the exhibits on the third floor sits in front of a glitter ball, sparkling down on the main hall below. There were sights like this all night, two worlds combining. You can’t help thinking what the perminant residents are all thinking 🙂

 

Look out for the next Museums Lates night, it really is a great experience, and a super way to show off the Museum; it’s exhibits and the beautiful building. And in the mean time visit the museum before the 17th November to see the extremely interesting, and harrowing story of Mary, Queen of Scots.

 

 

 

Daily Sketch

RBS Museum Lates night

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On Friday night I was lucky enough to attend the latest RBS MuseumsLate night at the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street. The events are run four times a year and are themed around the current exhibition, this time being the Vikings!

The evenings are adult only ticketed events with live music, food and a couple of bars in the main hall, showing the museum in a whole new light.

The montage above shows all my separate doodles put together but I will separate them out below so you can see them a little clearer. I used a range of mediums including fine ink pens, Letraset markers and watercolourwashes on the night. MainHall

This was my first sketch before the doors had opened to the public and down in the main hall staff were hurrying to set everything up.
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For this one I was looking down from the stairwell, visitors could get their photos taken dressed as Vikings in front of a stand with a painted boat. All in the quizzical gaze of the Giant Deer.

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Many visitors came dressed for the part, but for those who did not you could make yourself a Viking helmet and ask the face painters to give you scars and bloody noses, as if fresh from battle.

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This sketch shows the main hall with a bar and many visitors all listening to the music being played on the stage to the left. You can see the lighthouse light to the right and the gazebo to the left, recognizable from the museums usual day to day appearance.

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Daily Sketch

Oh what a view..

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On Saturday the family and I visited the stunningly visual, mind expandingly educational, humongously huge and importantly free, National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street, Edinburgh.

Followers will know this is a fave haunt for the EdinburghSketcher and family but even I still haven’t seen everything they have to show. On Saturday I took the lift to the top, the seventh floor infact and stepped out into the Roof Terrace garden. A stunning 360degree panorama of Edinburgh’s skyline awaits with handy plaques describing each famous landmark.

My sketch is looking towards Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile. It’s well worth a trip to see the cityscape, high above the buildings of central Edinburgh.

Daily Sketch

Oasis in the city

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I took the twins into town this afternoon, for a busy afternoon meeting some clients.  While criss crossing the centre we dropped into the National Museum of Scotland to give the kids a banana and some milk.

I’m so glad the museum is open again (after being closed for refurbishment), it is great we have these educational places which are free, where you can sit for a while without having to buy a coffee (unless you want too) and soak up a little of the amazing facts and figures from the exhibits that surround you.

For instance earlier we all met today’s sketch subject, Arensnuphis, whose statue dates back to around 50BC and would once of stood guard outside a temple.

Visit here for more information, and watch out for the upcoming Fascinating Mummies exhibition, from 11th February to 27th May 2012.