I went to New York during the holiday season. Made it to the American Museum of Natural History which has the most bizarre collection of "Advanced Mammals" I'd ever seen. My favorite set of bones (or one of my favorites) was a giant sloth which, I'm not kidding, had a muzzle that looked like a dustbuster. The museum was packed and unfortunately, the sloth was in an exhibit around the corner, right in the middle of traffic, where I could not plunk myself down and annoy the other tourists. Just sitting somewhere out of the way and still having people trip over me was hard enough. Then I made it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I must of stood under Sargent's giant painting, called The Wyndam Sisters and studied the brushwork and overall effect. I managed to do some sketches of some of the bronze figures, but all in all did more looking in New York then drawing. I used my favorite tools, my Blackwing pencils and some brushpens. Museums have gotten more and more strict about what you can draw with and what you can't; I was not even supposed to use pens, but from a difference a Faber Castel looks like a pencil. Had a blast. The food in New York is fantastic and everyone was so helpful and friendly. I do love big cities. I grew up near San Francisco and used to go to Golden Gate Park and sketch at the museums there but have not been back since they remodeled the Steinhardt Aquarium.
