Give me my ROM back.

Posted by Arna:

Convocation Hall, Uof T

I want my ROM back. Where’d it go?

Smook, and Drazen and I met at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) for a sketch outing Friday morning. How exciting! We hoped to check out the new Michael Lee Chin Crystal addition too. We didn’t get past the front lobby. Seems we had dangerous equipment...like brush pens, and small watercolour boxes that I’ve brought to the Museum before. Plus we were carrying bags. Not huge bags, but we had little sketchbooks in them. Now mind you, there were women with large purses walking in unchecked as we chatted with the security personnel. Who knows what those gals were carrying in there... maybe dangerous lipstick, which they could use to deface the exhibits if so inclined!

Yup I’m a tad peeved about this. The Museum is a sacred place to me and I would never think of defacing it in any way. I have spent many childhood/young adult days sketching in the ROM and feel as though it is ‘mine’. I’m protective of the place. It’s a valued resource that belongs to every Torontonian in that same way it belongs to me.

So it's all renovated and flashy now and without warning there is a new policy. No art equipment other than pencils?!? Plus we got a curious instruction to draw ‘freehand’ only. Is there any other way?
Don’t get me wrong I love my pencils. I even had one small HB with me. But this is a bad policy. Artists have visited and sketched at the ROM for over 50 years. We’d like to continue to do so. We’re part of the fabric of the city and we don’t want to see city life shrinking in this way. This is not about security. We opened our bags and happily showed the contents; three or four brush pens and two little sketchbooks and small watercolour box, a few paper towels to wipe up if there was a spill... I travel light! Meanwhile while the purse carriers walked in no problem. Me. No. Get.

Actually the guard misspoke to us...I checked the ROM website after our little adventure, and it claims you can sketch with pens and pencils. Wish I’d known that when we were talking to him! The fellow finally did say that he would make an 'exception' and allow a pen in ‘this time’. But by then it felt like time to leave.

So we three wandered down Philosopher's Walk and sprawled in the shade on the lawn across from Convocation Hall to sketch and vent and catch up. My sketch buddies for the day are a pair of charming talented fellows and we had a delightful time. Drazen has a bunch of new children's books in the works and a spiffy new website, and Mike (Smook) is doing great guns boarding on Ruby Gloom. I didn’t do as much drawing as I’d like...I’d let that officious guard get to me. Not wise, shoulda known better because there was plenty of cool stuff to draw. Proud graduates fluttered on the lawn in red robes... courtyards surrounded by arched cloisters with gargoyles...

Of course we did a little horsing around too: Check out the shot below taken ‘somewhere on U of T campus’... don’t worry, we rubbed out the drawing afterwards. We’re a regular trio of art terrorists...no?

I’m very glad we had the chance to get together! Thanks to (slightly burnt) Smook for the prodding... Thanks to Drazen making me look so thin and stylin'! How nice. See you both again soon I hope.

We all missed John who usually travels with me, but had script deadlines and a pulled ligament in his drawing hand. Get better soon, sweety!! :)

Click here, here, here, and here, for older posts of us drawing with and without Smook at the ROM...

Click here for Mike Smukavic of Reddot blog! and Drazen Kozjan of Hypnotic Eye and Happy Undertaker.

Dino-Fight-At-The-ROM

John took this picture last spring/summer. The Royal Ontario Museum (or ROM as it's known to most Torontonians) is undergoing a bit of a transformation. The reno is called 'The Crystal' but I don't know how crystalline it will be when it's finished, since the skin appears to be white aluminum siding.

This shot shows the old ROM and a skeleton of the new wing in sharp contrast. I wanted the old part to look the way I remember it so gave it a dirt layer. Then I added the dinosaurs fighting in the window as a tribute to the great dinosaur hall. I spent many childhood afternoons standing under the Tyrannosaurus Rex that loomed over the centre of the room, hoping to catch it moving just a little... :)

Rom Sketch Date Part 3...

Here are the last of the sketches from our July 7th visit to the Royal Ontario Museum. The first two are by Arna:

These next two are by John:

This fellow looks like he's giving us the finger. Such un-monk-like behavior! ;)

And this one is Arna's sketch of John sketching:

ROM Sketch Date Part 2...

Posted by Arna:

Thought I'd try some fooling around with brush markers and a waterbrush. To avoid muddying the washes I used no more than two colours on each sketch.

This one's the first of the day... a good warm up. John noticed that this fellow had dragons for sleeves and his arms came right out of the dragons' mouths, but when I did this one I hadn't figured that out yet, so the sleeve shapes are kind of abstract. The little character at his feet reminds me of Bart Simpson:

You can see those dragons' mouths clearly in the photo I took afterwards. Funny how you can look at a thing and not really 'see' it:

Here's an earthenware horse about a foot and a half tall:

Here's the actual horse:

Here's an army! I found myself simplifying and juggling shapes, to define these horses and riders:

Horses and riders in earthenware. They're each about a foot tall:

ROM sketch date...

Posted by John:

Here are some new sketches from today's visit to the Royal Ontario Museum. We spent a productive Friday sketching in the same area of the museum we visited several weeks ago with Mike Smukavic. This time he couldn't make it. We missed you Mike!

We'll post more of today's work over the next week, including some colour brush work from Arna.

More ROM sketches with Smook...

Posted by Arna and John:

These are more drawings from the day we went sketching with our friend Mike Smukavic at the Royal Ontario Museum. They didn't make it into our earlier post so here they are now!

ROM Sketches With Smook

Last week we took the opportunity to meet our friend Mike Smukavic at The Royal Ontario Museum for a sketch day. We took some snaps too, before our camera battery conked out! We had a great time with Mike, who's about as talented as they come, and also great company. Here's some images from the day (all from the main floor Chinese sculpture exhibit).

Check out Mike's (Smooks) ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) post here.

The totem pole in the main stairwell has always been one of my (Arna's) favourite things since I first visited the museum as a kid. Here's a shot taken half way up. The stairwell is four stories high, so that gives you an idea of the size of this pole:

Here's Smook snapping a shot. Notice the resemblance to some of the statues...?

Several of John's sketches:

One from Arna:
This next batch are John's:

John's brush marker sketch of one of the same wooden 'Luohan' monks from the grouping above:

Smook must have been a Buddha in a former life...

This griffin was a challenge to capture. I'd like to go back to work on him again. He's pretty spectacular, and the drawings don't quite capture his furious expression:

That's all for today. Thanks to Mike for joining us at the ROM. Wait till you see his sketches. Great stuff.

Cheers!

~Arna and John