While waiting for the story from HarperCollins, I've had lots of time to work on my own projects. This is a first illustration for a story I'm writing about an artist that eventually goes to... Paris! The story has a long way to go to even be readable by people other than me, but it's been fun to draw what's flickering around in my head.
Now... a Paris update! Last Sunday Lane and I went to the Natural History Museum in the Botanical Garden. I'm surprised to say that of all the museums we've seen in Paris, the Natural History Museum was our most fascinating museum experience.
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| Natural History Museum, Le Jardin des Plantes |
Right when you walk in the door you are overwhelmed by a beautifully laid out showroom of skeletons. We were glad to find out that all the animals died of natural causes. Along the walls are glass encasements holding organs. I know it sounds gross, but it was really interesting to see a monkey, llama, and elephant brain side by side floating in jars. Things got a little uncomfortable in the far end of the museum when we saw animal fetuses and human body parts in formaldehyde, as well as human baby skeletons (those were the worst). But I can safely say that I've never seen anything quite like a 3 month-old porcupine fetus. And I appreciate that this museum is about studying science and you have to take the emotion out of it. I kind of related it to being an artist and how people are always
Happy January!
