Pink fairy armadillo and other creatures

Yesterday was a day for feeding my imagination in the company of some fellow children's illustrators: we all met at the Natural History Museum for a morning of sketching there. A truly amazing place for drawing, both the exhibits and the people looking at the exhibits (or on their mobile phone!)
My plan was to head straight for my favourite of the mammals galleries - the one with the whales and dolphins, then I got distracted on the way there by the bats! I never feel quite comfortable looking at stuffed, dead animals, but reminded myself that this is probably the only way I am going to get the chance to study bats up close.  Such dainty creatures, and with a lovely contrast between the soft, fine fur of their bodies, and the leatheriness of their wings. I especially loved the way the shape of the nose of the spear nose bat echoed the shape of it's ears.

My discovery of the day was the wonderfully named "pink fairy armadillo": a tiny creature from the Argentine pampas, that I had never heard of before.  In spite of it's name, the specimen in the glass case is not pink - more of a slightly pinky beige fur, with creamy plates on it's back. I want to find out a lot more about this creature.

I was also excited to see some of the fossils Mary Anning discovered in Lyme Regis, having thoroughly enjoyed reading Tracy Chevalier's "Remarkable Creatures" 

Drawing at Kew today

I was surprised to find I had made 24+ sketches today. The Palm House ones are the best - probably because I was at least warm. Kew provides good opportunities to draw school children, too, who seemed to be enthralled by the tropical plants.
Although I thought I was going to Kew to draw plants, I discovered the amazing Marine Life display in the basement of the Palm House, which is inhabited by seaweeds, corals, and fish! It was an amazing chance to draw a living plaice, and to be stared at by the animals. Seriously, they were all coming to the glass of their tanks to peer out at me - maybe they are bored?

These are my newly knitted wristwarmers aka fingerless gloves, specially completed in time for my planned trip to Kew. I made them from lovely soft Colinette jitterbug yarn, using Fishtail wristwarmers pattern designed by Alexandra Brinck. They certainly help for keeping my fingers warm and flexible enough for drawing out of doors in the bitterly cold weather this January!