I did some drawing this evening down at the Zoology Museum in Swansea University. It’s a small place but jam packed full of fascinating specimens. I did a reduction drawing of the skull of a large fish. There was some debate about whether it was a whiting, like the label said, or a cod.
I’d prepared some thick khadi paper in advance. First I cleaned off an old drawing board that had been used for paper stretching and make sure it was clean and smooth. Then I stretched the wet sheets of paper, sticking them down with brown paper gumstrip. Finally I gave them a couple of coats of white acrylic gesso, to give me a resilient surface to work on.