Затерянные в деталях в Оклендском музее

[By Мюррей Дьюхерст in Auckland]

Sketching Maori taonga (treasure) at the Auckland Museum. On the left is the prow of the waka taua (war canoe), Te-taki-a-tapiri, and on the right a carved kumara (sweet potato) pit entrance guardian, right.

The waka is really impressive, it almost fills the whole gallery, it’s carved from a single large Totara tree, is 25 meters long and reportedly carried around 100 warriors. Built in 1863 it’s amazing it even still exists, according to this description, at one stage being partly dismantled and someone even tried unsuccessfully to blow it up!

I love drawing this stuff, it makes you slow down and observe all of the beautiful details, but trying to capture all of this detail in dimly lit museum conditions is a real challenge. As a result, I had to finish the colour later at home.