I had once, a long time ago, tried to paint in a museum. After all, that is where great art classes were conducted in the 19th & 20th centuries. However, I found out when I tried, some museums are not happy with artists. On that occasion I tried, I had watercolor pencils and a teeny, tiny jar of water. I was told very abruptly and rudely that I was breaking rules! After that, I assumed all museums were that artist-unfriendly.

A friend recently told me that our local natural history museum acually encouraged artists to work in the museum.

This morning I met my friend downtown at the Field Museum. We spent time in the large, taxidermied bird exhibit.
I found a corner where I could sit on the floor and sketch the Emperor penguin. What a large bird! If I'd stood next to him, he'd probably come up to my hip.