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I was going to spend this weekend at a retreat in upstate New York but because of a recent collision between my bike and the inside of a car door, I decided to lay low for the weekend.
The Sketching and Art Meetup Group was meeting on Saturday at the Frick museum for the Watteau to Degas: French Drawings Exhibit. That morning I packed my sketch book, bought a coffee and Pop Tart from the bodega and headed into Manhattan to meet the group at 11 am sharp. I arrived at 11:15.
Pleased, relieved, humbled and ashamed are a few of the adjectives to describe my feelings after spending the afternoon with the group. Jesse who is the group leader met me at the entrance to the Frick museum with my name tag and genuine excitement. After viewing the exhibit we each found something to sketch for about 45 minutes then met in the courtyard of the museum to share our drawings.
There were eight of us in the group and most had some art training. Their work was impressive. Meanwhile I was struggling, my first sketch of a marble bust was abominable. I wanted to pitch a fit during the first reveal, dismiss any skill I had and head home to mope. But I convinced myself to stay.
I had more success at my next attempt: rendering the porcelain bust of Marie Antoinette by Louis-Simon Boizot (1743–1809), a French sculptor. Standing in front of the bust I felt like Ralph Macchio in the Karate Kid doing the bird pose. This was my challenge, to draw this damn head, and it required complete concentration. I worked hard for the next 45 minutes but it took a lot of effort to force out the negative chatter and ignore the tourists peering over my shoulder.
My final drawing was a rendering of a bronze frog in the courtyard fountain.
I really like the drawing studies by Jean-François Millet (1814 - 1875)
