Sketching at the Milwaukee Art Museum

Yesterday was my last full day visiting my family and my home town of Madison, WI. All of us (my family, myself and Lauren) drove down to Milwaukee to spend the day at the Art Museum there.
It was phenomenal! First off, the architecture was astounding. Then, of course there was the art collection. I had barely entered the place before I was overwhelmed with subjects that I wanted to draw. For me the major challenge was trying to see everything and still squeeze in time for the ol' sketchbook.

Choosing between experience and sketching seems to persist as a theme in my life. I am constantly pulled in two directions. One part of me says, "Ooh, Ooh, draw, draw, draw! Look at all this stuff! Draw!" The other part of me says, "Lay down your sketchbook, get in there, experience it and live life you big lug!"

And so I try to find the balance. I may not always fill as many sketchbook pages as I'd like but in the end I think I have a richer life for making the decision to participate as well as record.

So here's one of the pages that I worked on yesterday and a couple photos of yours truly (courtesy of Lauren). The sketch of the woman's head in the upper right hand corner of my page is the one that I was working on when the photos were taken.

I also had a real breakthrough yesterday in the way I observe and draw! Tune in tomorrow for that and the sketches that go with it!