day 12 (Sept 17)

I went to the VMFA yesterday and the thing I got most into drawing was the backhoe on the lawn. I did one sort of copy and that's about it. I found it to be horrifyingly boring. None of the galleries that I love have any benches. The benches are all over in classical and Faberge.

I was so awkward. I'm going to force myself to try that again a few times and see if it gets easier. If not I'm going to skip drawing there and just go to soak in the loveliness. I tear through that place like it's my job. I go say hello to all of my favorites, Ben Shahn, Paul Klee, Otto Dix, David Schnell, the current Chuck Close rooms, Diebenkorn, Warhol, the Toulouse-Lautrecs in the Art Nouveau wing. I can see everything I love in less than an hour. To draw I went to the benches amid what I don't love, I went to areas of the museum I've never been to.

I have this idea, based on the way I visit the museum, and the diversity of friends I know here, and the VMFA slogan, "It's your art." I want to have each of my friends take me to their VMFA, and then I could draw my friend and the art they love. It could be really wonderful. Perhaps I could be less awkward. Perhaps it will be a train wreck, who knows? But those are my thoughts for today.