Tonight Jake, Todd and I attended a gallery drawing session at SMOCA (Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Arts). There is a wonderful exhibition now of the work of Chuck Close, which shows not only the final works of art, but the break down of the process, the plates and the wood blocks and many more pieces of the actual printing procedures he used in his work. After a quick tour and explanation of some of the work, we each got to choose a piece and draw it. I selected a finely grided etching, one of his self portraits… we only had an hour, and this is how far I got on the pattern of his left eye.
I enjoyed the exercise of really looking at the light and dark, and of the detail and delicacy of the original work. Jake did a white on black sketch which I absolutely love. Todd also picked a white on black exercise, which he brought to life in just minutes. It is very good to know that museums like SMOCA care enough about their community to offer such creative programs.