One of the things I love about living in Washington, DC is going to the National Gallery of Art. When people think of free museums they usually think of the Smithsonian museums on the mall. But DC has three free art museums; The National Gallery of Art (NGA), The Hirschhorn, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum & Portrait Gallery.
I think one of the best ways to learn to draw is to copy a painting or sculpture. As a practice I try to get to a museum about once a week (if I am lucky). The NGA never disappoints me! I can always find a painting by a famous artist I never noticed before or discover something new in a painting I've seen a million times. Now that the NGA is rotating some of their art, presumably to make room for their acquisitions from the Corcoran (that is another discussion), there are more new things to see.
Recently, I made a trip to the NGA to collect patterns. Instead of picking a painting to study and draw, I decided to look at paintings and find patterns I could use for inspiration in one of my own paintings. Here is a small sample of what I found.
detail of "Odalisque Seated with Arms Raised" by Henri Matisse
Matisse may very well be the master of pattern and color. He can take the simple and make it sublime...
detail of cloth in Auguste Renoir's "Odalisque"
detail of dress hem in John Singleton Copley's "The Copley Family"
The curls on this sculpture almost look like octopus tendrils.
The pattern on this skirt is beautifully painted. You can tell by the hands it's a Sargent...
detail of John Singer Sargent's "Repose"
This modern looking painting is actually a Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, painted on cardboard. The skirt, the fence and shirt are all full of simplified marks.
If you live in DC and want to go to the museum to draw... send me an email. We'll make an afternoon of it!