Discovering new things

Last weekend (the 8th-10th) I went to Kansas City with the Art Club from college. It was a really cool trip and we got to see a couple museums, went to cool places to eat, and shopped at some vintage shops.

Ink and brush, in hotel cafe

Kemper Museum of Art + color mixing
     The first museum we went to was the Kemper Museum of Art. It didn't seem like it had that many pieces...but it had a couple portrait pieces that I liked. There didn't seem to theme to the work either.
     I did however have an epiphany about mixing skin tones in paint. Prior to this point I had been over complicating the process by trying to mix too many colors and it was not working well. But there was a piece there that I could see how he only used a few colors and used different combinations in certain spots. It was a very good moment for me and I got like 100xp in art skill! heh!


Look before you leap
     We also went the painting department of The Art Institute. An instructor greeted us and told us some stuff that I don't remember...but she kept whispering the entire time, like a giant beast would bust through the wall if she spoke too loud...it was odd.
     She showed us around the student working areas (of the junior and senior students) and I have to be quite honest...it was disappointing. It looked slightly better than the quality of art that is produced by the painting 1 students at the community college I go to. I think it matters less about where you learn art and more about how hard you are willing to work.

Exploring history in an afternoon
     The last museum that we went to was the Nelson-Atkins, and I must say, it was great! I saw a lot of famous artists' work: a Warhol, a Rothenberg, Rothko, Andrew Wyeth and there was Greek, Roman, and Egyptian sculptures, which was awe-inspiring to behold. But I think my favorite part was the Sculpture of the Thinker, by Auguste Rodin. It was so amazing to see it. It was huge! and I touched it's left big toe! The museum had a big cafeteria area and smelled like my grandma's basement. I think it was all the stone and fried foods.

A collaboration work by me and Marylin
during the van ride

     All the pictures here are sketches I did while on the trip. I always like to sketch when I travel and I've been refining my travel kit for a while now. I think sketching is a great way for me to document trips, I like it better than a camera, but that's not always practical. Maybe later I'll post pictures about what my sketching kit contains.