I spent the majority of my President's Day off wandering through the National Gallery. I started off on the bottom floor of the main building, since I have typically only walked through the main floor. Small, intimate exhibitions were the theme of the day. I wandered through a series of examples of early French printmaking, including one incredible example of a life-sized print of the human circulatory system created for an early medical textbook. I found a secluded room filled with small wax and bronze sculptures, of which my favorites were (surprise!) the small replicas of Degas' young ballet dancer.

But I think my most prized find was even farther back in the depths of the National Gallery basement - a one-room collection of drawings and sketches by master painters. It was a unique window into the process and struggle that even the greats like Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Mary Cassat, Matisse, etc, all went through. You typically don't remember of these artists for their drawings (with the notable exception of Da Vinci, perhaps), which is why I really enjoyed seeing them. It sort of pulled the curtain back a bit, and showed that effort, struggle, and real work went into producing those final flawless paintings.

I stopped off for lunch at the Cascade Cafe that sits on the walkway between the main building and the East gallery. For a museum they had pretty good food, too! Then I continued walking underground to the east gallery, where I soaked up a very contemporary exhibit that had some Rothko murals, a couple of fun Warhol prints, and a wonderful, three-story, light-filled room showing off mobiles by Matisse and Alexander Calder.

It’s fairly safe to say I'm in a Rothko phase at the moment. I ended up getting a small print of one of his earlier works, as well as a postcard book with prints of 20 of his other paintings. I'm definitely seeing his influence in some of the painting I'm doing lately. I use the phrase painting lightly, however, because sometimes it feels like I'm doing nothing more than glorified doodles that happen to be in color and on canvas. But I'm having fun, and I have a few more things to hang on my walls now, so I'm happy. And hopefully so is Rothko, wherever he is. :)