Saturday, April 8, 2017, is Slow Art Day. The idea is to slow down when you visit your favorite art museum. Instead of roller skating through the galleries clocking 10 paintings per minute, scrutinize a single painting for 10 minutes. According to Terry Teachout’s WSJ article, more than 150 art museums and galleries are participating in this year’s slowdown.

Why is spending 10 minutes contemplating one piece of art worthwhile? Because you’re bound to see details you’d otherwise miss and have the time to make connections and achieve insights you can’t get when you are galloping.

One of my favorite activities is visiting a museum with my sketchbook. Drawing the artwork is a wonderful way to slow me down and force me to pay attention. Here are some examples from previous museum visits.

Museums are generally a great place to sketch because curators have made an effort to find unusual, significant, and beautiful things to show off.

Most museums are also safe, dry, and have good snacks nearby. I hope heaven will be like that.

If you like these sketches, you might enjoy the album I have on Flickr called Museum Visits. 

Look for me at the museum.

 Don