Close observation

In drawing class we went to the Civic Museum and wandered the cloister walk and Etruscan and Roman artifacts that were once the collection of a wealthy Viterbese.  It's a small collection but I find these sarcophagi so beautiful and mesmerizing... the faces from so long ago.  And now they are here, faces and bodies, lounging in a peaceful and quiet setting for years and years to come, I would imagine.

Drawing stone is an exercise in noticing the nuances of shading that both make form and suggest form.  You really have to concentrate on the light, where it's hitting the sculpture, and how the shades have multiple tones.  This is what I looked at for an hour:

 And this is the product of that close examination:

It's not bad.  Justin told me to stop before I overdid it.... so I did.  And I moved on to more fascinating objets of glory:

I'm currently working on this fabulous thing.......
There are some wonderful things in this tiny museum.  There is a room of old apothecary jars:

And then some paintings procured from various churches:

And the Civic museum itself was once a monastery and is a thing of beauty in itself.  There is nonstop beauty here in Italy.  That is just the way it is.