I am getting very excited about Saturday's Sketchcrawl and about taking a careful look at Rochester by drawing it in the company of a group of strangers. Since I did just read about the public, social and religious culture of Rochester in 1815, I can't help but notice the structures, the deeper history is still here. I need to do some looking, some walking, some listening to the stories.And I need to just shut up and draw...

Now as I've talked to people about the Sketchcrawl, they often say, "well, I don't draw but I've always wanted to," I have to say if you don't choose to draw on Saturday the 21st, just draw sometime.
So then, hope to see you at the Public Market at 8am...
onward and upward,
Rachael

I've been reading a little bit of everything (from John McPhee traveling with a trucker to My Year of Meats to the early history of Rochester) and then sitting out in the grass of my in process garden (snapdragons planted, tomatoes getting ready, tiny little strawberries tasty and basil, my friends, basil!) and letting it all brew together.

Likewise, I've been drawing strangers and random things, paying attention to a few visual projects (day-job related mostly) that have been a bit abandoned, and thinking about clay again (doesn't the world need a few more lumpy coffee cups? with drawings on them? hey, I thought so too!).

And while my creative work of late has been...undisciplined...it is (and by this I mean the daily work of sketchbook drawing, some sort reading/writing) filling the well, making me consider a bit more carefully what the project will be when I sit down in my studio and spend some time on the thing that needs to be created. In the end it will likely have a smidgen of the small strawberry taste, a bit of the mission of the meat book and the trucker reportage (without the preachiness of the former or the heroicizing of the latter), and with the joy of the making fully present in the thing made.

So then, come out and draw next Saturday!
best,
Rachael

If you'll be in Rochester on that day, please join us to draw...

Rachael

Last week like half of the country I had a lovely string of days off from work. Days to spend listening, eating, painting, car-hunting (bought one), re-friending (letter sending), and spending time with my favorite people. Sure, sure, I like my job but the best part of working is time off. I slept late and piddled away long stretches of time. What we do to feed our bodies is one thing, what we do to feed our selves is another.
And the break was just the right size, I think, because somewhere in the middle of all that time off I started to miss my regular routine. A nine to five with great people and a mission I believe in is good for me, keeps me off the streets and out of trouble. I would not change working everyday to help others make art in a hybrid amateur and professional context.

I've been staring at nasturtiums, the irises in bloom at the corner garden, and just about everything I can find to draw.
I brought some 6 x 6's down to ROCO the other day, especially since I really like the video they've put up of the For Drawing Sake show they had last fall (one of the best shows I've seen in a while but I am as partisan as they come).
The Alison Saar show was a nice treat, floating moths inside sculptures rewarded careful looking and the maternal themes, I think it's still up for a few more minutes so if you are in Rochester, get to see it. And if you're not, well, I can't tell you what to see or not see then.

Back to work, then, for there oughtta be pleasures and rewards in work and work in play. take care, Rachael