Over the past few years, I've started to make a list of art goals every January. One of my goals for 2020 is to finish all my paintings that are in progress. I'd like to finish these before I start any new paintings, but that remains to be seen:) Here are three little watercolors I [...]
A percentage of all my ceramic sales is donated to charitable organizations. It’s important for me to give back to my community, and I do so by volunteering my time and money in my personal life, and by donating a percentage of all sales in my Rachel as Artist life. In 2019, 5% of everything [...]
For What Binds Us by Jane Hirshfield There are names for what binds us:strong forces, weak forces.Look around, you can see them:the skin that forms in a half-empty cup,nails rusting into the places they join,joints dovetailed on their own weight.The way things stay so solidlywherever they’ve been set down—and gravity, scientists say, is weak.And see [...]
I recently finished reading A Generous Vision: The Creative Life of Elaine de Kooning, written by Cathy Curtis. This author has written two other books, also about female painters - Nell Blaine and Grace Hartigan. A Generous Vision is a biography about Elaine de Kooning, born in 1918, an abstract expressionist painter who was married [...]
The Consent by Howard Nemerov Late in November, on a single nightNot even near to freezing, the ginkgo treesThat stand along the walk drop all their leavesIn one consent, and neither to rain nor to windBut as though to time alone: the golden and greenLeaves litter the lawn today, that yesterdayHad spread aloft their fluttering [...]
I visited the Natural Path Sanctuary last week to view their current outdoor art exhibit, titled "Earth Dance 2019." This is the fourth year that area artists have created installations in the woods, using only materials that can safely decompose back into the land. I saw the 2017 exhibit and wrote about it in this [...]
This month I celebrate 5 years of this blog! I previously wrote a 4-year review, a 3-year review, and an 18-month review. Reflecting on five years, I'm happy to report that I've got the habits of art and yoga and blogging firmly planted into my life. This year I challenged myself to 100 days of self portraits, [...]
I've got two art events in Madison this month. The first is tomorrow - Friday, October 4th, for the fall Madison Gallery Night. You can find several of my ceramic pieces at Midwest Clay Project, 2040 Atwood Avenue, from 5-9pm. I'll be working the event from 7-9, so stop by and say hi if you're [...]
Here's a process post about a recent self portrait. I started with a 14x17 inch piece of 98 pound Canson XL mix media paper. With a pencil, I drew a blind contour self portrait, then went over the pencil lines with a black china marker. Using oil pastel, I added color. And then I added [...]
