John Payton Project

So - while chatting on line with my wife she mentioned that my cousins' band was gong to be playing at the Dinosaur BBQ that same night. Later I end up finding out that my other cousin was going to be there too. So I break down and tell my wife that I would meet her there after work as long as I could draw them. I get there and end up waiting till 10pm before they start playing. It was loud, and as soon as they started the floor was over crowded with people singing with them and dancing. My cousin John was thumping away on the drums and bobbing his head like a true head banger. Unfortunatly, as soon as I tried to draw him the crowds filled in around him and I had to draw him in bits a drabs. As soon as a space opened up, up front, Juli and I ran up there and I drew the other members of the band. At 11 we had to leave to catch the last bus home. Juli ran up to John to hug and kiss him goodbye. That made him have to introduce us as his cousin and my wife to all the stuned people. The lead singer then had to pipe up with "If you see a mountain walk through the room it's most likely a Payton." That made everyone laugh. What made me laugh, though, was watching My cousin George(whose bigger than me) dancing without a care in the world. It was a fun night and worth loosing 3 hrs. of sleep.

Today was the first meeting of the Rochester Sketchers. We met across the street from the Eastman theater. Our group organizer did not realize until the day before that it was the beggining of the international Jazz Fest. Band after band on stage playing music. We got there before the days program started. A lot of time was spent introducing each other to each other but soon we got into what we came for - draw. I felt comfortable but poor Juli was a bit bored until one of her friends from her writing group showed up and they got to talking and then the music started. That is when the crowds flooded in. I thought that would give me plenty to draw but suddenly the people I tried to draw were blocked by others but I just shrugged and moved on to others. Juli and I were the last to leave. We went to our church for a special meeting of Danny Cahill. The winner of season 8's season of the Biggest Loser. He now goes around country as a motivational speaker. It was a good day over all-weather-music-drawing. .

This past weekend I got a lot walking. On saturday I walked down to our Rite Aid to pick up a perscription for my wife Juli. This took me 35 min. to get there. I got in some sketching inside the Burger King while there but from there I walked down to the Port of Rochester. That took another hour to get the spot you see above. It was an overlook set up for turists. What struck me was a painting on display there by Christopher Blossom. An artist that was famous for his nauticle paintings from the early 19th century. This painting was a veiw of the port from that very same spot done around 1830. The light house, railroad station, tracks and road are in the same spots today. So I had to draw the same spot as it is today. On tuesday I went in for my teeth cleaning. The last time I had them cleaned was about 3 yrs ago. So it took a lot of work. I was clenching my hands together to keep from flinching. I studied what I was seeing - sitting in that chair so I did not have think about what she was doing to my gums. When she was done I went next door and sketched the next image from memory. She used a sonic water pick for this session and it left me soaked. But I still have to go back in 2 weeks for the rest of the work.