Fun Workshop

I had the sincere pleasure of teaching a group of book artists a few techniques for successful gelatin plate printmaking. I haven't taught an actual class since I retired from teaching mathematics at our local community college and I had to resist giving a quiz at the end of class. These artists didn't need a quiz because their work was just beautiful. Workshop details are on the North Redwoods Book Arts Guild blog.

I managed to get home just in time for our 6.5 magnitude earthquake. I've been through a number of them and this one really shook. We heard things hitting the floor and amazingly, nothing was broken. My sister's house in Eureka was really damaged, they had bookcases fall and crush things—fortunately not people or pets. A lot of her glass canned goods fell and broke; they were unable to clean them up because the water pipe was ruptured under the house. We were able to fill one of our big water containers from our rafting adventures and take it to Eureka to help. The city was mostly dark and people were walking in all directions—were they afraid to be inside or looking for help? I was raised in earthquake country but will never get used to them. This YouTube video may give you some idea of what it was like for people in Eureka:

San Diego via Nebraska via California

So, Michele and Sandy are up to fun and games again and this time we took Hilary with us.  Sensing a need to escape the 36 degree temperatures in Nebraska (to be fair, we've had weeks of 60 degrees),  I flew to San Diego for an art workshop and managed to talk Sandy into driving down from Arcata.  It helps that three of our children live down there.  So, the first day we headed off to the Belmont Amusement Park for a surprise visit with my son, Ian, who works there.  This is our SECOND roller coaster ride (Sandy, Hilary in back, and Michele) on the fabulous, restored, wooden roller coaster.

Ian is one of the mechanical people who perform the maintenance on the rides; he said his job is so tough that when they finish the maintenance they HAVE to ride them for hours to make sure they work correctly.  He also noted that the customer are a much happier bunch than the ones he saw as an EMT in at the emergency room.  This gem of an amusement park is right on the beach and has a fabulous restaurant where you can sit outside and watch people ride the wave machine. 

Sandy is a big fan of giraffes and she did many rounds on the carousel.

We traveled Coronado for dinner where Sandy took this great picture of us.  We had pasta while sitting outside.  I definitely need to revisit this little community. 

Sandy managed to book a room at the fabulous Marriott's right on the harbor.  This is the view of the three swimming pools from our room on the 22nd floor.

I also spent some time visiting Kari in Encinitas where the weather cooperated and I was able to watch her surf.  She tries to surf every day in spite of being stung by unknown creatures and being run over by less experienced surfers.  Next time I go with the big lens and catch her on a wave.

Sandy and I spent all day Saturday and Sunday taking a fabulous workshop by the book artist, Laura Wait.  We joined the San Diego Book Arts guild and had the pleasure of meeting members from that group at the workshop.  Laura uses a lot of stencils and stamps that she has created herself; these are some of them.  They tend to be abstract and geometric but not always. 

She also uses ink washes with any tool available.  Here she is using a bit of binder's board.  The first day of the workshop was spent creating pages for our books using a mixture of wheat paste and acrylic paints.  We created backgrounds covered with our own stenciling and stamps.  We also discovered various ways to incorporate text as image.

The second day was spent constructing the books.  The structure is called a "drum leaf" and is looks almost like the preschool books with the thick pages.  They open flat and are perfect for art work.

Sandy's book is in the front and mine is in the middle.  I think the book in the back was made by Laura.  I managed to finish two books and will definitely use this structure for the artwork I've been thinking of doing.

So, for now, that's it.  I'm very behind in my blog and have to type like crazy to get it posted.  We will be hosting an early Thanksgiving at the cabin for 20 Lambersons!  Let's hope we can all find a place to sit and that the snow holds off a bit longer.