ROAD TRIP - San Francisco

First stop, Shingle Springs to visit friends who were married the day before we were back in 1988.  And then onto gorgeous San Francisco.  No matter how many times we go there, it is always so pretty with views everywhere you look of travel icons: Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Fisherman's Wharf, Coit Tower, the Presidio, the Marina District, Chinatown.  Classic and still alive and well.  Sigh.  No place like it.  We checked in and walked down to the wharf where we popped into the tiny Aquarium by the Bay.  There we discovered huge jellyfish, sea nettles actually which blew me away.   So mesmerizing.  Steve's daughter Barbara picked us up later and took us to their new place for a homecooked dinner by her husband Dan.  Steve's son Chris met us there.  I have to say, there is no better music to our ears than listening to the kids laugh.  We realized that our 30 and 35 year old kids are really happy and our hearts left filled with love.  They are smart and funny; connected to the earth and good international citizens of the world. 

Barbara took the next day off to show us some special places:  the tide pools in southern SF where we peered into the rocks to discover sea treasures such as anemones, and hermit crabs while the occasional seal would exit the water to lay on beach a little beyond our tide pools.

We also went to Chinatown for a quickie shopping sojourn where Barbara pointed out the graffiti of a very famous graffiti artist whose work is so valued they put a plexi plate over it to protect it.   Murals and graffiti art are everywhere and it really makes the city feel more full of life.  And beautiful. 

Steve and I had looked at all the art offerings in the city and decided we wanted to go to the Legion of Honor for a special exhibition "Impressionists Paris".  It was mostly works on paper with some paintings and sculpture,  all Paris based work by the Impressionists and included some wonderful prints which I was so happy to see.  We had never been to the Legion of Honor and since my sister had recently been in Paris and was still in France, it was a way to share in the experience a little. 
From there we stopped at the sweetest little pet cemetary in the Presidio.  It had been a beautiful little space but freeway construction which was going on all around it and over it, had necessitated cutting down some huge trees on the property.  But the little cemetary will remain, with its residents from World War II through the present.  As I walked around I became overwhelmed by the loss and the headstones loving comments, I just cried all the way through.
Our last night in the City, the kids took us to a Vietnamese restaurant because Steve wanted crab for dinner.  We had two crabs and tons of other delicious goodies.  I will always trust the kids' recommendations for eating in SF.  It was fabulous.  We left San Francisco wanting to do and see more.  That's the best thing about it.  Leaving your heart there everytime.  We can't wait to go back.

ROAD TRIP - More from Reno

NADA DADA MOTEL

One of the reasons we took this road trip was to see the Nada Dada Motel event where artists rented out rooms in the old downtown motels and turned the rooms into galleries for the weekend.  The Printmakers' Conspiracy, a group or Reno printmakers put together a print exchange called Naughty, Taboo, Just Plain Wrong and invited me to participate.  I learned that it would be exhibited during the Nada Dada event and thus we decided to go.  Plus, Steve's sister and her husband lived next door in Sparks and it would be nice to visit them.  Given the revised schedule to include 2 full days giving the Linocut workshop at Oxbow Press, we were able to pop in a few of the motel rooms Friday afternoon and found some fun and interesting offerings.  Our favorite was a room dedicated to old robots, called Skid Robot - where old robots go live out their last days.

FAMILY MATTERS

The weather was perfect, 80 and sunny with cool nights and the vista from Linda and Rod's home was beautiful.  It was especially nice to meet Daisy, their new dog.  A rescue, part lab, part shepherd, she was skittish and anxious at first but quickly learned we were dog people and let us be her new best friends. 
The hospitality shown was generous and warm and we were surprised and lucky to be there when Steve's grand niece from Boise came in for a visit the day before we left.  Nice to recharge the family connections.

ROADTRIP - The Workshop

Saturday and Sunday, June 19 and 20, I taught a Reduction Linocut Workshop at Oxbow Press in Reno, NV.  It felt like a challenge to try to accomplish a multi-color reduction print in just two days but I practiced with the fish and leafy sea dragon prints to see if I could print more than one color in a day.  With some success under my belt, and an easy registration system, off to Reno I went.  It was the most fun I have had in a long time.  There were 10 students, almost all printmakers but none well versed in reduction lino.  Everyone brought images to review and discuss the pros and cons of using for reduction linocut.  We used Gomuban, a product widely used in Japan, described as somewhere between ez cut and linoleum.  It is very easy to carve and will hold fine lines.  With the short time period, it made for a quicker cutting time.  The majority of the first day was preparation for printing, altho at the end of Day One, Miles was ready go and printed his first color.  On Day Two with two available presses, everyone printed.  And printed.  On one press, we could print 4 at a time.  So there was no waiting.  The artists decided to pull editions of 20.  Candace Nicol, director/founder/goddess of Oxbow generously allowed workshop participants time to come back to complete their prints.  Rossitza had printed 3 colors by the end of day 2.  Everyone spontaneously decided to do a print exchange with each other and come together in celebration with final prints at a party in August.  So the community of printmakers in Reno is alive and strong.  Miles Becker was the first to finish his print and he sent me a jpg of it which he has allowed me to share with you.  It is titled The Falcon.  I couldn't be more proud of such a fine first print.

I realize I may have gone on too much about this workshop, but it was my first solo teaching experience and it was huge for me.  It was such a good experience, I think I will keep on this path.  Thanks to the students in Reno and Candace and Vicki at Oxbow Press for throwing a fun and organized workshop in the middle of a major art event weekend.

ROADTRIP - The Beginning

My plan to blog enroute has failed.  I have returned home, and now I hope to make up for it.  My ROADTRIP took me from Phoenix to Vegas, to Reno to Shingle Springs CA to San Francisco to Riverside and home.

The trip started out about art but seeing family became the priceless part.

At the last minute Steve had to stay for more Census training so Marlys volunteered to be my road companion on the long drive to Reno.  Lucky for us, we got to spend a morning in Reno with Candace Nicol, the heart of Oxbow Press, a 2700 square foot haven for press-less printmakers.  Wanting to do something similar in Phoenix, we soaked up all the knowledge Candace shared about how Oxbow works, in some fine detail.  She is generous and open and just about the nicest person I have ever met.  She and her hearty crew (an impressive number of enthusiasts - is it the water in Reno???) turned an industrial looking metal building space into a fabulous creative zone...I could go on and on but you should just check out their website.

Here are some photos showing their space - the press room has two presses and a large print rack; the inking station room has tons of glass topped counter space and the work room was the classroom setup for my workshop.  More on that in the next installment.

PRANCER

Here are the 6th and final colors.  It is a leafy sea dragon I have named Prancer.  Overall I loved the process.  I used gomuban from McClain's instead of linoleum.  It is much easier to cut and does hold a fine line.  It only comes in one size so working larger than 11.75 x 15.75 wouldn't work.  But it is still a nice size for most of my typical prints.  I am already contemplating my next print...

Fish Out of Water

It took 3 days for that orange ink to dry.  I am getting excited to see the final version - just two colors left.  I will post both of them together probably to drag out the last reveal.  I only have 3 days left before a trip to Reno and SF so it might not get finished until the end of the month.

If you see these blogposts from Facebook, my last post took 3 days to get posted to Facebook.  What's up with that???


TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Really you should quit reading now.  It has been so frustrating and I don't want to be one of those who rant...BUT - the bottom line was that Microsoft blamed HP and HP blamed Microsoft so we hired Data Doctors who have taken my laptop and external hard drive away to clean them up and reload everything.  It will be $400 at least. I can't believe how many times in one day I have wanted something that was on that computer.  BTW the Data Doctor rep blamed AVG, our security program.  We are switching to Webroot Antivirus.  Enough said.

Orange You Glad to See Me

(My title pays homage to OPI Nail Colors.) It was a tough cutting day today, time consuming.  Found a couple errors.  Will probably be more but I might get lucky.  The aqua ink was still a little tacky but I was anxious to put down another color after all that cutting.  It may not look like much, but there is a lot to line up...it will make more sense at the end.
I mixed my color a bit differently from yesterday's four test strips.  I used orange, a little Miracle Gel and a bit of burnt umber.  All the inks I have used on this print have been oil-based relief ink from Daniel Smith.
The next cut will be easier, the sea horse body.  But I need to wait till the ink dries; even with cobalt drier it will probably take a couple days.  See you then!