Pictures from the Surface Workshop

Some pictures from my bookbinding adventures in Bakersfield:


Intense counting.


Intense overalls.


Intense drilling.


Happy ones.


The good ladies of Surface Gallery, whom I am very glad to know. Oh yeah, they took these photos.

Off to Seattle in the morning!

Busy and Travel-y.

photo courtesy of the lovely and talented liz sherwyn

July? What? What happened to June? Where am I?

Here are some stories:

Last Thursday I drove up to Visalia as a chaperone to the awesome young ladies of Bethel 43, Los Angeles, Job's Daughters International. What's this? What is Michelle talking about? Job's Daughters is a youth organization for girls age 10-20, affiliated with the Masonic Fraternity. I was involved when I was little tiny Michelle, (California Bethel 244 and Kentucky Bethel 9) and am now delighted to be an adult volunteer. It was an exhausting and HOT couple of days in Visalia. This was California's state-wide convention or "Grand Bethel." Imagine hundreds of girls in fancy dresses singing "don't stop believin'" a cappella. Noisy charm bracelets and lots of stuffed animals waving in the air. Yeah, its pretty much awesome.

So I left Visalia Saturday morning and headed south to Bakersfield, which I'm fairly sure was hotter than Visalia. I taught a two-day bookbinding workshop at Surface Gallery, where I had an exhibition in March. Besides the bookbinding, I spent time with some really great people. There are really really great people in Bakersfield, and I'll have words with any person who says otherwise. I slept on a couch "like a cloud", there was badminton and scrabble, good art, good tea, good honey, good wine, a good dog, birthday cake.

I love Bakersfield.

Now I'm home, and I'm in preparation mode for my next adventure, which is another bookbinding workshop I'm teaching...soon. This time in Washington at the Kirkland Art Center. I get to see my ol' WVU pal Myra Kaha, and this will be my first visit to Washington state. I'm excited.

So the next few days I'll be measuring, cutting, tearing, counting, counting again....

Happy July, everyone-everywhere, all over the place.

To have everything in one place.

I'm somewhere between there...and there. I'm on my way home. But I'm also somewhere that's sort of home, but I've never lived here.

It's complicated! Complicated and boring.

Now that I am living in a better place, and I finally have room for a bed AND a couch, I have taken on the frighteningly complex task of organizing my belongings, and herding it all into one state. I've been living in California for almost two years, but I'm finally actually moving there.

The past week or so I have sold, given away, and thrown away A LOT of stuff. And it feels great.

It's been like time traveling too, and let me tell you: time traveling is exhausting. In one afternoon sorting through elementary school awards, sticky ancient barbie dolls, crazy thirteen-year-old-girl notes, high school marching band memorabilia, the remnants of an obsessive scale model of my thesis exhibition, EVERY SINGLE LIFE DRAWING I EVER MADE IN COLLEGE (so it seems...) and of course, my door knob collection.

Oh, and late nights I have been re-reading my old journals. Egads, am I ever interesting. I've kept a journal pretty steadily since about 1999. My favorite snippet I've found is from 2001, when I gave myself permission to change my mind.

yawn.

Oh...and of course for someone who's getting rid of everything, I still have an awful lot of stuff. Of course there are always those weird art supplies that I may do something with someday, and those things I might try selling on ebay....and dried up flowers that had some particular significance that I've decided to forget, but can't let go of yet.

yawn.

So, I'm on the road, and sorting through piles. In other words....

I'm happy.

acacia trees, books, and boxes.

This photo is years old. I am still without a digital camera, which is a bummer. The other day I bought disposable cameras for the first time in years.

I'm packing for my move, which has snuck up on me.

of course.

Also sneaking up is the end of the semester at CSUN, so I've got lots of grading to do. I am really bad about letting it pile up. Literally.

This week we're binding books in my printmaking class. It has been super fun. Well, I'm having fun, anyway. And I get the feeling that my students think I'm funny, which I find to be one of the most encouraging things possible as a professor.

Or as a friend, or whatever. I really like it when people think I'm funny.

So anyway, about the trees:

There are these scruffy yellow trees in bloom this time of year in southern california. About a year ago a good friend hypothesised (rather dismally) that the yellow trees we kept seeing all had some fungus and were dying. I am so pleased to have identified these as Acacia trees; I've been counting them on my drive to work the past week or so.

And on a sort-of related note, gum arabic, (which we printmakers use in lithography) is a secretion of the acacia tree.

So you see? Everything works out.



Wikipedia knows all about Acacia trees.

next right now.

I put together another Etsy treasury this weekend. Check it out here before it goes away!



This has been a good weekend. I'm working on packing, and getting rid of a lot of stuff. I move in two weeks! So excited about my new place. I've needed this change.

I've finished a few little pieces this weekend, and if my scanner is cooperative, I may post some things tonight in my store.

Today was hot as blazes in LA. My solution is frozen grapes. And a lot of sparkling water.

Treasury.

I just love this goofy moon print by wonderthunder. I'm thinking I may need it in my new apartment.

I included it in an etsy treasury, along with a lot of other good stuff by good people. It will only be active for a few more hours, so check it out here.



Who has the michelle moode seal of approval?

miniaturerhino
libellus
wonderthunder
pistachiopress
leemeszaros
fadefade
kelleystreetvintage
abeautifulparty
skinnylaminx
lizbitshandmade
corid
mimidoodles

One of my faithful readers, (my mom, to name names) asked me about the black and white image in my last post. It's an photo from the 1920's of my neighborhood, looking east at Los Feliz Blvd.

Have a good weekend, friends.

The Happy Ones.

So, I've been on spring break from CSUN this week, which has been a pretty successfully balanced time of rest and productivity. Okay, maybe a little more rest than productivity...

I've also had lots of good news this week.

The "calculations and waiting" in my last post refer directly to my apartment-hunt. I've lived in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles for almost two years (well, come august), and I've been in my current apartment for over a year. I like where I am, and after a brief investigation into moving more drastically out of my neighborhood, I decided I'd rather stay put for now. I know these streets, I like walking to places around here, I like driving up to the observatory as needed, and I like having a familiarity with the check-out folks at my market.

But dang it, I need more space! My little studio apartment has been good to me, but in recent months I have felt more and more crazy because of the stiflingly small space. And street-parking. So I've been looking at apartments for a while now, and it really helped me clarify what I want in a place to live.

Geeze, this is wordy.

To sum up, I am moving May first into a place that I am very, very excited about. Besides having room for a couch AND a bed, it also has a petite dining room, hard-wood floors, a GARAGE, a telephone niche, and all sorts of 1930's detail that makes Michelle a bit giddy. It's the one-bedroom apartment that feels like a home, and it's the same price as one I looked at that was in a dark building with EIGHTY units. Bizarre.

Okay, so that's the big news. Let me tell you about my summer plans.

In July I'm planning on making a short trip up to Seattle, (never been there) to stay with my friend (from WVU) Myra. I'll be teaching a two-day bookbinding workshop at the Kirkland Arts Center, where Myra is the educational director.

In late July/early August, I will be at Penland (as I mentioned last post) for Arthur Hash's metals workshop. So excited to play with metal again. It's been a while!

Afterwards, I'll be hanging around P-land for a few more days to do my thing at the fancy-pants auction, and I hope I can persuade these girls to join me:



After THAT, I'll be making my way to Atlanta, Georgia (not sure I've ever been there, either...) for a residency at the Art House. I'll be making things and having a show. I'm excited.

I'm planning on posting more work for sale in my shop today. Not all of it is brand new....as I begin organizing/packing for the move, I've been finding pieces that I've forgotten about, (most have been in shows and have been resting in frames in a closet) and I'd like to find good homes for them. I do not make art to hoard it all in boxes and closets.