Thimble

The first-of-six printmaking ^ classes, last night. Ten students. It was SO MUCH NICER being in a live class than learning from youTube or a book.
It's interesting to be with people--like, one woman had potato-printed her shorts with bleach instead of ink; another works for a private collector of prints; a young man is an opera singer.

And a chatty group, which I like. The topic of how we visualize things came up--in pictures (like Temple Grandin, I said)? In words?
One woman said that when she'd heard Beverly Sills sing live, she saw colors--the only time that happened to her.

The teacher is a nice Minnesotan girl (very young), and helpful. Her own prints are highly detailed and controlled, but she was encouraging of all styles:
"Printmaking is democratic--it's cheap, you can do it at home, you can use anything--you don't need a press--you can print with a wooden spoon or run it over with your car!"

For starters, we carved & printed little lino blocks.
Mine, below, is a thimble--a give-away from radio station WCCO at the 1939 State Fair. I found it at a thrift store.
My thimble looks like a parmesan-cheese shaker . . . or a nuclear power stack?
I don't care--I loved making it. Will try, try again.

(1939...! And we think we've got problems. (We do, though.)

KG and I went out for a beer after, at 9 pm. I'm usually in bed by then, so I recorded it:
Look, I can go out in the world at night with the others.

Those years around the murder of George Floyd, and Covid, were so thick and heavy... I slept a lot. I'm grateful to feel lighter and brighter. For however long that lasts, I'm going to relish it.

Next up for class, we carve a 9" x 12" woodblock, which the teacher sent home with us.
I was a little disappointed: the block--Japanese shina plywood--is "relatively featureless ", fine-grained, very smooth.
I was picturing a hunk of driftwood or something from the forest.

I could go find such a thing for myself, if I want. Wilderness printmaking. Got texture? Roll a brayer over it!
Funny I'd think I want that, when I chose such a finicky thing as a thimble to carve.  But I am wanting to try printing all sort of things.
_______________________

I'm going to volunteer at the thrift store today, after taking the week after the Fourth of July off. I'd thought I'd want to work at the store every day this summer, but in fact I find I want to putz around at home, doing my projects. I'm really glad the schools didn't need me to work summer school.

It makes a huge, good difference that Marz is staying here---she's out and about a lot, but I'm not alone for 48-hour stretches, and anyway, she is a delight to me.

(It also makes more difference than I thought that I'm not paid at the thrift store. How much time do I want to give away for free? Less than I expected.)

Marz has registered for classes, so it looks like she will be moving to Duluth toward the end of August for college. (She'd been unsure.)
I sure hope she gets good teachers... She's chosen some super interesting classes, including Intro to Journalism, and The Bible in History & Art.
(I told her she could show-and-tell the girlettes' Judith & Holofernes, but she said NO DOLLS IN COLLEGE.)

At any rate, it's brilliant that this State has made our colleges' tuition free (for people whose family income is under $80k). Sharpen your tools!