Vacation: Days Two & Three

My first class in the Symposium this week is “Wood Engraving”. We’ve been having a grand old time with our teacher. He is, quite frankly, a bit of a flake. But he’s also a genius and a brilliant artist. He just doesn’t have a lesson plan, or any formal training in teaching. This would normally drive me bonkers. But right now, it’s wonderful. It’s like we have a three day guided open studio. We can do whatever we want with our pieces, learn by trying things (and sometimes screwing things up), play around, yet still have a knowledgeable teacher at our beck-and-call. It’s exactly what I needed.

G, our teacher, taught us the basics (these are the tools, this is how I hold them, carve bits out of the block, be sure to go in reverse, etc.), then let us go. He’s working on a piece right now, too, so we can always stop and watch him work as a model. Plus, every now and then he’ll say “Oh, that’s something I was going to show you,” run over to his cart full of books and pull out some book or print for us to look at. He knows so much about this stuff, and he’s completely self-taught. I’m fully in awe.

So, here’s my latest proof of the first block I’ve ever cut. Not bad for an amateur, huh?
I’m working on another knotwork block right now, a funky Leora-ish version of the tai chi symbol (yin-yang). I’m not sure if I’ll get it done but, here’s hoping. I’m also playing around with a tiny block with my future last initials (I’ll let you figure that one out) superimposed over a double spiral design. It’s about one half inch by one inch.

Only one thing is keeping me from enjoying this more… the fact that my hands and wrist really don’t like engraving for more than a couple of hours a day. I’m wearing my wrist brace right now, to help my hand/wrist calm down enough to carve more tomorrow. Fortunately, tomorrow we’ll be spending a good portion of the day printing editions of our blocks. And hey, G says that he only spends two or three hours a day carving on average, so I’m not far off m’self.