Here is my personal summary which contains links to previously published posts on a specific class, photo gallery or topic. I made a point to come up north to New Hampshire the day before the check-in time to allow myself to become acclimated to the area and its weather, to see a personal friend beforehand, and to create a more receptive mindset for the creative environment. Two posts provided an account of what I did before I arrived at Rockywold-Deephaven Camps for three days of workshops:
1. September 15:
Driving up to New Hampshire.
2. September 16:
Road trip in New Hampshire.
After I finished the tour of the last stop, I drove up north and entered into the RDC's camp entrance and the rest of the "checking in" story is told in this post ("
Checking in at the SAW") . The photo below showed the difference between the roadways and pathways. The road is hard dirt packed down, and the pathway is covered with pine needles which provided cushion for our feet. A good number of chipmunks were scurrying across the paths as if they knew that the colder weather was coming very soon and they have to get ready in a hurry. It was funny to see them running like crazy, and I often wondered if I am like them - always in a hurry to get anything done.
3. September 17: After a night of wonderful deep sleep and strange dreams, I got up early in the morning, took a hot shower, and got myself dressed for the first day of workshops. On the way to Rockywold dining hall, I saw Linda walking with a friend, and then she stopped me to give me a gift.
I accepted the unexpected gift, carried it with me on the way to the dining hall, and found a chair to sit down near its entrance. I unwrapped, and I was very surprised to see it only because I have seen the similar blocks twice before - four weeks ago in central California. I asked Linda as to why she gave me this gift, and she told me that she saw the collection in my blog, and thought I might appreciate this one. Of course, I did appreciate it a LOT more only because it was given thoughtfully to me as a gift, and because the pattern is very interesting and beautiful. Thank you so very much, Linda for this wonderful piece!
After breakfast, I went on to do my own thing in the morning, and then went to Jen Lee's afternoon class on story weaving as told in this post:
SAW - First Day - Sept 17 2009. I walked around a bit after the class, and I was puzzled by the letters made with tapes. I kept on thinking that someone on the RDC staff died, and the name of the deceased was memorialized. After a couple of days, it finally dawned on me that it was a famous movie star who died couple of days before. Oh duh! Anyway, a movie was shown at the Playhouse at night - "Who Does She Think She Is?" - the same one that was shown last spring. I did not see it last spring, but this time I did and it was a very good movie.
After the movie was over, I went back to my room for another night of sleep in a cold room, but I was kept very warm with the down-filled cover.
4. September 18: I was a bit worried about the weather as I knew that I would be outside the whole day for Christopher Frost's Sticks and Stones class as covered in this post, "
SAW - Second Day - Sept 18 2009". The day turned out to be much better than I expected, and the rain did fall later in the day but not as much as I had feared. After this class, I ate my dinner, went back to Long House, and entered into the living room (below) to look for the cabin journal. I just realized that I'm a story hunter - always looking for stories everywhere and anywhere including my own.
I took the journal with me to the porch, and sat down to skim through it.
Most campers wrote stories or list names of their family members, and it is a very rare occurrence when one or more drawings are made in the journal.
I looked at the drawing, and compared it to the actual scene - I think the artist did a good job.
Instead of going to the show at the playhouse, I went to bed as working outside all day on four projects wore me out completely.
5. Another night of good sleep, and then woke up early again on the third day (September 19). Breakfast on this day was later than usual, and I got a chance to walk back to the area where the temporary earthworks were created. Inspired by the presence of the artwork created on the previous day, I noticed other people have attempted to create new artworks. I went back to the dining hall for breakfast and went to Sugar House for Christopher Frost's Mold Making class - the photos from this class can be seen in this post, "
SAW - Third Day - Sept 19, 2009". After this class, I went to Deephaven Dining Hall to help with the setting up for the Squam Art Fair. After I helped with taking down the dividing walls between temporary class areas, I went back to Long House for potluck supper, ate it, and then returned to the dining hall to help some vendors with the carrying and setting up. At 7:30 pm, the show was opened to the public, and I walked around and purchased several items from different vendors: a packet containing a journal book, a photo, and a book of poems from Jen Lee; a book of photographs taken by Stefanie Renee; a set of buttons from Kelly Barton, and a clear plastic box of paper goodies and ephemera from a vendor whose name I had forgotten (unintentionally).
With a flashlight, I walked back to the Sugar House to pick up my castings - it was pretty dark. I walked to my car, put them in the trunk, and then back to the room to pack up for the next day's departure. After I was done with everything, I fell asleep quickly and soundly.
6. The last day - September 20 - I walked to my car, brought it closer to my room, and moved all of the stuff out of the room and into the trunk. I was all set for the departure right after breakfast. But I wanted to walk around the campgrounds once more before breakfast.
I saw a shadow of myself, and I thought that this is how I feel - being alone most of the time except in classes and at gatherings. I went to the lakeshore, and saw a big rock in the water. I said to myself, "I'm nothing more than a rock that happened to be stuck in one place and not making a difference at all in this world." But the Creator heard what I said, and directed me to see the ripples from the rocks. I saw that these waves were hitting the rocks, and the presence of the rocks were creating a ripple effect. "Oh I see, even though I am not moving, I still can create the ripples," I thought to myself.
With that thought in mind, I walked around, revisiting the sites where the students from Chris' Sticks and Stones class created the artworks. I see that the students (including me) have inspired other people outside the class to do the same thing, and I can see the "ripple effect".
I walked back to the dining hall, and near its entrance were several blocks of ice that were used as "light posts". Look how cool that block of ice is -
I went inside for breakfast, and Elizabeth, the SAW director, joined me for a brief conversation. Linda came over with a box of thank you tags for Elizabeth, and of course, she was tinkled pink and overwhelmed by a show of gratitude by the SAW attendees.
It was all over so quickly. I just could not believe how fast it went - I am not sorry that it was all over, but instead I am glad that it happened. I had to leave too soon to go back to my friend's house to pick up several things and also to go to an orchard for apple pickings.
I wished I could stay longer, but I felt that I had to head back home in a hurry and resume my role as a caregiver. On the way home, as I was going through Keene, NH, I saw this sign. Oh my goodness, I hope it's not a bad omen for me.
I stopped at the Colony Mill Marketplace to visit the Toadstool Bookstore once again, and to pick up my lunch. It was delicious - ham, apples and cheddar cheese on flatbread with honey-dijon mustard dressing. I'm sure you can see from this photo that I was not a starving artist at this moment. But I certainly hope that I won't become one in the future, tho.
As I was driving, I was thinking about the whole experience, the things I learned, and the photos that I took. Here are three mini-galleries that I created as part of my personal photography project.
Mini-Gallery #1 -
Beauty on the GroundMini-Gallery #2 -
FungiMini-Gallery #3 -
SignsOh, I did not show you the photos of the meals in any of my previous posts. I did not want to make anyone of you hungry, but if you want to see what I have eaten at the camps. Be forewarned that sudden hunger pangs might strike you when you view this extra bonus gallery exhibition entitled, "
Food, Glorious Food".
Of all of the pictures that I have taken, my favorite one is shown below. Without going into further details, this photo describes exactly what was going inside of me while I was at the retreat, and the hope that I cling onto for my own future. I had to keep reminding myself that I have been given enough skills, talents and resources needed to handle any future challenges.
But I found that the photo below which was taken near the camp entrance to be a very interesting one.
I believe that it best describes the overall atmosphere at the camp. I came home with nothing but good memories in my heart.
I ordered these three rolls of parcel tape from Emmi's website:http://www.emmi.co.uk/. They're not cheap, but I liked the design of the envelope images - I will be using them for my mail art projects.
I think I need to be outside more often - it's cheaper than buying the vitamin supplements.
With kind permission from Pam, I would like to give you a tour of her wonderful studio where I created my books last week. Come with me and let's get started! As we walk into this studio, the first thing we see is a collection of fabric covered journals and a stack of books that Pam authored. Under the table are two framed journal pages by Teesha Moore.
Moving a couple of feet into the room and on the left wall is a collection of Pam's handmade books where the students can view and select their own optional projects.
As we go around the corner from the A-frame bookshelves, we can see that it's a large studio. We'll start with the left wall, moving toward the back wall, and then the right wall.
On your left is the first workspace and on top of it are a collection of beads, and several sewing notions. On the right of the workspace is a collection of fat quarters - most of them are used as bookcloths.
Moving forward, and here's another workspace where I worked all last week on my books. I like the height of the desk as it allows me to work on my books standing up. On the right of this desk is a group of cloth-covered bricks that were used as weights to press down the glued paper, boards, or even the books.
And moving forward, that's where most of the decorative paper are stored. And on top of that furniture are a collection of acrylic paints, brushes, pens, and couple of others.
I love this caddy and that acrylic paint bottle holder...
And on the right are many sets of paper punches and other stuff behind it.
Turning to the back wall, we can see that there's another workspace. It was often used for cutting up large pieces of fabric, paper, matboard, or binder's board. Notice that there are two cabinets below the work surface.
Beyond the large workspace are the stacks of paper, both cover and text, that are used to create signatures. Also stored on these metal shelves are scrapbook paper and binder's boards.
And facing the right wall are an assortment of equipments, beads, buttons, books, and storage boxes.
And there's another workspace - I wish I have that many workspace in my place! Anyway, that's where many small things, threads and stamps are stored.
Further down the right wall - that's where many rubber stamps, cords, etc. are kept. Oh these books on another workspace - they were created by one of the students.
See that corner? All of the drawers are storing nothing but rubber stamps -I love how the black matboards were cut and used to line the pull-out metal drawers. Yes, they are labeled - on the top of each metal drawers.
And, this is Pam's main workspace. It is also where she does her teaching and demostrations.
On the back wall of the main workspace is a collection of storage drawers - notice how creatively Pam used the decorative papers on the surfaces and stenciled the letters or numbers on them.
Facing the back wall and on the right side is where the stamp ink pads, markers, glue, double stick tapes are placed.
On this wall above the markers are two figures from Coffee Break Designs. The one left figure is actually Keith LoBue!
Around the corner and on the wall is an assortment of "oversize" rubber stamps. Below the stamps are the small framed journal pages by Teesha Moore. The white drawers hold many little things like brads, eyelets, and what-nots.
Going beyond the stamps, here's the desk and the refreshment area.
On the left side of the desk are the baskets where many mini-books are stored, but look at that ampersand, and my eyes were drooling over it. Pam's going to try to find it for me and I hope she will be able to.
And on the right side of the desk is a very nice coffeemaker and a selection of different coffee & tea.
Turning to the right and you can see an impressive library!
Turning right again, and you see that very nice refreshment table to keep us well-fed during the long days and nights of making books.
Beyond the refreshment area and the sofa is a room where one can take a break from the projects.
Isn't her studio incredible? And it was a great pleasure to give you a tour - thank you for visiting!
From looking at the above signs, I did get the feeling of being warned, informed, told what to do or not to do every single minute!
Here is my personal summary which contains links to previously published posts on a specific class, photo gallery or topic. I made a point to come up north to New Hampshire the day before the check-in time to allow myself to become acclimated to the area and its weather, to see a personal friend beforehand, and to create a more receptive mindset for the creative environment. Two posts provided an account of what I did before I arrived at Rockywold-Deephaven Camps for three days of workshops:
3. September 17: After a night of wonderful deep sleep and strange dreams, I got up early in the morning, took a hot shower, and got myself dressed for the first day of workshops. On the way to Rockywold dining hall, I saw Linda walking with a friend, and then she stopped me to give me a gift.
I accepted the unexpected gift, carried it with me on the way to the dining hall, and found a chair to sit down near its entrance. I unwrapped, and I was very surprised to see it only because I have seen the similar blocks twice before - four weeks ago in central California. I asked Linda as to why she gave me this gift, and she told me that she saw the collection in my blog, and thought I might appreciate this one. Of course, I did appreciate it a LOT more only because it was given thoughtfully to me as a gift, and because the pattern is very interesting and beautiful. Thank you so very much, Linda for this wonderful piece!
After breakfast, I went on to do my own thing in the morning, and then went to Jen Lee's afternoon class on story weaving as told in this post: SAW - First Day - Sept 17 2009. I walked around a bit after the class, and I was puzzled by the letters made with tapes. I kept on thinking that someone on the RDC staff died, and the name of the deceased was memorialized. After a couple of days, it finally dawned on me that it was a famous movie star who died couple of days before. Oh duh! Anyway, a movie was shown at the Playhouse at night - "Who Does She Think She Is?" - the same one that was shown last spring. I did not see it last spring, but this time I did and it was a very good movie.
After the movie was over, I went back to my room for another night of sleep in a cold room, but I was kept very warm with the down-filled cover.
I took the journal with me to the porch, and sat down to skim through it.
Most campers wrote stories or list names of their family members, and it is a very rare occurrence when one or more drawings are made in the journal.
I looked at the drawing, and compared it to the actual scene - I think the artist did a good job.
Instead of going to the show at the playhouse, I went to bed as working outside all day on four projects wore me out completely.
With a flashlight, I walked back to the Sugar House to pick up my castings - it was pretty dark. I walked to my car, put them in the trunk, and then back to the room to pack up for the next day's departure. After I was done with everything, I fell asleep quickly and soundly.
I saw a shadow of myself, and I thought that this is how I feel - being alone most of the time except in classes and at gatherings. I went to the lakeshore, and saw a big rock in the water. I said to myself, "I'm nothing more than a rock that happened to be stuck in one place and not making a difference at all in this world." But the Creator heard what I said, and directed me to see the ripples from the rocks. I saw that these waves were hitting the rocks, and the presence of the rocks were creating a ripple effect. "Oh I see, even though I am not moving, I still can create the ripples," I thought to myself.
With that thought in mind, I walked around, revisiting the sites where the students from Chris' Sticks and Stones class created the artworks. I see that the students (including me) have inspired other people outside the class to do the same thing, and I can see the "ripple effect".
I walked back to the dining hall, and near its entrance were several blocks of ice that were used as "light posts". Look how cool that block of ice is -
I went inside for breakfast, and Elizabeth, the SAW director, joined me for a brief conversation. Linda came over with a box of thank you tags for Elizabeth, and of course, she was tinkled pink and overwhelmed by a show of gratitude by the SAW attendees.
It was all over so quickly. I just could not believe how fast it went - I am not sorry that it was all over, but instead I am glad that it happened. I had to leave too soon to go back to my friend's house to pick up several things and also to go to an orchard for apple pickings.
I wished I could stay longer, but I felt that I had to head back home in a hurry and resume my role as a caregiver. On the way home, as I was going through Keene, NH, I saw this sign. Oh my goodness, I hope it's not a bad omen for me.
I stopped at the Colony Mill Marketplace to visit the Toadstool Bookstore once again, and to pick up my lunch. It was delicious - ham, apples and cheddar cheese on flatbread with honey-dijon mustard dressing. I'm sure you can see from this photo that I was not a starving artist at this moment. But I certainly hope that I won't become one in the future, tho.
As I was driving, I was thinking about the whole experience, the things I learned, and the photos that I took. Here are three mini-galleries that I created as part of my personal photography project.
But I found that the photo below which was taken near the camp entrance to be a very interesting one.
I believe that it best describes the overall atmosphere at the camp. I came home with nothing but good memories in my heart.
Across the street is a crafts store, but it was not yet open and I promised myself that I would go back before returning to the camp. I went southeast to Moultonboro, and viewed so many interesting architecture along the way.
I went inside and instead of browsing the bargain book tables again, I headed for the art & crafts sections. I picked up three books, and one of them is currently my favorite art book. No, not the guerilla art book but the biography of the artist, Mary Nohl. The paper yacht in the middle of the photo below is really cool - you get a story and description for each sailboat featured, and the folding paper for each boat is waterproof!
I went back to Center Harbor so that I could take the northward road closer to Squam Lake. I encountered this unusual sight below and I asked someone as to what the story behind it is. It has been there for twenty years - it was put up for the winter holidays and has never been taken down since then.
As promised, I went back to Center Sandwich and parked my car in front of the craft shop. By looking at the sign (below) I learned the historic significance of this place for The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen which also has other store locations.
I went inside, and I was blown away by the beautiful interiors and displays of high quality handcrafts and artwork.
It has a wonderful selection of jewelry, furniture, clothing, stationary cards (handmade or printed), home accessories, lightings, toys, prints and paintings - all done by New Hampshire craftspeople. Here's what I bought from this shop - look at that Adirondack style switchplate. I think I must have bitten by an Adirondack bug.
You may be surprised by what I also bought - these gift tags with letters done in wild colors & patterns. I happened to like the concept and instead of just buying one letter, I bought all of the letters that spelled my name. I am not sure what I will do with them yet.
I went back to my room with plenty of time to rest before lunch and afternoon class.
I sat down on the rocking chair in the porch...
and enjoyed the lake view. I was trying to calm myself down as I was a bit trepid about the story weaving class as I did not know what we will be doing there except that we would be crafting our own stories.
After I ate my lunch relatively quick, I headed for the cabin where the afternoon class was being held.
I walked in and realized that this cabin was relatively new - the pine wood is much lighter than most of the other cabins' interiors. The same cabin also has a beautiful view of the lake as seen from its front porch.
I looked for a spot and decided to use a rocking chair just in case if I need to rock when I get nervous.
After I marked my "spot", I walked around to take closer look at the interiors. As a story hunter, I was actually looking for a journal book - every cabin has one that anyone can write in the impressions, observations, or anything.
This cabin's journal is a special and unusual one. It contains a rubbing of what it appeared to me a grave marker. It was about a dog - scroll down further if you have trouble reading the text in the photograph.
Wow, this is some story! I did have a lot of questions and unfortunately, I did not get a chance to start hunting for the details of this event. The class began after I saw this rubbing, and it went very smoothly -the time passed way too quickly. Within three hours, we were give ideas, tools, and techniques for weaving stories.
After I finished my retail therapy at noontime today, I checked the mailbox and found an interesting set of mail. Let me go through them one at a time.
Mail No. 2. A mail art envelope from a friend in Washington! I like this stamp - "Mail your art all over the world". I will have to ask her where she got it...
I opened the envelope, pulled out a paper wallet with a note, and then pulled the note out of it. This is so cool and it is already giving me some really creative ideas for new "mail wallet".
Mail No. 3 -the last one and it's the biggest envelope. Look at the stamps - they must be very new as I have not seen them before.
I pulled a bag out of the envelope, and then a book out of the bag. That's volume #9 of Lines and Shapes - one of my favorite subscription.
I liked the artist series of Lines & Shapes because it contains mostly images and very little text. Each volume is completely different - and is based on a specific theme. It is amazing to see how different the perspectives of artists are in each volume, and I get to see things from their viewpoints.
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