Bookbinding

I wanted to learn more about bookbinding, so I decided to take a Book Binding Class at San Francisco Center for the books. It was hard! I don’t even know what box knots, kettle knots and all those knots are. It seemed like everyone had done a lot of bookbindings before, but me >_<. After Cutting, Poking, Stitching, Pressing, Hammering, and Pasting, I made a nifty rounded back book. Now I'm ready to make tons of sketchbooks! >=D

Peanuts Gallery

The carnivorous plant place happened to be close Charles M. Schulz Gallery. It’s a whimsical little museum that reminds me of the Ghibli museum in Japan. Too bad, they only allowed photos at the entrance. Inside, there were a bunch of comic strips. I think there is a special Schroeder/Lucy/Beethoven Gallery, and I had a lot of fun reading through them. You can see his work space, a lot of vintage Peanuts stuff, and even a wall mural that he drew for his kid. I love the "Vote for Peanuts" artworks. They are so funny. Inside the museum, there was a little lounge area where you can sit and read letters that were sent to Mr. Schulz. I was flipping through the folder of letters that came from the white house, movie stars, other cartoonists, and fans from all over the world. Some of those letters were really touching. I read one about a guy that said he wrote him a letter when he was 12 years old, and Mr. Schulz actually replied and sent him a copy of a book. He was so touched. Now that he’s older, his son wants a dog, and they are getting a Beagle just like Snoopy hehe. Charles Schulz must have been a lovely man that is very down to earth and had a wonderful sense of humor. I’m glad I got to visit this museum. It’s amazing how he actually could write “Peanuts” for 50 years! I would have run out of ideas by the 3rd year lol.

Carnivorous Plants

James has a thing for carnivorous plant, so he asked me to join him on a trip to “California Carnivores”. It ‘s kind of in the middle of nowhere, so he had a hard time finding someone to go with him (poor James). Actually, I have always been interested in drawing these, but the only carnivorous plant that I know is the Venus flytrap haha~ . I didn’t know that there are so many kinds of carnivorous plants. After the trip, I still don’t know the names of the other plants *lol*. Eventhough it’s REALLY far out in the middle of nowhere *cough James cough*, I had a great time. It’s actually weird to think that they eat bugs. The pitcher plants looked so creepy, but so cool at the same time. In the end, I still like the venus flytrap the most. It’s probably because they look like they have tons of little fangs. Besides, they’re actually kind of cute because they are quite small. A giant venus flytrap, on the other hand, would be really scary. I really missed FSc while I was there. I’m sure she’d have love them.

Composition Workshop

Lecture on Composition by Nathan Fowkes at LAFFA was so inspiring. I think composition is kind of an innate thing for me. I'm not that good, but I don't think I'm horrible either. At least I know when something looks odd or unbalanced. It's more of a gut feeling. He went over many interesting points regarding compositions that I find very useful, and his workshop was very enjoyable. His paintings were beautiful. I need to start practicing a lot, if I want to become a better artist. I'm so inspired!

Amazing Race Asia 3

Look who's on Amazing Race Asia 3 lol. Cheer for Pailin & Natalie!!

Coco's Blood Pressure

After getting back from Comic Con, I found out that Coco's Blood Pressure is high (180) which caused Retina detachment. He was on Benezepril then I changed it to Norvasc after doing some research. He was pretty much blind for 2 weeks. The 3rd week, it seems like he can kind of see again. I'm not sure if he can see very clearly or not, but anything is better than being blind. His blood pressure is now 130 (Normal BP is 120). He will get another check up in 2 weeks. T_T

Letterpress Course

I took an Intensive 1 week long Letterpress course at the "San Francisco Center for the Books" (August 4-8). I have always thought that Letterpress things are really beautiful. The way the letters are embossed down is so elegant. My teacher was Mary Laird. She was wonderful, so positive and energetic. You really feel the love that she has for Letterpress. Teachers really do make a difference, and she really made the class super enjoyable.

I didn't know that there is so much work involved in doing this. Finding and preparing the types takes forever. Often, some types wouldn't work properly because they are old, so you have to use the tweezer to pull out the types and replace them until the prints come out clean. You have to set the pressure, prepare the papers, and manually work out the math to make sure everything line up @_@. Thank god we have computers nowadays lol. I'm so glad I took the class because I learned so much. I probably won't be using the Press that often because it requires so much effort and patient, but I will definitely use it when I have special projects in the future ^^. I met so many wonderful people there too. My classmates were so sweet!