Met John for a beer after work. He’d heard about Media closing and offered to buy me a beer. We are both teachers, he in high school, me in a community college. We teach basically the same subject. Photoshop, web design, film making.

We talked about the challenges all teachers face, and his experiences running a similar program up north…that also closed. We also talked a lot about how, when we were younger,  people told us to forget about our dreams. He wanted to be a musician, I wanted to be an artist. We were both told to get a real job because there was no money in artistic work. And we both did. And now we both are frustrated artists working day jobs that are fun, and sort of artsy, but not what we dreamed of doing.

He told a story about visiting the emergency room and being told that his test showed he had a deadly artery condition on his heart. It was in-operable. Later tests proved this was a mistake…he was fine…but he spent an entire day thinking he might die.

As he lay there in the hospital bed, his thoughts were these:

I had two good kids, I feel good about that. But my career, my dreams of being a musician…I totally blew that…and now my time is up.

I looked at him and thought how similar we are. People our age are keeling over of heart attacks and dying. Someone did that a month ago at work. I knew him well. He looked just like me.

I’m at a fork in the road. I can use my part time status to study programming and get a full time job in either teaching, or web design, or I can take the other fork and use my  part time status to work full time as an artist. This would be on the days I’m not teaching. I will still be teaching web design for the foreseeable future.

But on those two days a week, instead of studying programming, I can take my easel outside and paint 10 hours a day, two days a week. I will still have time to climb on the weekends…but I will be painting 20 hours a week. I think we can survive on half wages for one quarter. That means I should get considerably better. My painting skill is all about practice.  With more skill, I can begin to build up a body of sellable work. I’ve been told I need 6 galleries selling my work, with about 10 paintings in each gallery. That is a doable goal. As a weekend painter, it’s far too easy to make bad art. But 20 hours  of painting a week, that could make a huge difference in my skill.

I’m looking forward to the challenge.

I’m looking at potentially reduced hours in coming quarters. I’m made a promise to myself:  I will not use those extra hours to play.  My temptation is to simply start climbing even more than I already do. A better plan is to use this extra time to develop a long ignored talent. To that end, I’ve started painting in my spare time. So far, I’ve got 8 hours in a Nisqually landscape, over two different days, and 3 hours into a portrait of dad.

What is unusual is that I’m doing it after work. Last night I got down to the Nisqually delta around 5-ish. I hiked out to my viewpoint, set up my easel, and painted for two hours until the light changed. But even better, I was able to get into that mindset where the painting doesn’t matter as much as the experience. In other words, I was having so much fun being “in the zone”, that the end product really doesn’t even matter.

I’m truly scared to look at the painting. Other hikers were telling me it was great…and I thought it was pretty good, but if I look at it now in the cold light of day, and it sucks…does that take away from the great experience of creating it?

That is the perpetual artist dilemma. We like making art, but it may not ever sell. Fortunately, I have a day job that pays the bills, for now at least, and my art does not have to sell. My plan is to simply have fun making art…a lot of art…and hope that I gradually get better.  It comes down to practice, assuming you have some baseline skills, talent and training.

But man, I was having so much fun out there at my lonely easel in the evening light! Being a painter is a real gift, I feel so fortunate to be able to paint. And no, I’m not going to post the painting until some time has passed. I want to savor the experience in my  mind for a while. As long as I don’t actually look at the painting, I can remember it as a masterpiece. It’s sort of like acting and feeling as if I am still in my thirties. If I look in the mirror, I will see a white haired geezer looking back at me. Best not to look.

I met a famous watercolor painter once at a large gallery . He was so big he had a TV show. I was still working as a bluecollar printer back them. I was considering going back to college to pursue a fine arts degree, and I asked him if that was my ticket to success as an artist. Here is his response:

“The last thing you need to do is go to college. To become a successful artist, here is what you need to do: Paint 5000 paintings from life. Don’t paint from photos, ever. Always work from life. Nature, and trial and error will teach you everything you need to know. By the end of those 5000 paintings you will be living on your art.”

I feel guilty for not updating this blog. Also, I need to clear my head, and writing down my thoughts can clear the air.

Sue has been busy with family so I have been off doing my own thing. I climbed with Vladi this weekend in Vantage. We’ve been friends for about 7 years…but we’ve never gone on a climbing trip together, which is odd because we get along splendidly as climbing partners. She is a better sport climber than I, while I am a better crack climber than she. So it was fun pushing each other out of our comfort zones.

I’m still warmed up from my spring break. I’m a month out now, and normally all my skill would be gone, but I’ve climbed every weekend for at least one day since returning from Smith. Regular climbing “keeps the cabbage fresh”.

If you’ve not heard that old saying of mine, it means that climbing skill is like cabbage in the refrigerator: it has a 3 week shelf life. After 3 weeks,  your cabbage is no good, it’s gone.

Speaking of old sayings, I heard a great one liner at the crag. This guy was up on something hard, and his friends were ragging on him, teasing him about his climbing.

This is what I heard him shout down to his friends: “Hey, if I wanted any lip, I would have rattled my zipper!” Everyone just  busted up laughing down on the ledge. Climbing can get very tense sometimes, and humor is great.

I was able to climb all my usual Vantage crack climbs cleanly including:

• George and Martha
• Air Guitar
• Pony Keg
• Split Beaver (one hang)

In other news, I recently heard about republic wireless. They offer full blown smartphones for as little as $10 a month. That is only two dollars more a month than my two device system. I am very tempted by republic as  it would allow me to simplify my current communication scheme. Currently I have 3 phone numbers: work, wifi, and cell. My cell is very limited minutes ($8) a month prepaid.

Bottom line is I am hard to reach. You have to know which number to call at what time…and my new office does not have reliable wifi. Republic defaults to Sprint if there is no wifi. So in theory, if I jumped onto the Republic Wireless bandwagon, I would have a real cellphone again, with only one number, unlimited voice and texting minutes…and data when there is wifi available. I’m not a data queen, so that could work…

I painted at Nisqually Delta 10 days ago. That was very enjoyable. I need to get down there at high tide on a sunny day and finish that painting, then start another one of the barns reflected in the water. Also, I’m hoping to start a portrait of dad…assuming he will sit for me. That could take a few weeks, and would be  a lot of driving…but the results could be priceless…and he would love to see me.

 

 

 

Wow, what a great vacation! I drove down to Tieton and hooked up with Aaron and Lolo. We did the usual skill building routines on phone call from satan, moscow, lions jaw and sky chimney. We also did a repeat of my fridays jinx to spiderman combo. But then we took a rest day, forced by rain. I got up the next morning and sent karate clean for the first time ever, after 34 years of trying. Daphne was my belayer, Aaron was the Photographer with my Canon 6D.

most of the reason I got up it was that I found foot rests up near the top. And I nailed all of my jams. There is a deep hidden one under the flake up near the top…plus I had two reds…and that was very helpful.

Lastly, at the traverse, I had a low yellow down in the main crack, with a blue up in the start of the horizontal. I shoved it right to keep the jam clear. Then I dropped down into a straight arm hand traverse. I placed the green blind above me while standing on dime sized slopers…that held fine.

I pulled up and threw for the horsey move, then used my last 2 seconds of power to fall into the stem.

that was ultra cool. I honestly thought I was too old to ever get that.

I chicken’d out on outsiders and grabbed a sling to clip, and I forgot my goood shoes when I led peking, and had to hang twice. Daphne led it clean.

Here are the photos. I’m too lazy to embed them in this wordpress interface.

Work has been unusual. There have been big changes in our program. I’m not ready to talk about them publicly yet. I do expect to have more time to paint in upcoming quarters…that will be an awesome opportunity.

Stricks Laws of Printing

I was a journeyman multicolor  printing press operator (mostly Heidelbergs) from 1968 to 2000. I started  as a Printers Devil in 1968 hand setting type for a Heidelberg Windmill press at the Sherwood Press in Olympia, Wa. This shop is still running. I ended up working for 9 different print shops around Puget Sound. The best press I ever ran was a 4 color Heidelberg GTOV-P with CP-Tronics. Only a few of the printshops  are still operating, I will write up the list later.

I first heard of Stricks Laws of Printing when an ink salesman brought them in as a zerox. Who Strick was, or where he or she worked was never revealed to me. Recently I heard it might have been Gary Strickland from ABC Printing in Olympia. Without further ado, here they are:

1. A customer never changes his mind on ink color until after the press is inked.
2. A good pressman never gets to run good equipment
3. A pressman is only as good as the last job he ran.
4. Pessimism in the pressroom is directly proportional to optimism in the office.
5. Incompetency is an inherent characteristic of all people with authority.
6. Telling the boss “it can’t be done” will insure that you will be given a chance to try.
   

   Twin Tower, Southgate Press. I never got the hang of this machine.

7. If you print a “perfect” job, somebody will always find a typo in it.
8. No matter what goes wrong, never admit fault. If they corner you, lie.
9. Always put your spoilage in somebody else’s garbage can.
10. Coming to work with a good attitude is dangerous and should not be tolerated. On the other hand, chronic bitching is exciting, keeps the office staff in line and prevents ulcers.
11. A wise pressman always puts the good ones on top.
12. When printing multi-colored jobs that are in a “must go today” situation, you can be sure that you will not get the plates until 3 PM.
13. Pressmen who don’t drink simply don’t understand the situation they are in.
14. Ask for a raise at least once a week…you won’t get it, but you will keep them worried.
15. To be a competent journeyman, you must know at least 200 swear words and be able to invent new ones at will.
    

    George and his GTOZ at J&D Printing in Tacoma. George was one of the best pressmen I ever worked with.

16. Be wary of a smooth-running press…something is going wrong and it is up to you to find it.
17. The chances of something going wrong with your press is directly proportional to how far away you are from it.
18. When a customer demands blue ink on his job, you can be sure the color of the stock will be yellow.
19. When muttering swear words in the pressroom, the only people that will hear you will be the customer who is a nun, the boss’s wife or the pope’s brother.
20. If management fills out a ticket wrong, and you print the job, don’t worry about it- you are going to get the blame, regardless.
21. The best way to insure that your shop will always have an adequate supply of rubber bands, paper clips and scotch tape is to ask the boss for new parts for the press.
22. The best place for your company to place its salesman in relation to the pressroom is out of town.
23. If you believe what management tells you, you haven’t been in the trade long enough.
24. When you start a new job and the manager tells you to take the first day to get acquainted with the equipment and company procedure, figure on having ten minutes before they hand you a rush job.
25. Telling the prep department they stripped a job crooked will insure that the next 10 will be.
26. When the ink salesman tells you that their new ink dries “instantly”, your next three
    

    KORD at J&D Printing. I spent more years running KORDs than anything else. Love that old press!

    jobs will offset.

27. When cutting stock and you have no help, it will always be on the bottom.
28. When the customer demands a perfect ink match, their sample will always be on colored stock.
29. You come to work on Monday and the boss says, “This job has to be delivered on Wednesday”, chances are good that you will have a press breakdown, run out of plates, and the stock will be back ordered.
30. When the boss tells you that his son has just graduated from printing school and is coming to work on Monday, you have three choices: Go on vacation, quit, or retire.
31. When the salesman “bounces” into the pressroom and announces that he has just sold an “unbelieveable” job, you can be sure that it will be.
32. If you give the boss’s son three things to do you can bet that he will do one, forget one, and screw the other one up.
33. The only way to avoid a smiling salesman is to lock yourself in the bathroom.
34. If you have been in the trade for more than 20 years and never been fired, you either have the patience of a saint or your boss is dumber than a box of rocks.
35. When you call your equipment bad names you can be sure it will live up to every one
    

    2 color 28 inch Komori J&D Printing. I ran this 3 years on swing

    of them.

36. Color blindness is a disease that affects all artists, customers, and salespeople.
37. If the Graphic Designer who is press checking your job brings her own glass, hide the densitometer.
38. If the customer asks to use your densitometer during the press check, tell her the battery is dead.
39. A “grassroots” pressman CAN always do anything with nothing. A “factory” pressman WILL always do nothing with anything.

Here is a video filmed in the Sherwood Press by http://vimeo.com/voortexproductions. I worked for Jocelyn Dohm from 1968 to 1974, running that old Heidelberg Windmill pictured in the video.  This video perfectly captures letterpress printing, which is how I started my working career, printing funeral announcements in the 8th grade. As Jocelyn used to always say: “It’s steady work.”

My Printing Jobs:

The Sherwood Press, Olympia 1968 to 1974

J L Darling, Tacoma 1975 to 1986 Heidelberg KOR

Warrens Printing, Olympia 1986, 6 months, they fired me, and then went out of business. KORD

The Silverdale Press, ’86 to ’88. First time running a GTO.

J & D Printing, Tacoma 1988 to 1992 Heidelberg KORD

Capital City Press, 1992 to 1994 Heidelberg GTOZ Alcolor Dampening, KORD

Southgate Press, 1994 to 1997, Heidelberg MOZP, KORD, , Twin Tower Ryobi

Print Management,  Seattle, 1997, 4 color GTOZP-S Stream fed, CPTRONICS. My first and last 4 color. They fired me.

J & D Printing…again. 1997 to 2000, KORD, GTOZ, Komori 2 color 28″ perfector.

Random photos from my nine jobs in printing

It’s a pompous title, I agree. But I just watched “Stuck in love”, a movie on Netflix about a family of writers. You could write it up as: Earnest Hemingway has two teenagers who are published, and his divorced wife (their mother) returns to him. It sounds very trite, but all the actors were top notch. I lived in the story. It reminds me of my life, in that I am also a creative soul. My kids are possibly not, though they are both good artists with pencil and paper. Like me, they have put their creative talents aside while earning a living.

My life has a lot of similarities to that movie. We are older than that couple, and not nearly as dysfunctional, but I get the part about creative people needing to live a tortured life. Mine has not been tortured as in the movie. Though I wonder sometimes whether the adrenaline sports I pursue are a forced way to add drama to my plain jane life.

Summing up the last few months will be difficult. I spent Xmas in Big Sur and Jtree. Big Sur was awesome, though lonely. I was the only painter on the coast that week. I enjoy hanging out with friends, but painting for me is a solo affair. I can’t focus on my muse unless I’m isolated. But finding calmness in a popular tourist viewpoint is a contradiction in terms.

Still, I wore my headphones and tried to find some peace as i painted. I did two paintings on the coast,  two more at tree, and loved  every minute of the work. Painting full time feels so right. There are no doubts when I am painting. Even if the work turns out bad, the “doing” feels so right, so perfect for my needs. I need to create art.

What can I say, it’s in me and it has to come out. I run from it for months, even years at a time, but then it comes rushing out.

At work, a friend of a friend was just diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. I met her briefly. She was an attractive woman, fit, and much younger than I. Afterword I stood there talking to my friend about it. We were both in shock. You never know when the ax is going to fall. Live life to the fullest while you can.

I will post pictures later. I am busy with a teacher training class on Canvas, which is like the old blackboard and angel.