Category: Teaching: Workshop Reviews
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A Review in Photos: The Art of Drawing Maps by Hand 2019
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
Dumas Bay Centre in Federal Way was the first-time, urban location for The Art of Drawing Maps by Hand in 2019. The long, Pacific NW daylight hours provided our classroom with ample natural light for the hardworking 13 who took this challenging course. Meals were delivered to our private, adjoining dining room. As is typically…
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Drawing Maps by Hand, Winter Version: Never Mind the Avalanche
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
Diablo Lake appeared cold and colorless compared to the vivid aqua water and verdant trees we are accustomed to seeing during my usual June workshops. Late winter snow and cold did not deter 11 participants from heading up the North Cascades Highway at the end of February to take my workshop The Art of…
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A January Workshop…for Myself!
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
Many years had gone by since I had taken a weekend workshop offered by a regional calligraphy guild. But when I saw the work a friend had done in a class taught by Rebecca Wild of Port Townsend, I eagerly signed up for the next one Rebecca was teaching in our area. It was held…
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Images from Nature: Blockprinting Workshop
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
I'd like to share some of the beautiful block prints created by the participants in last weekend's blockprinting class sponsored by the North Cascades Institute. Some of the students had done block printing in previous art classes, but for others this was their first experience with the medium. Others had been dissatisfied with previous attempts but all…
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The Hand Drawn Map: Vancouver Island Journeys and Memories
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
Hand drawn maps have the potential for telling colorful stories. The participants in my classes bring personal histories to their work stations and proceed to illustrate these in marvelous ways. Often surprising themselves with their newfound ability to draw personal maps, they draw me into their worlds during the course of the workshop. This process was especially…
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The Artful Map: A Design Journey in the North Cascades
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
Colonial Peak and Pyramid Peak at sunset. To see larger views of all photos in this review, please double click on the image. How does one go about designing an "artful map?" The process is complex and time-consuming but there's no better place to do it than at the North Cascades Institute Environmental Learning Center (ELC)…
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The Art of Writing Letters
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
As an example of a "Personal Letter as Manuscript" the letter below was written by me to the students who had signed up for the mini-workshop I taught on May 2. Twenty students went right to work last Saturday at the Letters of Joy conference at Edmonds Community College. Watching these calligraphic artists launch into…
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Workshop Notes: Versals for Everyday Use
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
W by Linda O'Neill HAT are "Versals?" Simply defined, they are emphasized capital letters that are used as the first letter of text in a manuscript of any kind. The term is relatively new, having been coined by Edward Johnston, the English "father" of the modern practice of calligraphy. Versals can be slim, broad, plain,…
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Part Two–A Fine Collection of Maps: Workshop Review of The Artful Map 2014
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
The scenic Diablo Lake peninsula trail (part of the Environmental Learning Center campus) is lined with magical wildflowers at this time of year. Here is a spread of dainty twinflowers thriving in the shade. Billowing clouds and meandering waterways characterize class assistant Sarah's map. Part II Conventional maps can do no more than point…
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Part One–A Fine Collection of Maps: Workshop Review of The Artful Map 2014
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
Craig Campbell designed a map pertaining to the North Cascades experiences and philosophies of notable poets. I sense that humans have an urge to map—and that this mapping instinct, like our opposable thumbs, is part of what makes us human. Katharine Harmon, author of books on maps. Thirteen map designers appeared at the North Cascades Institute Environmental…
Jocelyn Curry 