Another beautiful day in paradise!

I’m taking Big Red camping in the Anza Borrego tomorrow for a 5-day art and nature retreat. Hot diggity!

Big Red has morphed into a minimalist campVAN, i.e. cute and comfy, but not crowded. There's even room in her for making art. Of course there is.

The weather is expected to be perfect for making paste paper, and as I am running low on mine, I’m bringing plenty of colorants, wallpaper paste and paper bags---they make great art paper. There will be book-stitching, too, Corkbot making, really great meals. Do I know what makes a sweet art retreat, or what?

What’s coming soon that I hope you’ll attend:

January 24-March 7^th at the Fallbrook Arts Center

Baja Art Exhibition https://www.fallbrookartcenter.org/2026calendar

February 1-27 at the Bonita Museum and Cultural Center

The Ric Todd Collection, including Keith Haring, Steve R. Allen, Jaimee Todd, and Ric Todd

https://bonitahistoricalsociety.org/ric-todd-collection-at-the-museum

February 24^th 09-1pm:

San Diego Art Matters is bringing back Creative Conversations, co-hosted with North County’s newly formed Arts and Culture Alliance.

The event is free, with RSVP required:
https://sdartmatters.org/creative-conversations-2026/

Event details:
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (lunch included)
California Center for the Arts, Escondido

 

Good Sunday, everyone.

I’ve been off Face-Too-Much for a month. I can attest that I’m not missing it. 

So much more time, so much more art.

Today and this month, I’ll be posting important Arts and Culture events…repeatedly…hey, sorry, but these events matter and I hope you’ll attend. Just scroll on past if you’ve already registered/signed up.

February 24^th 09-1pm:

San Diego Art Matters is bringing back Creative Conversations, co-hosted with North County’s newly formed Arts and Culture Alliance, it will focus on the opportunities, challenges, and creative assets of rural and unincorporated communities across the region. Please attend! You won’t be lectured at; you will be listened to. Plus, you’ll have a great time.

The event is free, with RSVP required:
https://sdartmatters.org/creative-conversations-2026/

Event details:
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (lunch included)
California Center for the Arts, Escondido

This past week I put in some serious time wearing my commissioner nametag for the San Diego County Arts and Culture Commission. We will be out in the County, meeting folks, listening to folks, applying your feedback as best we can. Each County District will host an event, starting next month in District 4 (think south), followed by District 3 (think North County Coast) in March, District 2 (think east county, Julian to way south) in April. All are open to the public no matter what County district you live or do business in. I’ll keep posting details as I know them.

Inspired By III is coming back to the Rancho San Diego County Library on June 3^rd, in time for the County-wide summer reading program. Below, a sample of what you’ll see there.

                         "Valadon", inspired by Utrillo's Mother

"La Diva Nicotina" inspired by How Tobacco Seduced the World

"12 Steps" inspired by The Gambler

Until next Sunday

 

Happy, happy new year! 

May 2026 bring us daily opportunities to be the Creatives that we are.

So much is coming down the pike this coming year. Below is a sampling of hands-on art and culture happenings that I hope you can attend. I’ll be attending them, too.

January 22nd (3pm)-25th (12pm) the West Coast Glampers are holding their annual rally in Borrego Springs, about as far north-east as you can get in San Diego County. I’ll be staying nearby at the Anza Borrego State Campground in our new camp-and-make-art van, "Big Red". The glampers will be at 221 Palm Canyon Dr, Borrego Springs, CA 92004.

February 24^th 09-1pm: To all the creatives in rural and unincorporated San Diego County, this one is for us.

San Diego Art Matters is bringing back Creative Conversations, co-hosted with North County’s newly formed Arts and Culture Alliance, it will focus on the opportunities, challenges, and creative assets of rural and unincorporated communities across the region. I participated last year, the key word being participate. You won’t be lectured at; you will be listened to. Plus, you’ll have a great time.

Event details:
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (lunch included)
California Center for the Arts, Escondido

Let our voices, thoughts, concerns be shared. Please attend this with me.

The event is free, with RSVP required:
https://sdartmatters.org/creative-conversations-2026/

Saturday February 28^th 5:30-9p.m.

Mark your Calendars for the Del Dios Chili cook-off FUNdraiser.

Yes indeed, I will make my delish duck and white-bean chili. So, so yummy. The tastings and voting by Y.O.U.  will be held at The Old Del Dios Firehouse, aka the Del Dios Community Center, 20155 Elm Lane, Escondido, CA 92029 starting at 5:30pm. Awards at 7p.m. followed by all-you-can eat of the remaining chili until 10 p.m.

Music, food, drink in support of a great non-profit. Life is good. $15/person. Free parking.

March 5 and 6, I’m teaching a 2-part hardcover stab-stitch workshop at Front Porch Gallery in Carlsbad. FREE

March 13th also at Front Porch Gallery I bring back the accordion book format, this time we'll add a hard cover. FREE

FPG requires pre-registration through their website. All the ones I taught last year filled. Go to their website and sign up for their email notices to get early alerts on registering:

https://www.frontporchgallery.org/programs

O.k. New art for 2026 as promised! Starting the New year with fused glass sushi plates and small wasabi bowls. Perfect for SPAM musubi. That’s right, SPAM musubi is a thing. Don’t knock it until you try it. Which you can easily now because as I said, it’s a thing. Getting to be almost as popular here around Escondido as it is in Hawai’i.       

Until next Sunday

   

 

I’d like to share one thing that's on my 2026 bucket list: to support more publicly and/or privately funded art events. Art saves lives. I believe it.

That typed, put seeing this on your calendar: an exhibition by Judith Christensen, recipient of the Genie Shenk Excellence in Book Arts Award. I LOVE her work.

 

I made a good deal of creative progress over the past year, not the least being ending my social media addiction and turning the time saved into my studio. That also gave me much more time for serving on the San Diego County Arts and Culture Commission, which has been an honor and a blast.

You can sign up to be sent updates by going to the County website:

https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/cao/edga/arts-culture-commission.html

I have 2 solo exhibits next Spring. Nearly all of the art for both is ready to be photographed, because I got the hell off Facebook. (Seriously, I was clearly scrolling way too much with META). More exhibition details next week. Promise.

Please support your local non-profit arts organizations. And if you don't have one, make one happen!

Until next Sunday

Tis the season that finds me daily in my studio and the kitchen. 

Do any of you take pleasure in listening to music while working on a project? My long-time standby has been to put on The Best of Talking Heads or some Kate Bush. Lately I might play Billie Eilish.

I was scrolling for Billie on YouTube and hit the music jackpot of jackpots: Tiny Desk Concerts from NPR. They are FREE, terrific fun, and intimately showcase musicians without Big Studio b.s. A creative’s trifecta. You can check the series out at

https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/

Below, more art images of my past work. You who saw these already on Facebook, here’s another look. And you who didn’t, I hope you enjoy them.

Until next Sunday.

Three book formats, L>R: folds and figure 8 stitch, accordion book with pockets, classic stab-stitch. I’m all set to teach each of these in 2026. When I have the exact dates, I’ll let you know.

Stone Water Air is on display right now at Front Porch Gallery in Carlsbad, CA until January 8^th. Check it out. Entry and parking are free.

This is a detail from Nimrod’s Tower which will finally get a display of its complete 6-foot-tall installed self for the first time since its one and only showing at the California Center for the Arts Museum before COVID. It will be at the Fallbrook Arts Center during all of May 2026.

I can't remember ever not using recycled, re-used and repurposed materials to create 3-D art. I just didn’t have the ecological context for it until the 60’s when I read Rachel Carson’s books.

Fast forward to now, and I am still motivated by making thoughtful, weird, calming 3-D art from what many would call useless stuff. I’m also very directly mindful of keeping our oceans clean, the landfill not so full, and our air breathable.

This just in: I am to curate the Sustainable Creations Exhibition at the Fallbrook Center for the Arts! I’m so crazy-excited.

The exhibit runs May 2 - June 13       

Interested in entering? You can enter upto 5 works. To do so go to the online entry form at https://www.fallbrookartcenter.org/sustainablecreations

Reduce, reuse, recycle is my lifestyle. May it be yours as well.

Until next Sunday

Back in my old Facebook days, I used to post a pun every day. Really bad ones. Anybody guess that my blog's name is a pun? Days of Books, Book of Days, get it? I told you the puns were bad. 

One of the earliest known Books of Days was also an artist's book, leading me to today's blog topic: what the heck is an artist's book? 

"Artist's book" refers to a work that takes the book structure and goes way outside the box with it. The  art is usually 3-dimensional, might contain several book formats in one art piece and often challenges our idea of what a book “should” be. 

Although an artist’s book can take many forms, from western traditional bound books, to wherever the artist wants to go, many book artists use a few common elements. I lean towards including telling a story or poem in my artist’s books when I use a wild and crazy format, but then go with abstract art when I create a traditional journal style.

Check out some examples of books I’ve made over the years. Then go forth and make your own.

In Freedom’s Work  above, I used a Coptic-stitch journal format. It is on display at Front Porch Gallery in Carlsbad until January 9^th, 2026.

 

Who remembers Pluto? is an Altered Book that began its existence as a Little Golden Book about the Solar System back when Pluto was still considered a planet. It will be on display June 1-July 30, 2026 at the Rancho San County Library.

Spring, 2012  an accordion (sometimes called concertina) paper book with hard covers. I sold this lovely (back in 2012) but I'll be teaching how to make it in 2026, at least twice.

Joker Horse uses the same accordion format as Spring 2012, but no paper at all. The materials are up-cycled metal, cork, electronics. The list goes on. It will be on display May2-June 10, 2026 at the Fallbrook Center for the Arts.

Until next Sunday, take care.