ABC2010 in Red Deer, Alberta! We had looked forward to this for so long and it was finally going to happen! I was flying in a day early to help John Neal with setting up the store.
It was a nice sunny day, or rather it was looking like it would be. I had to be at the airport for 5 am. and did make it almost on time with a minor detour on the highway for a downed power pole. Random. It is great to fly out of Abbotsford, security is as tight as Vancouver but they are just so much nicer about it. An hour flight goes by so fast and then I was picking up the rental car to head north for an hour and a half drive to Red Deer.
No surprises, drove right to the college, found that there was a lot of shopping very close. I actually arrived before John on the Saturday! His assured delivery for Friday afternoon turned out to be pick it up in Calgary if you want it... We spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday morning organizing the store and then the participants started to arrive, all looking for their pre-orders which I helped find and then it was time for me to run to the conference check-in.
The Sunday evening dinner was a barbeque before the Welcome Ceremonies and then it was off to the dorms to settle in for classes early Monday morning.
These were the ladies who made it all possible!
My first class was with Kristen Doty, "Drawing for Calligraphers and those who think they can't". After our introductions, we started with some warm-up exercises. Kristen said that she taught herself how to draw using books from the library and one in particular, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. Just a minute! I have that book at home from when I took Judy Dampier's class, Calligraphy on the Right Side of the Brain.
I was good as long as we were drawing letters from memory but I will have to work on my drawing things skill! We drew a geisha girl, upside down. The results were quite amazing! and then I am kind of partial to my 'pure contour drawing' of my hand......sort of like a 'salad fingers - Hubert Cumberdale' kind of creepy hand! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuCw5k-Lph0
We did a lot of timed exercises using different techniques.
- Pure Contour Drawing - drawing what you see but not looking at your paper
- Mass Drawing - using a woodless pencil, start in the centre of an object and work to the outside, not looking at detail
- Gestural Sketching - outlines, contours
We worked on a drawing of our hand for a final work. Using a piece of plexiglass that we divided into four parts, we sketched the different sections and worked on detail until we were relatively happy with what we had done. Kristen was right! we did all have it in us! It was a really good class but it certainly could have been longer. We covered a lot in a short time.
It is amazing what will entertain a group....one day, we were all asked to wear red and white - which explains why we all have on the same colour scheme. I thought a photo Bonnie took of Alesia was very good and I asked her to hold it up so I could take a photo of her photo.....
This started us all taking photos of each others photos and of each other...........I was taking a photo of Marco when his flash went off from taking a photo of me.......
And eventually we all just erupted in laughter..........
The next morning we started in with the 'perpendicular' strokes of pointed brush lettering. Although I have taken a couple of short classes using pointed brush, I don't feel that I have adequately mastered any part of it. But, it is always nice to have something of what you have done pointed out and commented on........I did a good 'o'!!!!!! phew!
It seemed like no time and it was Friday afternoon. I asked Carl to write my whole name out. Smart Liz registering as Elizabeth!! got lots of letters....!
I have to share a recipe the caterers posted one day. We all quite enjoyed their Lentil Soup and then the next day the recipe was taped to a post near their set-up. It really is good soup!
I was warned mid morning on Friday that if we had to be at the airport that evening, we might want to either take the road to Cochrane or Beisiker and bypass the highway south to Calgary as there was a traffic tie-up at least 3 hours long at Airdrie because of the road construction. (I saw the remnants of this tie up at 10 pm when I took my car back to the airport, it was still backed up for miles!). We didn't have to be anywhere on time that night but we were heading to Calgary. It was decided I would lead and Alesia would follow! not sure that was the best idea but I am from Alberta... we headed south and then west towards the road to Cochrane. At least we were moving and not stuck in traffic but it did take us about four hours to reach the hotel! We stopped for dinner along the way in Cremona. The only reason we stopped there was that it was then 6:30 and we had all been so used to having a meal put in front of us that we were hungry. We hadn't really done anything to deserve dinner! What did Cremona have to offer?
Wikipedia says this about Cremona..........Cremona is a village in central Alberta, Canada. It is located north of Cochrane and west of Carstairs, along the Cowboy Highway. And that it was! There are only 463 people living there, what delectable dinner offering might they have for us?! There was a Saloon/Bar & Grill, a General Store, The Oriental Kitchen - which seemed to have a lot of traffic...... not much choice that we could see. Looking now on Google map to see what we missed, I think the only other eatery in town seemed to be a pizza place and it looked like it might only be delivery. The Oriental Kitchen it was! bad choice. There is a chinese restaurant in every small prairie town but that isn't to say that they are any good. Maybe some of them are.............
We asked the fellow if he could just make the dinenr for 6 for the five of us. He was only too pleased to do that. OMG! we started with deep fried Spring Rolls, not your usual fare of the thin egg wrap around some vegies and mystery meat, no! a big battered egg or spring roll with all the usual mystery things inside but mostly batter to be fair. Nice start to the meal. Bonnie noticed that the "chinese tea" that we ordered was in fact made with tea bags! I think it might have been then that I decided that this fellow was doing everything himself, no help! chief cook and bottle washer all in one. The place was quite busy, maybe half a dozen tables of people. We had arrived just before a rush and he spent a lot of time running out from the kitchen with dishes for us....deep friend chicken balls, lemon chicken, deep fried, fried rice, not deep fried! surprise!! I think the prawns/shrimp were sweet and sour - sauce on the side, because, oh! they were deep fried in batter! and then a dish that I didn't try, but others did and most of that was left when were done, something beef but deep fried to within an inch of its life, not sure what the flavouring was supposed to be. I don't remember a vegetable dish. It was a memorable meal but not in a good way. If the deep fryer didn't get us, the MSG would!
We never did find the ice cream place in Cochrane. It had just grown too big for me to remember where anything was but then let's remember I hadn't been there in years. It has changed from the sleepy little town we used to visit when we went to Mrs. Ovans' ranch to ride her ponies! I think I was about 10.
And checking out their website, they were open!!! I just couldn't find them that night!!! sorry ladies. It sounds like it is still really really good.....will there be a next time?!
Saturday was spent mostly at the airport with our flights all leaving at different times from very early afternoon to mine at 6:55 pm.
Goodbye Alberta!
and
a
big
Thank You
to
the
organizers
of
ABC2010!!!
It was a great conference and your attention to details
was truly amazing. Thanks also goes to Heather Lee
for insisting that we should all meet in Red Deer!
Our only regrets were our two missing friends Lorraine and Margie.
We will have to find a way to spend some conference time with you two another year!
1 comment:
Sounds like you had a wonderful adventure. Love the pic of the pic of my Cos Alesia. Cowboy Highway sounds like heaven.
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