The Sheraton Sonoma is also a marina on the Petaluma River. This was the view from my room on Friday morning, Sept. 21.
Albie Smith was really the teacher I came to see in Petaluma. It wasn’t that I felt that she had bookbinding techniques to teach me that I could only get from her. I took a book class with her at Art & Soul once and a three day class with her at An Artful Journey, where I focused on color and decorative papers. I came to Petaluma to be in the sphere of her energy because I love her personality, her style, and her beautiful, rich palette of colors. I just wanted a relaxing workshop where I could pick up a few basic tips (I always do, no matter what level I think that I’m at) and stitch books together with her luscious papers. And that’s what I did.
The best thing that came out of this class was that Albie connected with me and brought me into her circle. I wish that I lived in Oregon so that it wouldn’t be so expensive to study with her because I’d love to make paper with her. I don’t know why, but I feel a deep affinity with Albie.
The following photos are from the class. The papers were painted by Albie. None of these are my work, and I apologize that I did not get names. I didn’t take many photos because I was focused on what I was doing.
Albie’s samples and a classmate binds two signatures with a dash stitch.
Albie shows off a student’s chain binding. The covers of this book looked like an abstract beach or sunrise. The entire book was quite beautiful and I wish I had gotten a photo that showed them.
slowly she turned 