I need to take some steps to get this little old me ready for printmaking classes and the semester in general.

1. Read all the printmaking / bookmaking / drawing / art-scoping websites I can find. Clear out the rest of the feed reader and go to town.

2. Read all of my landscape architecture and ecology books. Take notes and write where appropriate, but mainly just absorb them and have them handy in the brain.

3. Start a sketchbook; get used to drawing out thoughts and ideas, observations. Get used to working things out on paper, and improve my sketching, diagramming, and visualizing skills.

4. Try as many hand-printing techniques as possible. Make stencils, learn to screenprint, potato- or foam-print some curtains; experiment with textures and inks and material substrata.

5. Read some books about the history of printmaking. It helps to know where your craft is coming from.

6. Do a big clean of the apartment and throw away or give away anything unnecessary. Do laundry, dust, wash the dishes, re-arrange the furniture, clean out the fridge, use up all the groceries, put up all the pictures, get rid of mice, clean the sink.

7. Go to as many exhibits and gallery shows and book-related lectures as possible. Take notes, and pictures. Talk to the authors and lecturers and artists. Talk to fellow event-goers, network, drink a lot of crappy wine. Stay for the whole thing. Blog about it. Do I need business cards? Only if they’re fancy.

8. Decide how to organize my new studio desk and gather supplies before the semester begins. A mini-fridge would be nice, if cleaned regularly. A pencil holder and desktop organizer too. Bookends? Matching notebooks? A hole-punch and binders? Snack bin? A laundry basket for gym clothes and running shoes/cleats? Hey, that’s a good idea.

I wrote this as a brainstorming session, but here it is, for accountability with a capital A-C-C-O-U-N-T-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y. Just 6 weeks left in summer vacation, and if I can really do all of that, then we’ll talk.