Last day in New York

The last day of the New York workshop went by on a blur. It was a great day with the last lectures and instruction. Everyone was busy finishing off their projects. We were done just after four in the afternoon. What a great and eager group they were! Thank you!!!!!  And a special heartfelt thank you to the hardworking MultiCam crew, especially Jeff Goldberg who made my job really easy! I have nothing but fond memories of this workshop!

Once we were done it was time to head into New York City to see the sights. Jim generously volunteered to drive us into the city and guide Kelly Miller and I around the sights. He proved to be the perfect guide. He knew the local history well and knew how to get to the best spots effortlessly. Traffic was light and we saw a tremendous amount in a short time. Once we parked the car our first stop was ground zero. We walked right in without a reservation. Near there we could clearly see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

This area has an amazing amount of history. The streets are narrow and the buildings are TALL! Here's my shot of the Wall Street Stock Exchange.

From there we walked Lower Manhatten to check out the tall buildings and historical district. Then we rode a New York taxi to Grand Central Station. WOW!

From there we walked to Times Square, stopping in to view a spectacular cathedral.

Times Square at night is in a word AMAZING! Even though it was dark in the rest of the western world, it was as bright as high noon here!

Since the Statue of Liberty was closed (due to the recent hurricane) my friends insisted I pose with a similar statue in Times Square. Somehow I don't think it was quite the same. :)

The tour continued through many city sites and even into an Irish pub.

Once our tour was done we rode the subway back to lower Manhattan and our car.

THANKS for a GREAT tour Bill!  New York City is a very interesting place. But after a week in the big apple I'm ready once more to head back to little old Yarrow.  :)

-grampa dan

Day two of the workshop

In our workshops we share knowlege of our sign making techniques. Technical information and 'secrets' of the trade and our methods are revealed.

But the most important thing I wish to share is 'how to have fun in the business' by following our passion to be creative. One excercise we do is to design and then build a bug sign. Each student is given the same starting point - a dikmensional leaf with the letter 'B' on it. They are to make a truly dimensional sign in the most creative way they can think of. Each and every workshop I do I am amazed at the wonderful creations. The litle signs tell amazing stories and in the proces a whole new way of thinking is developed. It is one of the many fun ways we can work each and every day - if we let ourselves. Here's a couple of the wonderful creations by Wray Basset and Phil Ghi.

We had a wonderful and long day of learning and sharing. Tomorrow we wrap things up. 

-grampa dan

Day one of a workshop

Today was the first day of the workshop here in the New York area.  We have a wonderful group assembled this go around. Our eager students are from as near as 15 minutes away and from as far away as Pennsylvana. They arrived at the workshop first thing this morning, eager to listen and learn. I love to share the things I've picked up over my forty plus years in business but even more importantly I want to fan the flames of pasion for what they do. Almost all of us got into this business because we wanted to do really creative things and yet so many in the sign busines end up doing the same boring thing day after day after day. One of my primary goals in doing my workshops is to get people thinking in different ways - to think WAY out of the box and for them to discover it is way more fun that actually working for a living. It used to be that your local sign shop was where you went to get creative things and not just flat, boring signs. Sadly, it is not often that way any more...  but it can become that once again if we choose. My task through these workshops is to show how that is possible.

Today went by in a blur as I did my lectures and answered a hundred questions from the enthusiastic group. This is going to be a fun few days for me and I hope for the rest of the group as well. I only had time to take a couple of pictures through the day and only one of them was good enough to share here.  It is of one of the students (Dan) as he was grinding the edges of one of his samples in readiness to paint.

We put in a 12 hour day today and wore everyone out real good. It's my bet I got everyone's head spinning with new ideas already. I hope they are able to settle down enough to sleep tonight. :) Tomorrow morning, bright and early we'll do it all over again!

-grampa dan