I’m looking forward to having a booth again at the upcoming Albany Middle School Arts & Crafts Fair on Sunday. The fair always has a fun atmosphere and it’s a fundraiser for the school PTA.

A little shout-out for a local gem of a store that sells carving tools for woodblock and linocut printmaking, not to mention lots of other types of Japanese hand tools. The shop is called Hida Tool and it’s located on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, California. A long time ago, I bought some Power Grip carving tools there and I recently picked up a #1000 grit sharpening stone.

Hida Tool in Berkeley, California

A couple times a week, I'll spot the 77-year old, double-decked eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the distance. A new, seismically safer span has been constructed and they're currently demolishing the old section.

The Bay Bridge being demolished

I have a soft spot for the aesthetics of the older one and I think it's fascinating to watch how they orchestrate the take down of such a huge bridge. Before it's all gone, I wanted to make a print. It's a project I've been excited about for a while but it took a lot of sketching and planning for it to come to fruition. This is how the linocut print turned out and it's available in my Etsy store.

Linocut print - "Deconstruction" - The Bay Bridge & Port of Oakland

Linoleum block print - close-up of "Deconstruction" - The Bay Bridge & Port of Oakland