Why am I awake at 630?

I woke up this morning wanting to write. I guess that's a good thing. My journal hasn't seen as much action as I might like lately. I'm not sure where this BLOG will go, or even if it will, but I'm can't see it replacing entirely the experience of writing in my journal--preferably with a really good fountain pen (we'll have to discuss the fountain pen fetish another time).

If you've just read my very first post (yeah), then there's a better-than-average chance that what you're wondering about most is the God thing. Me too. I promise that I'll get to that. It's unavoidable.

For now, let's talk about the amazing experience I had last week at the Peters Valley Craft Center (www.pvcrafts.org). I went for a 5-day workshop called, "Two of a Kind: Think of Silkscreen & Batik" taught by Kerr Grabowski and Rayna Gillman (graciously stepping in for Els van Baarle, who was unable to be there). Now, I'm not exactly a veteran of dozens of fiber workshops, However, based on the few that I have taken (not to mention tons of other management workshops) I am willing to testify with conviction that there was something amazing happening in that place, in that studio, with those people. We ate, we drank, we shared stories and art, worked our asses off, and it was great.

Here's a picture of Kerr, Rayna, and Jesse (our studio assistant). The mess in the foreground is my work area. It's a mess, gosh, what a surprise.

This was my first exposure to Kerr's method of deconstructed screen printing (adding thickened dye to a screen, letting it dry, then releasing it with a sodium alginate paste--with or without added dye). It was also the first time I've done batik since I was in my teens. Combining the two--wax in the screen, wax on the cloth--added even more possibilities.

Oh shoot. Look at the time. Gotta go. I'm off to go tubing on the Shenandoah River with a bunch of friends from church. Few things are as much fun as floating down a slow river on a hot day with your ass in an inner tube.