I have a story to tell

Actually, I probably have more than one, but I'll start with the big story (in a condensed form) and see where we end up. Regardless of the details that follow, this story has a happy ending. Keep that in mind.

Last weekend Dan and I were in Rehoboth Beach, Deleware staying with our friends Howard and Patrick, hanging out with 2 houses full of friends. It was a great weekend. The weekend started out on an exceptionally good note. Last week I found out that I've been accepted as an Artist in Residence at the Greenbelt Community Center, and I'm just thrilled. So, on the first day of our holiday I finally got answers to all of my questions about liability insurance and I was able to officially accept the invitation. I'm hoping to be able to move into the studio at the beginning of August.

The rest of the weekend was great. We ate and drank well, did lots of visiting, and got lots of sleep. It seems that "wild" weekends at the beach take on a new flavor after 40. This weekend was also the first time that Dan and I had been able to see Patrick since he got his new hip 6 weeks ago. He looks fantastic. I told him that I think the doctor put in a battery to go with the hip. He now seems to be in almost constant motion. It's a joy to see.

Can you feel the suspense building? I wouldn't have assured you of the happy ending if there wasn't going to be a big bump in the road. It's time to buckle-up.

We arrived home on Sunday to find all as usual. The cat's were giving us the silent treatment because they were mad about being abandoned. We sifted through the minimal stack of mail. I checked the voice mail. Now--you know--that's when the other shoe dropped. What I found was a message from earlier in the day from my sister saying that Dad had suffered a stroke and was in the ER at Fairfax Hospital. I was surprisingly calm, but I think that it was more numb and calm. We were out the door in about 2 minutes. Dan drove. I have a pretty fuzzy memory of the trip except that I was fascinated, in a detached sort of way, by my almost complete silence. I will spare you the details, except to say that we found my normally gregarious, smiling father lying in the Neuroscience ICU with a half droopy face, a slightly curled up right hand, and nearly unintelligible speech. Despite all of this he was doing his best to laugh at his family's so-so attempts at bedside humor.

So, here's all of the good news. Mom noticed the attack very soon after it happened and called 911. He was in the ER, CAT scanned, and full of tPA (the so called "clot buster") all within the magic 3-hour window. When Dan and I saw him around 3 (about 7 hours after the attack) he was already starting to improve. That was Sunday. Tonight (Wednesday) he came home from the hospital! When I talked to Mom tonight she said that he was upstairs checking his e-mail. I had to bite my tongue to keep from crying.

The stroke affected the left hemisphere of his brain, but the MRI showed no vascular damage. The lasting affects appear to be impaired (but improving) speech, impaired mobility in his right hand, and some facial numbness. There is great hope for continued recovery and much cause for celebration in the midst of this tragedy.

Throughout this ordeal our friends have been a tremendous support. If I ever questioned why community matters, then I surely won't again. I can't explain why or exactly how, but in the last several days I have felt the almost palpable presence of my friends' thoughts and prayers for me, for Dad, and our whole family. I don't know how to say thank you except to stand at the ready to share the same gift of caring.

Well, that's a long story, and one that's not over. Recovery isn't quick or easy. But, it's a story with a happy ending and a message: Don't hesitate to reach out to your friends and family in time of need. That's part of why community matters.

Whatever happened to "Summer Vacation"?

Whatever happened to "Summer Vacation"? I guess I know the answer to that question: I grew up and became an adult with too many interesting things to do. Still, I could use a little down time. I don't seem to get that without leaving home. Blah, blah, blah...same old complaints.

This is going to be a quick post because I've got stuff to do.

I've been busy lately. I got some discharging done since my last post. No photos yet, but I'm pleased with the results. I also took time to photograph my recent workshop pieces. One that I'm particularly interested in is the one below. I printed the first image at a workshop with Kerr last summer. The second image is what it looks like after a second dye session during my workshop with her last month. This piece says something to me about my development. It feels good.

I've also been busy with paperwork. I applied for an Artist in Residence position at the Greenbelt Community Center. It's a one-year studio space rental in a small community of artists. The residency includes facilitating a community art project, participating in open studio days, and spending 30 hours per month in the studio. It would be a big step for me, but productive on so many levels--connecting with other artists, sharing my work with a larger group of people, getting some teaching experience. Most of all it would provide dedicated space and time for my work.

I did the portfolio presentation last week. I haven't heard anything yet. I guess I won't be devastated if this doesn't happen. But it could be very interesting if it does.

And finally, I had a lovely visit last week from a new friend Peggy, who is a fellow member of the Art Cloth Network. She was in Baltimore visiting her son and stopped by to meet me. We had a very nice show-and-tell then and dinner at the local brew-pub.

Busy, busy (with pictures)

Oh, there's just too much going on. I'm going to spare us all the details right now and just hit the high points.

It was a bad week on the creative equipment front: the printer died and was followed very soon by the serger. Given the low cost of a new printer and the age/quality of my 15 year old serger, I opted to replace both. So now we have a lovely new Canon printer that was delivered in under 48 hours by the nice folks at Adorama (www.adorama.com -- an excellent source of photo and printing equipment).

After a bit of Internet research, I scooted over to the sort-of local Baby Lock dealer. I am now the happy owner of a Baby Lock Imagine. So far it's done a great job with a rolled hem on two silk habotai scarves and a couple of napkins.

Here are the scarves. I'm very happy with both. I've never been able to make up my mind about whether or not there's a place for me in art-to-wear. I think I might be finding it. The scarf is a basic form that I think stays as true to the cloth as possible while still being wearable. The first one is finished.

I've already finished the edges on this second one, but I'm considering working back into it with some discharge--maybe more. It's lovely in person, but the more I look at it here, the more it looks half-baked.

I got some other good printing done last weekend, still riding the wave of inspiration from Kerr's workshop. I'm pleased with what I've been doing lately because I feel like the color thing is working a bit better for me. I'm spending a lot more time considering and mixing colors, and what I learned in Carol Soderlund's class is proving very helpful. The green and purple piece below is a good example. I have problems with mixing the whole violet range. In this case I knew what I wanted and I came close enough to be delighted with the result. I think this yardage might find its way into a piece that's starting to germinate in my head.

Finally, I had a "cute" piece of batik from last December that looked rich on the print table, but lost a lot of the dye in the washout. Here's the link for my December 29 posting that shows it in process. I don't have a picture of the faded version, but just image all those strong colors going pastel. The image below shows what happened with some deconstructed printing over top. I like where this is going, but I'm not sure what comes next.

June is full of potential and I'll try to be a bit more regular in my blogging. Stay tuned. -R

After 4 years and more than 600 hours...

EfM (Education for Ministry) is done. It took 4 years and well more than 600 hours of classroom and prep time, but last night was my final class. Take me out of the oven; I am officially done.

If you detect an element of relief in my voice it's because I just got back two evenings every week (one for class and one for reading) for 9 months out of the year. That really adds up. There's also a bit of sadness, which will only really set in late in August when the group reassembles, welcomes new members, and begins the next year of study. I'll also miss the people. We've talked about a lot of sensitive issues and taken risks to speak from the heart about our personal struggles, beliefs, joys, fears, the whole range (or at least most of it). I miss spending this intense time with those who've graduated before me. I'll miss the folks I'm studying with now, and I'm sure that my absence will be noted as well. That's just part of the process.

Four years of studying scripture, church history, and theology then attempting to apply it all to reflections on the reality of day-to-day life has been wonderful. I feel that I've grown spiritually and intellectually as a result. The program isn't perfect, but the overall experience has certainly been a positive one and a good use of my time. I'm not sure that I have many more "answers" to the big questions of faith than when I started, but that wasn't the real goal. What I have is more ways of asking the questions and, hopefully, a set of more developed and thoughtful ways of exploring the possible answers.

If you have a similar chance to explore your own faith in a trusted community with a good mentor (and our mentor, Nancy, is excellent), then I encourage you to do so. It only makes the journey that much more interesting.

"Thank you" to all of you who shared the EfM experience with me. I've learned from each and every one of you and I'm grateful for your generosity, insight, courage, and compassion. You have helped me grow.

Pattern & Content: Day 5

Well, today was a great end to the week. Here's a picture of my final collection of cloth on the wall (all except for the 3 that are still batching). I wish that you could see the rest of the room. It was amazing.

I'm surprised by the volume of work that I did this week, but also by the amount that I feel that I've grown since last summer. The work that I did here is very different from what I did at Peters Valley: more complex, more complete. I feel good about that.

I had a really good critique session with Kerr. She gave me some very helpful feedback and somethings to think about as a way forward.

The picture below is of the last piece before cleanup. As expected, I was getting a lot looser. With this piece I was using polychromatic screen printing to explore complementary colors and designs that don't incorporate my ubiquitous black lines. I like it. It's big, rough, and basic.

My final observation about this is week is this: what a great group of people. As I said in an earlier post, all of my classmates are accomplished artists, some very much so. More importantly though, they were all open, enthusiastic, and supportive. That contributed tremendously to the success of the class. I feel like we all pushed and supported each other. And, if I'm going to give all due credit, then I must say that this second workshop with Kerr did not disappoint. She's a great teacher and guide. If you're a fiber artist and have not studied with her then you owe it to yourself to seek her out. I also have to say that Nancy and her family are excellent hosts, and chef Margaret did her part by making sure we were wonderfully fed all week. If you've never been to the Barn then it's time to visit the web site (www.nancycrow.com) and start shopping for a workshop. It's a great experience.

So tomorrow morning it's off for home for a couple of days of decompression before work starts on Tuesday. I've also got to get back on my diet and try to drop the pound or two that I picked up this week. I wasn't kidding when I said that Margaret's cooking is top notch!

Pattern & Content: Day 4

Here are some pictures from today. There are a couple of today's pieces that are still batching. One of them is radically different from anything I've done. Those will have to wait until tomorrow.

I'm tired. I've been having a lot of fun, but I've also been pushing kind of hard. Cleanup starts at 3:30 tomorrow. Even though we don't have a full day (i.e., 9 PM), I think I need to slow down a bit. I'm hoping I wake up with a clear head and a good idea for how to end the week. To be honest, I think I could just walk in the woods and hang out in the studio and get a lot out of just being here.

Pattern & Content: Day 3

Today's topics were printing with fabric paint base extender + charcoal and/or water soluble crayons, and discharge. It wasn't a good day for discharge--too much wind to work outside and not enough sun to activate the thiox under black plastic. Personally, I'm not fond of using an iron to discharge. I prefer to steam, and that's not an option here. So, tomorrow will be my discharging day.

Here are pics of some of today's work and the washed out versions of pieces from yesterday. Other stuff is still batching, so more pics tomorrow.

Yesterday's work.

A couple of works in progress from today.

And finally, the lady herself, demonstrating proper use of safely equipment. In this picture Kerr is laughing as she struggles to wiggle into her respirator before the discharge demo.

Pattern & Content: Day 2

Another good day--actually a better day. I spent a good bit of time today working on a large piece based on the design I worked up last night. Here are 3 in-process photos. I'm really happy with where this is going, but after looking at the photos I can see that there might be more work needed to pull the whole piece together. I need to get it up on the wall tomorrow.

Just before dinner we took a break from printing for a slide show of Kerr's work. Well, of course it was wonderful. I love the end product, but the process is equally engaging. I don't mean so much the mechanical stuff like, "What did you put on the screen?" and "Is that a mask or discharge?". What I mean is that it's amazing to hear someone talk about their work in terms of their vocabulary of marks and their family stories (such stories) and their life experience. She's able to dissect a finished piece an relate it to...well, to what seems like everything leading up to that moment. But, at the same time I get the impression that these images just emerge during the process of creating, rather than appearing on the cloth as part of a preconceived design that includes every detail.

I can really related to the mind-in-neutral creative process. In those moments when things seem to really be clicking for me, it's almost as if I'm not there or I'm just a spectator.

This class is making me think about my own vocabulary of marks. What are they? I keep coming back to the wonderful feeling of circles and curving shapes and gesture drawings. To me those kind of messy scratchy lines bring energy to a composition and are a joy to create. That's a very strong element for me right now--something to spend more time with tomorrow. But, that's tomorrow.

Ten hours yesterday and 12 today. It's bed time.

Pattern & Content: Day 1

It was a good first day. Even though Kerr is going over all of the basic stuff about the techniques, I still feel like I'm picking up where I left off. I don't know if it's this place or just luck of the draw, but all of my classmates seem to be well developed artists with a fair amount of dye experience. It's making for a fast-paced class, which is good.

Today we started with a warm-up exercise by doing a 4' x 4' charcoal drawing. We even had a jazz accompaniment! The photo below shows my drawing. After some initial gestures we were to think about the inspirational object that we brought with us. My object was a pair of scissors, which is were the oval shapes (the handles) and hexagonal shapes (the nut that holds the blades together) come from.

We did some sample deconstructed prints in the afternoon, and ended the day with prep work for tomorrow. We had to pick an image of a work of art from which to develop a color palette and design concept to explore tomorrow. I started with a painting, then related it to the hex nut image from the morning, and worked up the draft design below.

The plan for tomorrow is to explore this image in as many different ways as possible. It promises to be challenging but very good.

Greetings from Ohio

After a 6+ hour drive through wind and rain, over one massive hill after another, I'm here in Pickerington, OH--about 15 miles east of Columbus. This week I'm spending 5 days at the Nancy Crow Timber Frame Barn taking Kerr Grabowski's class, "Merging Pattern & Content" (http://nancycrow.com/HTML/barngrabowski.html).

Although class doesn't officially start until 9AM tomorrow, we had the option to go to the barn this afternoon to get our workspaces setup and meet the other students. There was a lovely dinner at 6, followed by a full round of introductions. I was surprised to hear how many people have been to the barn before and how many of my fellow classmates have taken classes before with Kerr. I think a number of folks are treating this as retreat time and not just learning time. I guess I am too. It's going to be great.

My very first show!

What do you know? I got into my very first quilt show. Remember a while back I said that I entered my art quilt called "Teach Us to Pray" in the SAQA Amazing Art Quilts Show? Well, today's post contained the usual junk and catalogs plus a thin little envelope with my handwriting on the outside. Dan figure out what it was before I did, even though I've been waiting for it. I gave it a quick squeeze, felt the square outline of a slide inside, and decided that it was almost certainly a rejection.

It was not! Much to my surprise the first sentence started with the word "Congratulations." I don't know what to make of this. I'm heartened, grateful, and surprised. The juror (Julia Pfaff) selected 39 pieces from a field of 122 entries. That's pretty good. The show runs in Staunton, VA Aug 29 - Oct 5 then goes on to the Mid-Atlantic Fiber Arts Festival 2009 in Hampton, VA. I got two for one.

This is just a great send-off as I prepare to leave for Ohio tomorrow morning for my week with Kerr. Five whole days of studio time--what joy.

Watch the blog this week. If things go as planned, I'm going to save a little energy for blogging each night.

Homework for Kerr, part 2

Read my last post before you read this one. It will save me the trouble of explaining what this "homework" thing is all about. The second part of the assignment is to prepare a written critical assessment of my work--not so much a critique, but an analysis of recurring theme, colors, techniques, etc. So, here goes. A critical look of my work

Color

• orange
• green
• blue
• brown
• tan
• black
• love purple, but I've avoided it because I've had trouble mixing it successfully (that's getting better since Carol's class)

Technique

• Mostly working with thickened dye
• Direct application with foam brush
• Doing a lot more painting than I expected. Maybe I'm part painter?
• Screened dye--often printing with the full area of the screen, with or without paper or wax masking on the screen. I like the hard square edges.
• Extruded dye to create messy lines. The syringe is a little hard to control and forces me to work fast, which is good.
• Layered application of dye (some technical problems here that need to be worked out)
• Discharge paste screened on with a mask to remove background dye (love to do this with leaves)
• Drawing with discharge paste in an syringe or a squeeze bottle

Form, shape, and pattern

• Almost nothing figurative or textual
• Lines and grids
• Round and square spirals
• Circles--regular and irregular
• Leaves
• Dots
• Splatters
• Question: what are my cultural motifs?

Texture, rhythm, descriptive words

• Happy
• Layered
• Depth
• Rough
• Messy

Scale

• Patterns tend to be 10" X 10" or smaller
• Overall composition size tends to be about 24-36" wide X 45" tall
• It's time to do a full width 2-yard piece
• Maybe I need a BIG screen

Fiber

• Cotton--some Kona, but lately Test 400M Print Cloth
• Silk--Habotai is my favorite
• Rayon--takes dye really well and great for whole cloth quilting

Embellishment and quilting

• Running stitch to outline specific shapes or add detail
• Fabric paint--outlining shapes with dots
• Fabric markers to add detail or outline
• Reverse applique
• Machine embroidery
• Yarn appliqued by machine--free motion or with an embroidery machine
• Quilting tends to be dense--stipple, lines, or grids, almost all free motion (I don't do feathers!)
• Starting to do some echo quilting

Homework for Kerr's workshop

I'm leaving one week from tomorrow for Ohio to spend a week at the Nancy Crow Timber Frame Barn studying with Kerr Grabowski. I've been looking forward to this workshop since I made my last drive down Thunder Mountain Road in a billowing cloud of dust. That vivid scene was on the last day of the workshop that I took with Kerr and Rayna Gillman last summer at Peter's Valley. Come to think of it, I started this blog just a couple of days later, after reading Rayna's blog and being inspired to give it a try. I'm a little conflicted (but only a very little) about taking a second workshop from the same person. There are some really great teachers out there. Shouldn't I be looking for breadth instead of depth? I guess I'm more of a depth kind of guy when you get right down to it. Anyway, I don't expect this workshop to be a repetition of last summer. I'm going with the expectation of refining an developing some of my skills, getting answers to some of my "what am I doing wrong here" questions, making great cloth, meeting interesting people, and working in the Barn. It's going to be great. I'm already wishing that it was a 2-week workshop, but my boss would have a fit so it's just as well that it's one week.

So, Kerr sent an e-mail yesterday to the whole class giving us a homework assignment. Can you imagine?! Like I don't have enough to d0? : )

First we need to bring "2 objects that you feel strongly about" and these are to be used for inspiration--sketching, collage, etc.

Second, we are to do a critical assessment of our work, looking for common themes, characteristics, etc.

2 Meaningful Objects This shouldn't be hard, but it is. I've done several laps around the house and come up empty handed (but I did do a little cleaning as I went!). I've come to a sort of weired realization: it's the house and it's contents as a whole about which I feel strongly. I have real trouble picking up a piece of pottery or some other object and saying, "I wouldn't want to live without this." Everything I see or touch has a shared memory attached to it. It's something that Dan and I bought together, built together, some connection. This is an amazing and emotional realization.

Now, I still need two things to take with me...I feel strongly about the cats, but Hillary and Isabella would not enjoy the trip. Isabella had a panic attack the last time she was in the car for more than 5 minutes.

I've settled on two odd things, but they are full of meaning. The first is a journal from a couple of years ago. It includes the beginning of my discernment period (the one I'm still working through), the time of my first serious fiber workshop (Jane Dunnewold), and my conscious, verbal acceptance of myself as an artist. Other volumes and this blog have followed, but this first volume represents the whole.

The second object is a pair of Gingher shears. They were a Christmas gift from Dan more than 10 years ago. They weren't terribly expensive, but something I had hesitated to buy for myself. It wasn't a big thing, but one that was incredibly thoughtful. I opened this gift in front of most of his family and sat there in silence with tears welling up in my eyes. I think it was the validation and support that was so moving.

That's enough of that for now. The critical assessment part of the assignment is going to have to wait for the next posting.

Good new that I forgot to share

I got a note from Darcy Love (ArtCloth Network) that she added me to the group's membership page on the website (http://www.artclothnetwork.com/members.html). It's not a big deal. It's just a thumbnail that links to my personal website. And yet, it is a bit of a big deal. It's a little piece of me out there in the great wide world, and in excellent company to boot. I was tickled when I got Darcy's e-mail, but sharing the news got lost in all of the vacation preparations.

So what next? Well, having been back in the office of just one week, I'm now thinking ahead to May 18th when I'll be driving to Ohio to spend a week with Kerr Grabowski at Nancy Crow. I've been looking forward to this workshop for a year. It's going to be great. I just wish that all of my travel wasn't happening back-to-back. I was away for a week in March, another in April, and now this thing in May. I feel like I'm packing suitcase every time a turn around.

Vacation pics

You probably don't need to see these, but just in case...

The view from the beach. This is what we spent most of the week looking at.

By contract, this is what a lot of the rest of the island looks like, at least on the French side. Yes that's livestock in the front yard.

Happy, rested, and well fed on our last night.

Back in the saddle

Vacation was lovely. As expected, we spent a great deal of time at the beach on cushy chaise lounges under a big umbrella staring at the water. That was interrupted by occasional swimming, eating, drinking, and reading. It was just what we both needed. We had lovely weather except for a little bit of rain near the end of the week. We ate very well, if very expensively. Perhaps we can just accept it as a given that where people are speaking French they are probably also preparing good food.

The trip back was rather bad--American Airlines, delays, long lines, missed connections, etc. We left the hotel at 1 PM Saturday and my head it the pillow (in my own bed, thank God) at 330 AM on Sunday. Total frying time was 4.5 hours; you do the math. Even after all that, I was tremendously grateful that we did not get stuck in San Juan as most of our fellow travelers did.

Would I go back? Yes. The resort was lovely, situated high on a hill overlooking Anse Marcel. We had free beach privileges at the resort down below.

Lessons learned? Avoid American Airlines. In the Caribbean: travel on weekdays; avoid flying through San Juan; expect all flights (especially on the weekend) to be intentionally oversold and delayed; arrive at the airport not one minute less than 2 hours before your flight; allow 1-2 hours for immigration, baggage claim, and customs. Never go to any airport without food in your carry-on luggage. The sandwiches that I made before we left the hotel saved us.

So, I'll post a couple of pictures over the weekend. It wasn't a very good photo vacation for some reason. For now, I'm back a work and very grateful to have had some time away. I think I was a lot more burnt out than I thought given how much better I feel now (even after 3+ days of work).

I survived

...but it wasn't pretty. Actually, the work was a huge success--all the servers successfully upgraded, more than 130 happy users, and no impact on the publishing schedule. Now, the upgrade team may be a different story. I think we're all pretty much wrung out and, quite frankly, fed up with management bureaucracy. It's kind of ironic that if you do your job well then a VP or Director will tell you it's because he/she rode your you-know-what beforehand. If we hadn't done the job as well as we did then we'd be getting miserably abused now. Either way there seems to be abuse; the only difference is before or after. I don't know. This is just more complaining. I've got a really bad case of bad attitude right now.

St. Martin will cure that. No, I'm not building a shrine in the back yard. (Off the top of my head I can't even recall who St. Martin was). What I mean is that Dan and I are going to the Caribbean for a week. Much needed, much appreciated, and much anticipated. Packing starts at the end of the week and we fly out early Sunday morning. We're staying in a smallish boutique resort east of Grand Case on the French side of the island. I'm going to laze in the sun, practice my so-so high school French, eat, shop, and try to ignore how painfully low the dollar is against the euro.

St. Martin is about 200 km ESE of St. Thomas. The weather should be delightful this time of year. I don't know if there'll be another posting between now and the trip. If not, you can at least expect vacation pictures when we return!

This is not my idea of fun

It's Friday night about 9 PM. I should be having a martini with Dan in some nice outdoor cafe, but I'm not. I should be at home sprawled on the sofa with a cat sleeping on my chest, but I'm not. Instead, I'm at work supervising a big computer system upgrade (software spread across several servers and about 150 workstations).

I got home at 10:30 last night and I'd love to be home that early tonight. I don't know if that's going to happen. Regardless of when we finish tonight, we'll be back here by 9 AM tomorrow morning to finish whatever doesn't get done tonight and do several hours of testing.

Not much chance that there'll be any art cloth created this weekend. If it sounds like I'm pouting that's because I am. This is just not soul-feeding work.

Work in progress from last weekend

I got some work done last weekend. This one's three overprinted layers of monoprinting. I'm not sure that the picture does it justice. I think it's more interesting in person. It's certainly not done, but seems to have the potential to turn into something.

The photos below show a piece that I started a couple of weeks ago and cast aside because it was too ugly to deal with. I decided that this would be a good test subject for Carol Soderland's overprinting formula. In a nutshell, if you can find a reasonable approximation of the color that you are overdying, then you can easily determine which colors you can produce by overdying AND the correct dye formula to produce the selected target color.

And here it is on the print table with freezer paper resist in place. Once I got the big white spirals in place I actually liked it a little better.

And here's the next stage after overdying and adding some linear detail with dye in a syringe. I think I came pretty close to what I wanted. Since I took this picture I've started stitching around the spirals. We'll just have to see what this turns into.

Newsy update

I'm a bit behind with the blog, but it's just the same old excuse: too busy. Last week I was getting over my killer cold and then there was church Thursday - Sunday. Somewhere in there--I think it was Saturday afternoon--I managed to finish assembling my color sample book. And of course there's always work and EfM to keep me occupied. This week's reading was about process theology, which is fascinating stuff, but not something that I can really explain (and probably not something that your really want to hear about).

I'm a little confounded that I haven't been able to find any studio time, but at least I've got some good ideas rattling around in my head. There's one piece that I started a couple of weeks ago that is currently too ugly to show. I'm hoping to begin working back into this weekend using Carol's color formulas to try to get it closer to where I wanted it to be in the first place. I'll have to see how things go. I'm already booked to spend Saturday morning with some folks from the church search committee analyzing survey results.

I got two wonderful packages in the mail today. The first was slides of my "Teach Us to Pray" quilt that I need for a juried show submission. I used a website called iprintfromhome.com. You upload your images and a couple of days later they send you mounted slides for a very reasonable price. I got 2 copies of 2 images shipped for about $10. Something worth considering if you find yourself needing slides made from your digital images.

The second package was a complete surprise from Candy, a woman who was in the color workshop with me. She works in a lab and sent me some great surplus equipment for measuring dye concentrate. The studio is really starting to look a little like a high school chem lab. Thanks Candy!!