A belated happy B-day to my blog

July 6th marked the one-year anniversary of my blog. It's hard to believe. I surprised myself. The posts have been a bit sporadic lately, but that's more a symptom of a busy life than lack of interest.

More posts to come. No real end in sight...

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.