Sickie Sick Horribly Sick

It's been 5 days. Five full days of the Seattle Crud. No signs of it clearing up anytime soon either. Which is the reason for my absence these past few days.
4 weekends ago I snapped this picture with my new camera at the Ballard Locks while my parents were visiting. The same weekend that I found out the possibility of Artfest and my fingers were crossed for the chance to go. I almost was not able to take that chance due to work. When I ended up being able to go after all, I was oh'joyed. I was giddy with excitement. I had lots To Do before I could go, but I could go.
My self imposed schedule for bringing all the loose ends and pieces together in time? Gone right out the window when the Seattle Crud moved in. I haven't done a single thing this past week to get ready. Determined that feeling better was way more important for the trip than being well prepared and packed I've slept and taken care of myself like I should.
So why oh why has the crud done and moved into my chest today???
Ugh. So not fair.
I'm continuing to rest up and drink tea, swathed in my favorite quilt all the while with fingers crossed that I feel better by tomorrow. I just have to. So here I am, putting this out to blogland and the Universe in hopes that declaring it will make it so.
I will be 100% well in time for Artfest. I will.

Punk Rock Flea Market Madness

A journey through the third Punk Rock Flea Market!

This fabulous retro gold super hero suit was found at the booth shared by Baddins & myself. It worked some magic mojo on Cory who was then seen proudly flashing gold for the following two hours... If the superhero costume fits....

Here was our booth with Miss Baddins peekin out from amongst the goodies...

And here was the Rekoj side - fun kid wear and a very full clothing rack that doubled as our doorway in & out. Xtina was reading Tarot next to us so the clothes also provided a slight amount of a privacy screen too. Worked out well!

Overall a super fun day filled with hanging out with friends and some of the Etsyrain crew who were there too. Scarywhitegirl got to trade some fun stuff with Baddins and UglyBaby made threats all day to steal a skirt that I got from Baddins. That Baddins was rockin it with her spring cleaning sale!

And thanks go to this lovely customer who loved her new Rekoj top so much that she was going to wear it out - and she let me snap a picture. Doesn't that rocket just look great?

Cheers all and I can't wait until the next Punk Rock Flea Market. And maybe Cory will wear that suit again too... we can only hope!

Artfest 2008

Hi everyone - I'm just quickly popping in today to let you know that I heard of another available Artfest spot. It's so sad that there are folks out there who planned for almost 6 months or more and then at the last minute find themselves unable to go!

Finding someone to take their spot can make it better though.

Maybe you or someone you know is just like me and is in need of a long weekend of art retreat amazingness? Someone who can pull up their bootstraps and just go? If you know someone like that then please follow this link to check out the information.

http://joaniehoffman.blogspot.com/2008/03/artfest-spot-for-sale.html

New Website Launch

It's ALIVE!!

www.RekojDesign.com

Feathered Flight and Photo Shoots

Thanks to my lovely helper who is pictured here! If it wasn't for her open willingness to play dress up out on the light well of our building then I wouldn't be gushing over the coming together of my website which is finally starting to happen!

It was a pretty full weekend - almost completely covered the floor of my studio on Friday and Saturday night with fresh drying clothing in preparation for the Punk Rock Flea Market. And then Saturday afternoon, during a moment of perfectly overcast and even light, I had my first real photo shoot session involving *gasp* real live people! It was wonderful fun and now I'm not sure how I ever thought that things looked alright on the dress form. No wonder my Etsy sales were few! Hopefully that won't be the case any longer.

It was a weekend of "getting things done" but I did manage to squeeze in a little fun time too. I journeyed down to Olympia to visit the birds, squirrels, the bay and of course, that Andy guy. Was a nice little break from all of the "getting things done" which filled the weekend and will continue throughout this week. Now that I have pictures I'll be clunking away on the website so (fingers crossed!) it can be live in time for the Punk Rock Flea Market this Saturday.

Got to love that self imposed art push - without it I'd just watch mountains of netflix I'm sure =)

That being said I apologize for the lack of posts in advance. I have a feeling that the next time I surface to share news it will be of the grand opening of my new portfolio website!

Illustration Friday - Garden

Garden Bounty
Fabric Ink on Rescued Hooded Sweatshirt

Ha! A eureka moment - all of these one of a kind, hand painted clothes that I have been doing for years and years? They are totally illustrations so why the heck not submit some to Illustration Friday? Oh yeah. And I actually painted this one on Friday thanks to the IF inspiration.

These past few days have been incredible. A bit of an up/down roller coaster but incredible all the same. On Friday, amidst painting this hoodie, I made realize that a long term dream/goal of mine was suddenly possible for this year. Artfest 2008 Port Townsend had a registered attendee who needed to sell her sold-out spot, which I found out about thanks to Kelly Rae's blog post. I emailed and schemed and planned and danced in excitement!
But I tried to contain myself because it wasn't finalized until I could actually get the time off work. Here it was, a festival that artist FLY in from all over the country and the world and I live a mere 2 hours from it and I might not have been able to take the chance because of work. Gave me many days of fretting that's what.

I kept myself plenty distracted over the weekend though with visiting friends and family, an amazing trip to Ballard and the Locks where I got to photograph a posing crow, (more on that later!) eat great food and laugh, smile and love with my loved ones. I saw a choir concert, ate crepes and took a research trip to the Suzzallo Library with my bf Katie. Marvelous weekend. The only bad part was Sunday night where my same bf was interviewing among 4 other amazing people for an open membership position in my home. She was up against some hot cookies and I'm trying to hope & hold onto the belief that everything works out for reason's yet unseen and perhaps now was not the right time. The future perhaps.

So all in all a rich full wonderful weekend that had me fretting and pacing with excitement / anticipation / fretting and confusion. This afternoon brought affirmation though. I can go!
*** Insert SQUEE ***

I can see all of the new connections and inspirations that will follow from going. I can picture giving inspiration to others. I can picture Fort Worden perfectly because I've been there several times before. Smiles on the beach with paint under my fingernails.

My thanks go out to Lindsay, Kelly, my boss & the Universe.

To Macro or not to Macro

Picture 1) No Macro

This is what I've been attempting to work with by using my old digital camera...

Picture 2) MACRO

This was taken with what possibly might be my brand-new (to me) camera. OMG thanks Denise!

To Macro or not to Macro? There is no question.

Glowing

The Punk Rock Flea Market is on it's way again - coming up on March 22nd - and I have a whole spiraling to-do list in preparation. And I'm thrilled. I'm busy busy and it isn't really possible to get it all done... but I'm thrilled. Because it isn't just all for the PRFM... it's for the new website I'm building. It's for the excitement of a future photoshoot of my clothing doodles. It's for the pleasure of my muse herself.

This week has been full. Very full. Filling and sloshing up to the brim. I'm certain that tonight's visit of First Thursday Arts Walk in Pioneer Square will tip me right over the edge. I'm already eager in anticipation for tomorrow night - a studio night! My favorite kind of Friday...

Really though, this week has been inspired and present. I've had multiple moments of feeling my being... my path in this time and place. It's the kind of feeling that when it happens, makes me want to look around and see who's looking because surely, I must be glowing, right?

If I were a wood burned pendant today I would be this one - glowing with the half light of a puget sound evening. Happy First THursday Arts Walking to any and all who plan on stepping out tonight.

IF- Leap

"When Pens Fly"
ink on found paper

For Illustration Friday this week I decided to include this little bit of fun that I made by rummaging fun papers out of my office recycling bin. A black envelope, a lovely sky & grass print taken from an invitation and some silver card stock for the pen and wings.

Oh yes. That'll be the day when she takes a leap and the pen flies....

Purple Rain and Indecision

Over the past week I've begun posting pendants on Etsy again. Such as this Purple Rain pendant that I listed today. It went perfectly with the current Etsyrain Creative Challenge, so of course I had to list this one next. Finally, the shop isn't looking too bad! (Thanks again to the lovely photography of MarloM!)

Today is a return to Rekoj. I've given it a break these last two months - I have been painting for pleasure rather than for sale. And it has been wonderful! Wonderful and rejuvenating. The well-spring of rekoj lines is flowing once more and I'm ready to commit some fresh ink to some fabric today. I'm about to go get busy but I wanted to stop off here first and say hello. Actually, as the post title suggests, when I first set down to type this I was still at a coin toss between working some more on my oils or digging into the clothing to be painted bag.
Sometimes all you need to do to figure out your direction for the day is to take a moment to sit still. Happy Sunday Doves!