Out Old In New

Oh how it goes the time the time!
The last little shreds of pages are filled in my little journal. I enjoyed stitching in and playing on this old photo that I had gotten for another project.

I also spent a little time trying to work out some ideas for my new series. Yep - my love of crows just can't be let go of!

I enjoyed the process so much that I decided to make another just the same size. I got out my sewing machine and played with threads and stitches for a slightly quilted cover. Fun!

Here is the inside cover and my first doodle in the new book! I find it's good for me to now start putting the start date & end date in my journals because they are starting to become pretty numerous and I don't want to forget. Speaking of my numerous books I may be teaching another bookbinding workshop here in Seattle real soon - I'll let you know the details as soon as I know.

And speaking of workshops I just heard of a great new e-course I'd love to attend but my E-course budget has already been spoken for.
(Together & In the Fishbowl with Marisa!)

Artist Amelia Critchlow is offering a super fun sounding e-course titled "Experimental Art" - basically a whole course geared towards art play! Just what I've been doing with these journal pages only more so. Amelia is a collage and textile artist whose work always seems to push the boundaries of media and expectation.
Check out Amelia's work here: www.ameliacritchlow.co.uk

Goal for Next Year - Guerrilla Art

Through the blog Art is Moving I recently came across this guerrilla installation by Catherine Sinclair. Staged on the lawn of the local City Gallery the dawn before a grand re-opening event, Catherine was able to get her piece "100 % Sheep" seen and viewed by thousands of art patrons. None of which had any idea that the piece was not sponsored by the museum. Brilliant!

This kind of thing has inspired me before. A couple of years ago when the Olympic Sculpture Park first opened there were some pretty incredible guerrilla sculptures that popped up. My all time favorite of course being the infamous "Eaglets". Three miniature replicas of the iconic soaring red sculpture "Eagle" by Calder all nestled into a nest placed underneath the towering sculpture park icon. Adorable!

But part of the true inspiration of these stories is the reaction of the institutions where the pieces were placed. The 100% Sheep were left undisturbed by the museum staff. Welcomed even.

And in the case of the Eaglets? The Seattle Art Museum ended up adopting the little guys. How's that for "getting your work into a museum"?

New Work Reveled

The Weight of Beauty
Oil & India Ink on Cupboard Door

New work recently completed! This painting features a very dear friend of mine who now lives in Hollywood. And a in a mere 2 days she will be coming to the NW for a visit which I'm super thrilled about. I have already anticipated just how strange it will be to show her this piece. I had asked her a couple months ago if I could use her image in a painting but I haven't yet told her that I actually did. Should be fun!

Even though they are not "commercially viable" I really enjoy painting my friends. It's sad but true - portraits are not an easy sell.

Unless you happen to be a magician like Maron Resur. Her portraits seem to fly like hotcakes. Smaller sizes combined with mixed emotions makes them more accessible for folks perhaps. Not to mention they're damn gorgeous:Antipas by Maron Resur
Oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Maron has a show up at Cafe Ladro on Capitol Hill until the end of December which I plan on stopping by. Maybe I'll even take my art loving visiting friend.

Today in Seattle

Today was a perfect piece of Fall in Seattle so I went for a walk right after work instead of doing my usual gymwork. I was enjoying my stroll so much that I kind of had to force myself to stop and take pictures - (Andy, I know, would be appalled at such a thing) but I'm glad I did. It's nice to share a bit of the evening with you. And besides - I haven't dropped in to say hello in a few days. Pictures give me an excuse to amidst all the Fall busy-ness like Calendar project finalizations and painting commissions - which is the short of what I've been up to!

But I had to take a break from all that to go wander through the Olympic Sculpture Park and take artsy sunset photos:

On my way home I finally found the sidewalk gallery that I had heard rumours of. It is put on by the Center on Contemporary Art and is simply called the Belltown Gallery. Basically, it is a sidewalk showcase. I have no idea how I had missed it before. The work currently on display totally made me do a double take.
This round painting on a drum head particularly got to me. One, the content and detail is amazing and two, well... I'm totally a sucker for round paintings.

Thanks for the inspiration infusion tonight Robin Oliver!

The Spoonflower Buzz

"Pigeons & Pinwheels"
8 in. x 8 in. on 110% cotton

Have you heard about Spoonflower yet?

No?

Have you been under a rock this week?

Spoonflower is an incredible new site servicing the crafty / design community. A site where you can easily upload designs for print on fabric. FABRIC!!! Yes, yes... there are other places out there where you can get this done. But all have rather large set-up fees and, to my research, did not seem to be worth it unless you were ordering a VW Bug full of yardage.

Oh sweet spoonflower heaven - you may only be in Beta but already I am in love.

I'll let you know how my test swatch turned out when I get it delivered next week.

Artist Dreams

Let me tell you a story.

Last night I dreamed of the tiny salmon that did not make it down the slough while we all watched. I dreamed of my tears while watching my partner Andy climb down the same slough that claimed the salmon. And the wise old man who said to me, "Here - let me teach you a song for him." And my tears at the beauty of his song. And the discovery of the mason jars that would bloom with fresh flowers if I breathed into them like fogging up a window.

Why am I sharing such a dream in my online journal - A dream that I normally would just jot down into my sketchbook? Because I'm curious if other artists also have such strange, vivid dreams. For me, this is the stuff of paintings. This is the well where my paintings stem from. And I never can make sense of it.

Tell me - can you relate? Or am I just a weird, weird girl?

Either way I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Mason jar cheers,

Rekoj

How did I not know about Saelee Oh?

My oh my do I love her work! She is an artist after my own heart with her Renaissance ways. She paints, draws, does installations, paper cutouts, animations, woodwork and on and on and on and does not appear to have any sort of conflict of identity whatsoever.

My goal is to pull that off for myself with the same grace and ease!

Look at this lovely cutout - isn't it just amazing? I think it is all cut from the same piece of paper even. I know, I know - I'm a sucker for the graphic lines.

If you have no idea who I am talking about then please, enjoy these links:

Saelee Oh's Website

Interview with Saelee Oh on My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses

Fun with Patterns

If you haven't seen it already, there is a FABULOUS post on Design*Sponge on how to make a repeating pattern. (Course, most Design*Sponge posts are fabulous!)

The tutorial is by Julia Rothman and her simple explanation of pattern making just inspiration power-zapped me. I actually remember doing very simple versions of this in grade school art class but completely forgot. Immediately after reading Julia's how-to I had to pop over to Photoshop and play with some images digitally - just for my own immediate wow effect. I'm sure I'm going to end up doodling a bit at home - already the ideas are sprouting...
Thanks Julia & Design*Sponge!

Today's Inspiration: Stella Im Hultberg

I am so completely in LOVE. These peices of lovely gorgeousness were created by Stella Im Hultberg - who just had a show at one of my favorite galleries and I didn't even know about it until now. I'm going to go by a.s.a.p. to see if by chance, the show is still up.

I can barely contain how inspired I am by seeing her work. I can only imagine how wonderful they would be in person. On Stella's blog she has added a post about her show at RoqlaRue with some very beautiful pictures. I am floored by all of them but if I had to pick a favorite it would be "Nothing Remains" - of course I'm a sucker for crow imagery. She lists it as being tea stained paper with oil and ink. But I know that there has to be some magic in there.