A Week’s Worth documents what I did all week – a little peek into the life of a freelance fashion illustrator and blogger.

Last weekend, Ray and I drove up north to see my family, and visit Ray‘s property.  Last year Ray purchased a small acreage with a building on it, close to where our families live.  He has been renovating the building to use as his studio.  Since the wood stove has not been installed yet, it is really really cold there.  We are looking forward to doing some more work on it in the springtime.

I also got to see my baby niece again.  She’s 10 months old now and just starting to walk, and she’s full of beans and cute as a button.  I helped my mom bake some buns and played backgammon with my brother, and fell asleep reading Roald Dahl’s Boy in the rocking chair by the wood stove.

Monday was back to work day for almost everybody and I was no exception.  I started my five-posts-a-week commitment with a post about the future of fashion weeks which gathered some terrific responses over the week.

On Monday evening I went to a meeting for the organizing committee of Buy Design, a fundraiser for Windfall Clothing.  I am participating as a member of the creative team led by Andrew Sardone.  We are creating a visual theme for the event inspired by Barbarella and 1960s style futurism.  I also participated in the creative last year and attended the event, it is a terrific fashion party for a worthy cause.

Buy Design is also looking to collect items for the silent auction part of the evening.  At Christine Faulhaber‘s suggestion, I will be submitting an original framed watercolour.  If you have an item to donate please get in touch and I’ll pass your information along to the auction committee.  They say that jewelry and accessories are particularly popular, so heads up designers.  Besides helping a charity, your work will be visible to Toronto’s most influential fashion and media people.

Tuesday and Thursday I went up to Adrienne Butikofer‘s studio to help her with the samples for Fall 2009.  Adrienne and I will be taking her line down to Las Vegas for market week in February and we have a lot of work to do to get ready.  There will be lots more on this over the coming weeks.  Are you going to Las Vegas for market week?  I’d love to meet you there.

On Wednesday I worked in the studio on client projects.  In the early evening, my Rags and Mags collaborator Carolyn and I slogged through a slushy city to visit Rosemarie Umetsu‘s studio.  Rosemarie is a fashion designer who specializes in designs for performing artists, especially singers and musicians.  Rosemarie is an accomplished pianist herself and she loves music.  Her gorgeous studio is full of photography and art and her own bold designs.

Rosemarie Umetsu and Carolyn Rohaly.

Rosemarie does very short runs of her designs – they are very exclusive – and she produces everything in the same house as her shop and gallery.  Each year, she does a collaborative project with a photographer and an artist featuring her clients as subjects dressed in her designs.  It is incredible to see so many creative and fascinating women in fashion images that are really more like portraits.  This year she is working with photographer Caitlin Cronenberg, I can’t wait to see the results.

As far as my own photos go, there wasn’t much worth posting.  Over the week I remembered to take a few photographs but not many.  I use Ray’s camera and it is large and needs its own bag, so often I forget to bring it along.  Then I would find myself in these very photographic moments.  Like, alone at dusk in an empty playground, overlooking the Don Valley with all the lights of the little cars on the Don Valley Parkway.  Or watching a baby walk across a sunny hardwood floor.  Or, in the middle of a flying, fluffy snowstorm early in the morning by the big St. Lawrence Market building.  This week I resolve to take some photos every day and hopefully I will come up with a few worth posting.  Maybe I will even take some of myself, though I’m really not that picturesque.  Then I’ll try fiddling around with some actions. With luck next week’s worth will be that much more photo-worthy.

How was your week?

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