RhondaK repaints Star Fish Company Tables Memorial Day 2008 RhondaK’s annual event. Rhondakwrites.com

For the past three years I have repainted 3 of Star Fish Company’s tables on their back deck. Usually two of them change, but the one about the history of Cortez, nicknames of some fun Cortezians and the first families of Cortez remain the same. Cortez is one of Florida’s last working waterfronts. For more info see: fishpreserve.org . Rhondakwrites.com

. Rhondakwrites.com In the beginning it was just HARD WORK…

Every Memorial Day, I go repaint these three tables in three different themes. To me, it means a lot. I used to live on a boat out behind the dock, dinghy up to go to work, hang out with fun out of towners and just really enjoy the whole thing. As one of the tables reads “If you’re lucky enough to be a on dock you’re lucky enough.” I take Cortez seriously as it is a key part of the Florida seafood economy. Plus the people who love this place continuously buy land, create museums and try to save this Old Florida treasure for all of us to enjoy. It is worth a visit. You’ll never be the same after you’ve been on this dock. . Rhondakwrites.com

While I was there I was visited by Star Kitty 2 and Star Kitty 3. ( SK3 is not pictured) These are dock kitties. Sometimes a kind hearted tourist will try to “rescue” them. They’ll have NONE OF IT. Living on a fish dock is a cat’s idea of heaven. I also was visited by pelicans, cranes and egrets. One egret got up close. He might have been Petey. Petey the egret lived on the dock when I was there. I got my best selling original sign from him. LIVE WITH EGRETS, NOT REGRETS. I kept watching how Petey didn’t worry about the fish he didn’t catch and kept on going on about the very important business of being Petey. . Rhondakwrites.com

This table used to be a manatee. It read “if the Manatee is still pink, have another drink.” Yes, you guessed it, vintage original RhondaK. Trouble is pink doesn’t really hold up, so the manatee was usually grey. I think this is bad for business and people’s proper state of mind while on the dock. I forgot my bucket top I use to mix paint so I used a Cheeto’s bag to do all three. I’m often using things on the fly in my art. But using a Cheeto’s bag was a first. For the record, it was sheer brilliance if you ever find yourself a modest income Florida Folk artist just trying to get things done. . Rhondakwrites.com

This is the finished table. It is ringed on the edges with COLD BEER and lists the beers that Star Fish Company sells. All the signs have different sayings and I’ve used Petey my muse as my signature on this table. The sayings are drinking, inspirational and fishing in nature. Rhondakwrites.com

I sell my original signs at Star Fish Company. I started painting there to survive a bad situation. So I always have work there $5-10. The green table has a lot of sayings on it that helped me survive. One of them is “surviving the impossible makes more possible.” And so … it does. When you’re at Star Fish, I hope you get a good laugh and think of living on your dreams. You can skip my bad part and go right for YOUR good part. Rhondakwrites.com

I actually worked from my own sign to get this table done. I sort of forgot the precise wording. It is an original saying I wrote to cope with some bad times I had in Cortez. If you get nothing else out of it, I hope you get that persistence is all the luck you’ll ever need and your failures will turn into these vast places you never knew you had. . Rhondakwrites.com

If a starfish loses a leg, it grows back. If the leg breaks close to the center the fallen leg can grow a whole new starfish. My original saying says, “Spirit of the StarFish..what breaks away/regrows..what falls away/rebegins.” . Rhondakwrites.com

As a native Florida folk artist, I work really simple. I don’t have a lot of money but I have most everything I need. A Florida folk artist also has to be able to take the heat and work in Florida’s elements. Sometimes people ask to to do interior murals. I laugh. I’m just an outside, sea shabby chic fun girl. You have to work with kitties, pelicans, egrets, biting insects and white HOT heat. I worked on the tables in cycles of drying time. Thankfully a lot of people came back and talked to me. One couple picked up a custom sign I did. Others kept my spirits up. . Rhondakwrites.com

As a native Florida folk artist, I work really simple. I don’t have a lot of money but I have most everything I need. A Florida folk artist also has to be able to take the heat and work in Florida’s elements. Sometimes people ask to to do interior murals. I laugh. I’m just an outside, sea shabby chic fun girl.

You have to work with kitties, pelicans, egrets, biting insects and white HOT heat.

I worked on the tables in cycles of drying time. Thankfully a lot of people came back and talked to me. One couple picked up a custom sign I did. Others kept my spirits up.

. Rhondakwrites.com The last table is probably the most important table. It about Cortez history and people/beloved pets who have died. The one side reads “Cortez, Florida…our fish tales are bigger than you fish tales.” There is no funner day than sitting on the back dock listening to Cortez fishermen tell their funny stories.

The previous slides show the two images on either end of this table. The one list are of the names that pioneered and fished Cortez in the late 1800s. In general, you aren’t Cortezian if you don’t have these names or history. Buying a piece of property doesn’t get you in! Most of these families came from Carteret County in North Carolina. To read more, buy some of these books. I recommend “Finest Kind” by Ben Green. He talks about the mullet going away, square grouper, real fishermen and shares fun stories of real, honest hardworking people who also knew how to play a little! BUY CORTEZ BOOKS HERE: http:// cortezvillage.org/books.aspx

These are some Cortez and people who have worked a long time in Cortez’s nicknames. Gator. Baby James. Boogie. Tink. Tink was a legendary Cortez Fisherman. Rhondakwrites.com

The far left end facing the sea says “Oskar the Luv Pug I miss you everyday.” Oskar was my dog that died while I lived on the boat. I was at a funeral for a man who’d fallen overboard…and he fell overboard while I was gone because no one was with him. That’s a lot of SAD to carry. Facing is a “miss you” letter to Igor. Igor died this year and was a famous Cortez dog and real character. The line ends with hopes Igor is till chasing the dancing lights. Rhondakwrites.com

BEFORE and AFTER….this took from 5:30am ( drive time ) til 4pm on Memorial Day. Rhondakwrites.com

Cortez is a complicated place for me. I got more than I wanted living on a boat there, but miss the boat and boat life. I learned what I was made of and fully explored the meaning of SURVIVING THE IMPOSSIBLE MAKES MORE POSSIBLE. I admire the people who work there, work on staying there and work on keeping Cortez “real.” This is where I began painting and selling my work. Two women (Karen Bell and Captain Kathe) bought me an umbrella to paint under. It was probably one of the most important gifts of my entire life. For this and other reasons I continue to support, promote and pitch Cortez every second I can. These tables are very important to me and how I made it to where I am today. Rhondakwrites.com