Color is Personal

I have been working on creating some holiday cards to have available for my patrons at work this week. I remember distinctly that one patron who looked through my cards last year saying " I don't buy Christmas cards that are blue. I like them to be red, green, gold, etc. but not blue. I don't relay to blue as a Christmas color." It was a comment that challenged me away from making too many blue cards which is what I seem to relate to. I feel that angels should be in a blue background. The sky looks bluer in the winter after a snowfall. The night with stars is blue. The shadows on the snow appear blue. So my personal preference seems to be to use blue. I cannot explain why that is. But to my surprise this same patron chose my cards with blue this year. She could not explain it to me. Is she evolving a new taste in color???

My holiday message

I believe everyone chooses their own message, symbols, etc. for the Christmas season. I have spent the last week or so looking at commercial cards. There are lots of messages out in the world. So when I focused in on my personal choices for symbols and messages, it always comes to basically one word, P E A C E. So many of my cards voice this message. I wish everyone to find peace in their midst, wherever they may be.

An Inspiration Visit

Yesterday I was fortunate to drop by the Art Institute of Chicago for a few hours of artistic inspiration. The new Modern Wing is always exciting to walk through and I paid special attention to some of the artists work that inspires me: Joseph Cornell, Juan Gris, Paul Klee. I was paying extra attention to Juan Gris's work and discovered some details in this artist's work earlier this year when I was in Madrid. I always enjoyed the cubists but I never delved into the work Juan Gris as much as this trip. Yesterday I found myself looking closely at a few pieces at the Art Institute. I was especially focusing on the diagnals in his work.

Towards the end of my visit I found the work of another artist that inspired me as a collage artist. There is currently an exhibit of the work of James Castle. He is an artist from rural Idaho who, despite undergoing no formal or conventional training, is especially admired for his homemade quality. He was born to be considered deaf and never gained a language. More recently it is believed that he might have been autistic. He never learned to write but instead copied from commercially produced objects. He created small books using whatever cardboard, twine, string he could find. I was so shocked to see what could be create with just a little soot and spit. Many of his works are very small and use whatever paper he found from packaging, newsprint etc. It's really worth seeing. And now I feel like I should run to the studio and make some art.

Merry Christmas

Sometimes special orders bring new challenges

I had a special order for some equine cards. One for a birthday and the other for Christmas. I had a real challenge there. Can't draw a horse but I love the silhouettes so transfers saved the day. I was quite pleased with the results. I hope my patron likes them as well.

Where has the time gone?

I just noticed I hadn't posted for some time. What have I been doing? Well for starters I have been doing more exhibits and sales. Marketing took up much time. Some new requests came in for cards. I have an order for 20 Christmas cards. Just a sample of my order for you to see.