A Simple Business Card

Several weeks ago I decided to place some ads for my custom portraits
in a local newspaper.  An added bonus was one week the
ad ran in a Dogwood Arts Festival supplement to the paper.

A simple business card.  Simple?  At one of our church events in Plano, TX, I was working on one of the women's events and learned hundreds of dollar had been spent the previous years on tickets, flyers, etc.  One of the committee members the following year printed out the event tickets using the Avery brand she had bought at Walmart. She used the business card format for the tickets.   I was so impressed with the tickets I decided I would try to print my own business cards.  I have had professionally printed business cards in the past and plan on doing it again sometime. One drawback in the past of the self-printed Avery cards was the perforations on the cards' edges.  Gone are the perforations.

I liked the freedom for design with the Avery brand but had problems saving my work projects on their site.  Also, I had not been able to open PDF files for a long time and had a problem with my Adobe Reader.  Finally I was able to uninstall the old version and install a new one. I tried out the online Vista Print version but did not have the same amount of design freedom as with the Avery brand.

Long story short, it took me five days of trial and error to come up with these cards.  The good

news is I learned some things along the way, things that should help me in the future.  The trial and

 error method seems to be the best way to learn. 

(I'll admit at the time it was very frustrating)

I had not planned on adding my own photo but Clint suggested I needed
it for a personal connection to the prospective customer.  I did not want it to
appear my photo was a portrait I had drawn or painted.

By turning my photo sideways and adding my name beside it, I thought
 somehow that would set me apart as giving the message I was not a
portrait commission example.

The back of the card.  An example of pastels and pencil.  I thought
 these two portraits displayed a good representation of my work.

Got to get some pets drawn for examples, I have done
some precious dog portraits in the past.



Clinton, drawn with pencil.





Emma, drawn with pastel pencils and pastels.



A proof from the newspaper for my approval.  There were changes made
from my original business card design.  The only change I requested was having a larger
font for the words Custom Portraits.  This is before the change.

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The Intertragic Notch

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(please ignore goofed up application of nail polish

on thumb. ;-) Milani "Dressmaker")

I have an intertragic notch.  You have an intertragic notch.  As a matter of fact, you and I both have a couple of intertragic notches.  Yesterday while walking I was reflecting on the intricacy of the human ear.  I am in the process of drawing one now and they are not easy.  Of course I was familiar with the bottom part of the ear being called the lobe.  I thought that was the only part that was named.  Now I know the visible part of the ear is called the pinna. I got out my favorite drawing book and looked up how to draw an ear.  It was surprising to me to learn all the shapes, ridges and rims have a name! 


By studying this illustration in the book, it has helped me understand the parts and will help me draw future ears. I am smiling as I type this, realizing how unimportant this is to most people.  Who knows, this question may pop up on Jeopardy one night.  The visible part of an ear that resides outside the body. What is a pinna?









From one of my favorite books,  Drawing The Head and
Figure by Jack Hamm.



Since I have checked this book out twice,  Classical Life Drawing Studio,  from the local
library, I may just have to break down and purchase my own copy.

Another favorite of mine.

Dear readers, thank you so much for your time spent reading this.  Well, for me it's back to the drawing board. ♥





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Inner Sanctum of an Iris

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An interesting story behind my iris photo, perhaps a story
for another day or one best forgotten.

 

Thought I'd dash in for a second, I've been very busy and need to catch my breath. Clint had warned me this

morning that blogger had a "new look".  As the old saying goes, I have become so comfortable with

the old way and now ...

I have lots of blog ideas and am currently working on a portrait commission.  A cheery "hello" to anyone reading these words and thank you for stopping by.  See you again soon. ♥

Our Complex Lives



Yesterday I was filing more paperwork in our file cabinet and was thinking of how more complex life is today. Thinking back to the 1950s, I can remember the only bills that we received were the electric bill (water might have been included with it), maybe a magazine subscription bill, we always paid the paper boy (yes, boy ... I don't recall any girls delivering our newspaper). The only credit card I remember us having was for a nice department store.  Every  Southern woman had to have a department store credit card, especially for phone orders, too. Many of you may remember they were embossed metal.

I made some photographs of our file cabinet drawers, this is after many files were discarded

when we moved and even after we moved!  Also not included are our personal files, Clint's and mine.

Remember the days we were able to go purchase a new tv,  bring it home, plug in one cable and watch it ... and that was all there was to it?  It also occurred to me of how we all are now controlled with cable tv, medical insurance,, etc. ... oh don't get me started!

The tangled mess behind and beside our tv.

The most amazing part is we got the thing working
without enlisting professional help, having a total breakdown
or killing each other!  ;-D

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Easters Past

My brother, sister and I on Easter morning 1965

This morning I was thinking while walking of old Easter memories.  Every year we would all gather at my grandparents' house on Bland Road.   Hiding Easter eggs was so much fun with all our cousins present.  My grandmother said she would find hidden rotten eggs all over the place for weeks, months, etc.  :-)

Some other Easter memories:

The sunrise service at Sinking Spring Methodist Church.

Blisters on my feet from my new Poll Parrott patent leather shoes.

The smell of vinegar while dying our eggs.

The smell of the poor ole live colored Easter chickens.  Usually

they had died by the time we got back home from our grandparents'

house on Easter night.

Jelly beans and Peeps

7 Up Salad

Deviled eggs and kidding my cousin Jill who was known for loving

deviled eggs.

I hid (rolled) the prize egg one year near a sleeping Pluto,  our grandparents' dog.  Most of us feared this

old dog and it took a while for the prize egg to be claimed.  Probably one of my older male cousins was brave enough to get the egg.

My Aunt Jane's pecan pie.

The blooming of all our dogwood trees.

Easter 1964

 

1965

 

My brother "Jimbo", 1965

My sister Patti, 1965

A saluting Cindy ... actually I was shielding the bright
sun from my eyes.

1965

Easter 1964

Lucinda around the age of two or three.  (Sorry Lucinda, I
could not find any better quality photos of you)  I may have
already given them to you. Around 1976.



Last week at the the  Sinking Springs Methodist
 Church cemetery.  This is the exact site of the sun
rise service I attended so many years ago.

Also, this is the final earthly resting place of many of
my relatives ... including Clint and me.

Bland Road is on the left, named after my Great-grandfather Bland
who owned the land at one time.



One of my favorite vintage prints, I have several different sizes. 



Twenty Nine Thousand, Two Hundred Days

My mom at the age of nine in 1941.  She was in the
4th grade.

Today is my mother's 80th birthday!  It can't be, my mother can't be EIGHTY YEARS OLD!  My mother is still the young active mother I remember, always taking us places and having such fun together.  I remember my sister being downright angry when mom turned sixty.  I laughed at my sister.  Of course my sister was happy our mother had lived to be sixty, she just didn't want to think of our mother getting old and ... well,  you know what comes nearer as we age.

To be honest, I am a little like my sister today when mom turned sixty.  I have been thinking about it for several days. We are blessed our mother is still living, she is not in pain and seems rather happy, even in her current situation.

Happy  Birthday Mom!






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