You want respect?

I'll show you respect! True to my promise, here is "Respect," the final cornerstone of that societal edifice we call Marriage.  Don't know why I didn't include it in my original four, it's much more apropos than "Wisdom," don't you think?

There's really no rhyme or reason to how I choose the pieces of clipart to use (beyond compatibility of style.) There's Chinese cranes juxtaposed with nouveau florals, punctuated by 19th-century typographic ornaments. The text has to remain readable and can't be obscured too much, though I do definitely appreciate a cluttered, Victorian aesthetic. (You should see my house, ha ha.)

Tomorrow I'm going to share some of the vintage valentines (circa late 50s/early 1960s) that I found on my recent trip to my childhood home in Southern California. Some great stuff, and their copyrights have expired!! Stay tuned!

Peace Mandala

So lately I've just been sprucing up the shop and reading up on how to improve my blog, advice I seriously need. But until I begin actually showing improvement, I won't credit the people who are helping me, so I won't embarrass anybody.

After embellishing noble words with my Dover archive of Art Deco type ornaments (and deciding they'd be perfect wedding gifts,) I wanted to move on to playing with symbols. My first thought was the Om, symbol of peace and centeredness. But as you can see, the Om is a profoundly unsymmetrical figure, and somehow embellishment didn't suit it. 

I dunno; I created this

 and this,

neither of which really excited me. What do you think?

 
Anyway, I moved on to the Peace sign. I set out to do something highly decorated and ornate that would establish a working style for FeelGood Graphix. ("Get yer highly ornamented '60s hippie symbols here!") When it was done I colored it in Photoshop just to see what it would look like. I tried different backgrounds and settled on a jet black because it contrasted with the colors so beautifully. After looking at it for a while I realized it was like a mandala with blue sky in the middle and detailed decorative painting all around it, as if Mr Toad had gone on from painting his gypsy-wagon to this.

Then I decided it needed some text to make it a truly outstanding t-shirt/coffee mug/tote bag, so I ratted about in the old font cupboard and found Ziggy, a psychedelic trip from the 60s that perfectly embodied my message: "Peace is Beautiful."

 

What do you think? I think it captures the 60s vibe. Now my husband, of the Transcendental Brass Band, says it would make a good cd cover. So stay tuned, we'll see how it all shakes out.

All artwork  

On a "Love" Kick

I am on a Love kick. See, I have a firm belief that Love Is The Point. We're here to love one another, not to acquire wealth or power, but to create good feeling among people. So (in my opinion) if you are working to make others happy, you are doing God's work.

Not everyone agrees with me, of course. Some believe it's God's work to kill those who disagree with their religion. Or that it's God's work to punish others when they sin, in an attempt to recreate divine justice on earth. Of course we have the Biblical admonitions "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and "Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged," but those are the wimpier sentiments, aren't they? I mean, the thrilling parts are all about Revelation and Divine Retribution and being snatched out of your shoes during the Rapture! And it's so much more pleasant to believe that you are on the winning side of the cosmic war between Good and Evil, than to think that God has created all the exquisite shades of gray as well as the black and the white.

So it's clear (at least to me) that the only way to live is to realize that Love Is The Point. Examine your motivations closely when you find yourself calling for someone else's eternal damnation... And while you're at it, emblazon this message on your mugs, greeting cards and tote bags, to remind yourself and all your friends. Then act accordingly!

www.cafepress.com/feelgoodgraphix

Getting the word out

First I was a graphic designer.

No, that's not strictly true. First I was a clerical worker, a drone who took dictation, cut paychecks and answered office phones. When I was in my mid-30s and realized that I had already spent 15 years of my life doing work I hated, I put some real thought into where I wanted the rest of my life to go. I spent hours at the library researching careers, and decided that art was really the only subject that interested me deeply and exhaustively. Anything else -- business, journalism, cosmetology -- might hold my interest for periods, but not really set my life on fire, you know?

So I decided to go back to school and become a graphic artist. I got an associate's degree in 1993 in Visual Communications. I got a job at the Salem, Oregon, Statesman Journal newspaper and worked there for 11 years, creating ads, flyers and catalogs.

And then I moved from Salem to Portland, a distance of about 50 miles. I commuted that distance (actually 106 miles round trip per day) for two years. When gas prices reached $2.00 per gallon and mileage was costing me $200 per month, I finally resigned.

Fortunately, I had a Mac computer, and could still design, if only on my own time. I was creating some pretty cool images and had no outlet for them until I found CafePress. It felt like a marriage made in heaven. Here was a site that would let me upload all my designs, would do all the work printing them up for me and shipping them, and would pay me money besides!

So I signed up. I decided that the point of creating my shop was to make people feel good, so I called it FeelGood Graphics. I created a benign, grandmotherly logo to convey the idea that my designs were like little cinnamon rolls of joy being served up for your delight. I went on a tear uploading everything I had on my computer, creating coffee mugs, t-shirts, tote bags and posters by the dozen. I had found my niche.

Now all I needed was to get the word out.