Christmas Ornaments Christmas Card

“This card is dedicated to my mother.
Filled with the Spirit of Christmas,
She always made sure the holidays were all about the special
details.
Whether it was a hand-made Christmas tree ornament
Or a beautifully wrapped package,
Christmas always had her signature style.
All the ornaments illustrated on this card have hung from
My mom’s Christmas tree.
Some of them are hand-made and decades old,
While other ornaments are more recent.”

This is the written dedication that appears on the back of the 2011 wrap-around Christmas card.

This card was a long time in-the-making.  The last time I had created a Christmas card was 1998.  And since 13 years had passed, I wanted this design to be very special.  It doesn’t get any more special (for me) than Christmas and my mom. 

Having worked from older photographs, the pencil sketches for this card had been drawn years ago.  I always knew I wanted to create a card like this, so much of the necessary ground work had already been started.  Comparing the existing pencil drawings to the photos, I did make some minor revisions to some of the sketches.  I then scanned them and created the black line work using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.  For example: the stocking, candle, Christmas tree, reindeer cup cake, pine tree candles and star were easier to create using Illustrator.  The balance of the card: the twink elf and the bearded elf were created using Photoshop.  The starburst and snowflakes are Photoshop brushes that I downloaded from online.  This is the first art work posted to this blog that was predominantly created digitally.  Yes, the sketches were created traditionally using pencil and paper, but going forward, most of my work will begin with pencil sketches.  That is what I know.  That is comfortable for me.  And I would like to keep some of the creative process grounded in tradition.  But, the bulk of this design was created using CAD programs, which was pretty much a milestone for me. 

The ornaments on the face of the card are very special to me and hold treasured sentimental significance.  Both the candle and stocking were made by my mother from felt.  They were created from a felt ornament kit purchased at a local craft store.  They were cut, sewn and stuffed in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.  These ornaments are embellished with beads and decorative cording.  There were multiple felt creations that not only hung from the Christmas tree, but decorated our house every year at Christmas time.  These hand-made treasures have been divided up by my mother and gifted to my brother, my sister and myself throughout the years at Christmas. 

When I was younger, my parents would purchase a Christmas ornament each year, for each child.  Eventually, these ornaments would be gifted or “passed down” (by our mom) to my brother, my sister or myself throughout our adult years as our “special Christmas present” that year.  Of course, we loved this because most of those ornaments were made by her.  But some were not.  The twink elf, the bearded elf and the cup cake reindeer were all purchased when I was a child.  I do remember the first year the cup cake reindeer was placed on the tree, but I don’t remember where it came from.  The two elves are ornaments that I remember always being on our tree, so I don’t know when they were introduced.  But I’ve always loved these three ornaments, especially the cup cake reindeer.  It’s so unique and colorful.  The Christmas tree ornament is dimensional and made of wood.  It was made in Germany and purchased at Disney’s Epcot Center in one of the German gift shops.  It was purchased in the early 1990’s when my mom, my (then) partner, his son and I vacationed at Disney in Orlando.    

On the back of the card are pine tree candles and a star.  These adorn one of my mom’s smaller Christmas trees, as these are mini-ornaments.  My mom is a big fan of all things colonial.  She loves anything relating to Williamsburg, VA.  So when she came across these common-wick “hand dipped” candles in the shape of Christmas trees I’m certain she felt the need to have them.  The star is ivory bisque porcelain with painted trees in each of the star’s five points.  Because my mom is a star (in my book) of course, I had to include it.  

Nutcrackers Christmas Card

Also known as “A Very German Christmas”, this design was created in 1998.  All of my nutcrackers and smokers (rauchermann) are wood, hand painted and were made in Germany.  They are either very traditional (like the two kings; one wearing the red coat while the other decked in blue) or very beautifully unique (like the snowman nutcracker).  Many of these beautiful nutcrackers were given to me over the years by my mother, usually as a very special Christmas gift.

I do have a small collection of smokers (rauchermann).  Essentially these are incense burners in the form of pipe smoking everyday figures.  The Santa Claus was one of the first smokers given to me by my mother.  While the three nutcrackers are colored accurately, the Santa Claus is not.  The original is lightly stained in muted Earth tones.  The red of Santa’s coat is more like a brick red “barely-there” wood stain.  The white is more like a white-wash, hit-or-miss in its opacity and coverage.  I used artistic license to re-color the Santa smoker so he was visually similarly to the three nutcrackers, keeping consistent color harmony. 

These sentimental items are not only beautiful works of art rich in history and tradition, but they also hold treasured memories for me.

I really loved the previous Christmas cards, but I wanted more color.  As a result, this card was printed two up on 8.5 x 11 inch paper using a color copier.  The printed paper was then mounted to 8.5 x 11 inch twin-tack (double stick adhesive paper, similar to double stick tape, but paper…not tape) and each illustration was cut from the paper and applied (peel and stick) to a blank card. 

The original artwork was created using the same technique as my erotic pieces.  Black India ink line work painted then photographed using a stat camera.  The black and clear acetate of the painted line work was then used as a guide for “painting-between-the –lines” to produce the multi-colored Nutcracker Christmas card.  

Christmas Cardinals Christmas Card

Christmas Cardinals has a bit of a story behind the design, ever so slightly auto-biographical.  It was 1994 and my (then) partner and I were planning a pretty significant move the following month, in January of 1995.  We were moving from Jersey City to a lovely home in the picturesque Northern New Jersey town of Maplewood.  In addition to this being our Christmas card in 1994, it also functioned as a change of address notification.  So, having two male cardinals gathered around a festively decorated birdhouse seemed like a fitting design. 

I’ve always loved (male) cardinals.  They are stunningly beautiful, as their red feathers are usually in stark contrast to their surroundings.  They are also most impressive song birds.  But probably my favorite reason for loving them so much are some precious childhood memories.  I can remember being in my grandmother’s dining room, where she had a windowsill bird feeder.  Now, from what I can recall, the bird feeder was pretty rigged up, possibly even home-made.  I remember it being some sort of aluminum foil covered metal pan measuring about 8 inches wide and the length of the window ledge.  She would scatter bird seed in the pan, close the window and then the magic would begin.  Within minutes, all sorts of birds would descend on her home-made feeder as we quietly watched on the other side of the glass.  Of course, the brilliant cardinals were my favorite of her daily visitors.

Becoming more comfortable conceptualizing, designing and executing camera ready Christmas card mechanicals allowed me to invest more of myself into each design.  I also added more bells and whistles to this design.  This is a three color offset printed card with the black color raised using thermographic printing.  I also incorporated a Letraset half-tone screen pattern off the black screen to create the gray color of the roof’s shingles as well as the home’s interior.  

Santa Moon Christmas Card

In 1993 I designed the “Santa Moon” Christmas card.  This card was different from the previous two cards for several reasons.  This was my first two-color offset printed card.  I used a Letraset half-tone screen pattern off the red color to create the flesh tone of Santa’s face.  The five-pointed star areas were left blank so I could fill them with metallic gold stars.  The gold stars were created using a rubber stamp and metallic gold stamping ink.  This card differed from the previous two also because it was printed on bright white card stock. 

Because I love rubber stamps, I also had a stamp created with just the Santa Moon.  To this day, it is one of my favorite rubber stamps.  

Prancing Reindeer Christmas Card

The second Christmas card I had printed was created in 1992.  It is a one color reindeer design, executed in a flat graphic style and printed on ivory card stock.  The dark green reindeer is in profile, soaring through the air (as reindeer do); with a festive double ribbon trailing in the breeze behind him.  I wanted the look of a second color, so I created a half-tone using the same dark green and some dashed lines, forming a background scroll pattern.  The design is framed nicely with a double rule border (the exterior rule thick, the interior rule thin) in which the antler and back hooves of the reindeer break the frame, creating a limited feeling of depth.  A sense of depth is also implied by placing one of the two streaming ribbons in front of the scroll background and the other ribbon appearing to unfurl in the breeze behind the background. 

In addition to the card, I also had a rubber stamp created using the exact design.    

Classic Poinsettia Christmas Card

I’m working on several erotic pieces, but unfortunately, they are not finished.  So, in the Spirit of the Season, I’d like to share some of my other work. 

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always created greeting cards for my parents.  I used to draw birthday cards, Anniversary cards and Christmas cards for them.  I’ve always loved creating Christmas cards.  They were my favorite. 

At several points in my career, I applied to Hallmark Cards.  Each application got me closer to obtaining an interview, but since the third time was not a charm, it became Hallmark’s loss, not mine.  Yeah, I was upset and very disappointed, but that was several lives ago, so to speak.

In an effort to turn lemons into lemonade, I worked through my disappointment from Hallmark’s repeated rejections and did my best not to become too discouraged.  After all, there will always be folks who love your work and those who don’t.  So, I’ve learned to surround myself with people who support and encourage me.  I try to be my best advocate by believing in myself and my work.

In 1991, I had my first Christmas card printed.  I designed and painted the card, created the mechanical and delivered it to the printer.  It was a simple one color poinsettia design which was offset printed in a bright garnet red on ivory card stock.  The design of the poinsettia was based on square Victorian panel decorations.