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.