Monday, December 01, 2008

Watercolor tinies...


"Waiting" or "Christmas Bricks"
2.5" x 3.5"
Watercolor/pen and ink on illustration board

Here is another one of the group of small watercolor paintings that will be available for sale soon at Gallery 9. This one is called "Christmas Bricks". I originally called it "Waiting" when it was an ink drawing, but the color changed the mood of it and the name followed suit. So, it has two names. Hope you enjoy. More to come soon.

In other news, I spent a chunk of my time this evening trying to work out a hang tag design for my wooden wearable pins. A waste of time maybe, since I'm not on 100% board with the display I created for them (though it will do for now). This whole crafting thing is like revisiting an old, great friend. It's all new again, your rejuvenated yet so comfortable. Then, upon spending more time together, you get reacquainted with the little, infinitesimal things that used to make you want to pull out your hair out every once in awhile. That's a bit how I feel about displays and packaging for my own handmade stuff. And to some extent, working on my own branding in general. I love designing these things. It's fun to do for someone else. But, for some reason, doing it for myself is always this sort of a headache. Something I put off, procrastinate on, end up doing on a really tight timeline, feeling as though I am 'settling' for something, feeling that I 'could have done a better job if I'd had more time'... Although, on second thought, maybe that's the way it should be. Otherwise, I could just spend my whole life on a dress rehearsal. As a designer, I understand that (and here is the voice ringing in my head) "...this is why there are BETA versions of things. This is why there are REVISED versions, redesigns, etc.." Because nothing is perfect the first time. Or maybe they are perfect at that moment, but they're not perfect anymore in six months. Things change, circumstances change and times change. Nothing HAS to be perfect because there has to be room to go somewhere new and different next time.

2 comments:

Gina Perry said...

Sweet illustration Kathy. :)

I can see how you'd feel like that about branding/packaging. But just think how wonderful it is that you call all the shots! And in my own 'real world' version of this, there was never enough time for drafts and revisions, just cranking something out for production based on ridiculous deadlines and having to please a whole team of people, rather than just yourself. More pressure - but ownership! There's always next Christmas to do it different/better.

Unknown said...

Gina, thanks for the comment.

You are SO right, and I KNOW this myself. I needed someone to remind me. Heh. heh. :) Thanks for that.