little helpers

my cards have landed

Yeah! A fun store in the neighborhood, Co-op28, is showing my card line. It’s a great feeling to finally be out there. And the cards look great. If you find yourself in Los Feliz, stop by. One small step…

lettin’ the light shine

halloween card

Okay, I missed the holiday but this guy popped out today. Actually, I have had this image for many many years but everything I tried to do with him seemed off or a little scary. I just added the Boo! this afternoon and it clicked.

I’m excited to add my first Halloween card to the treasure chest. Let’s see, that card took about 9 years to make…at this rate, I should have a full inventory in about 20 years…

If you feel like getting ready for Oct. 31st, he’s on sale at ye olde card shoppe.

training wheels

Identity in the age of extroverts…

I’ve been waiting to receive a book I ordered from the library called  Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain. I’d like confirmation that introverts can do public things even though they would really rather just be home with a good book.

I opened up my e-shop for business on Tuesday and stepped through a doorway that I didn’t even know was there. The first feeling was excitement followed by dawning dismay as a trickle of orders (2 to be exact) showed me that this was not going to be easy. As a matter of fact, it was going to be damn hard to go from zero to being an established brand. That was the first clear insight. I am awestruck by how quickly perceptions pivot once we step off the cliff.

Now that my eyes were wide open and my mood dropping faster than an untethered elevator, a good friend shined a light on another more tricky problem. What exactly was I selling anyway? Was I making art sold as greeting cards or did I really want to sell greeting cards with my artful and skewed take on life? Good question.

I’m not sure I can answer it just yet but I think it calls for a clear-eyed culling of my images and adding some words or punchlines which communicate a reasonably authentic sentiment. Now I bet you are wondering how I could not know greeting card 101, but maybe I wanted to bypass having to really tell anyone my feelings. I guess all that therapy didn’t prepare me for this.

Stay tuned.

(almost) ye ole greeting card shop

I’m for sale! Well, not me exactly but my images are looking for good homes.

Slowly, I am figuring out how to sell my work and by extension, how to talk about it. I’ve made an interim shop on ETSY while my website is under construction. The Etsy shop will help me practice fulfilling paper card orders and ironing out the kinks with printing and shipping.

So, take it for a spin and let me know what you think! This reminds me of when I was 8 or 9 and my best friend and I sold paper flowers from a cart on Main Street in Quogue. The tools are vastly different but the excitement is the same. Enjoy!

isn’t she lovely

I’ve been going through my files looking for great greeting card images and finding lots of buried treasure in the vaults. Surprisingly, I found a few that I forgot existed.

This lovely lady turned up from the early days when I began scanning and collaging my pen and ink drawings into the computer. I am delighted to get reacquainted. She makes me feel happy and hopeful. I’m not sure under which card category she would live but maybe she could float between love, nature and spirit.

Sweetest Valentine

Field Notes: Red Blooded from Coudal Partners on Vimeo.

Okay, I know this is selling field notes but what a way to say I love you! Why does this intrigue me? I think that it gets to the sentiment without being sentimental.

I have been thinking about launching my own greeting card design company for a thousand years (more like 10) and I worry about that fine line between cliche and talking about stuff that really moves us in an authentic way. My work tends to be obscure because I don’t know how to communicate the feelings any other way. Or am I afraid of showing you how I really feel? Oy! Probably a mix of the two. So, will greeting cards be my way of feeling out loud? I’m terrified just thinking about it.