Christmas Is Coming

 Today is Halloween, meaning the end of October.  It may not seem really close yet, but Christmas will be here soon, and I have much to do.  I'm not talking about shopping- that will come later.  I'm talking about cards, something I've been making since I was in Williamsburg, and the current style goes back to Carbondale.  I do save time now by producing a formal Christmas letter with all the year's news, and sending that via email to everyone on my list.  But those people will get the actual card eventually (people who get my cards know that they may not arrive until some time in January) get the emailed letter on time.  However, the design for the card has to be chosen, drawn on wood, cut and printed, and the ink has to dry before the next step.  Then comes the coloring, and the trimming, and then I choose which goes to who.  After that, I quick message (since they already got the full letter) and stuffing and addressing the envelopes.  So you see why I have to start now to get them done anywhere close to the new year.

I decided a while ago that I would do figure drawing twice a month for now, same as I did in Belmar.  And I have already gone twice in October.  Today would have been the 5th Thursday of the month.  Thought about it a while, and decided not to go.  And since I am not ready to do anything in the Studio yet (ink from the last time would not be dry yet) I decided to stay home and start working on my card.  

I bought my paper the other day, so the next step is coming up with a design.  What I have been doing since Carbondale is starting with a famous work of two dimensional art (as much as I love sculpture, and I have taught 3D design 7 times between my two schools, but it wouldn't work as a 2D project), and then changing it to either a winter scene or a Christmas scene.  I brought home a few boxes of art books on my last visit to the storage space, so I got a bunch of those from the basement, the ones in the above photo.  It's just a small portion of what I had on my shelves, but they still represent some of my favorite artists, and many past cards came from these books.  Plus, I made a list of other favorite artists, but those I'll have to find online, which I can only do at home.  

Today I went through all those books, looking for possible images to be turned into cards.  Found a few and noted them, but I will check some online possibilities before I decide.