The Comfort of Cards

The past few days I have been working hard on a custom order of over 100 cards with my painting of the chickadee on them. I'm very touched by the order as it came from a friend who needed them for a special family mailing.

So I feel like I've been a card manufacturer this week more than anything else. It's been oddly comforting work. I've mentioned before that I ran my own wholesale card company full-time for about 7 years. I still have some of my inventory downstairs. Running a card company was wonderful in many ways but in the end I painted less and less as the administrative side of of my business grew.  Doing this order brought me back to the things I loved about my card business. First of all, I adore paper. I've printed the cards this week on actual watercolour paper and it's been a pleasure handling it. When I did my big card runs, I relied on a commercial printer. This week, I cut the paper myself with a Fiscars paper trimmer I bought years ago at Costco, printed it on my Epson R1900, scored it with a Cutterpede Straight Edge Trimmer (a nifty tool I just purchased) and folded it with a bone folder. I didn't have my bone folder until late yesterday so I folded some of my first samples out of the printer with the end of a wooden spoon! (It worked.) I learned through trial and error to use the bone folder on the back of cards when I am folding them just in case there are burnishing marks on the paper which happen every now and then. (I've just read about teflon folders and may order one for future projects as they apparently don't leave any marks at all.)

I used to make jokes when my girls were little that they would show up at school knowing not only how to count to ten but to twelve--because they were always around me when I was counting out dozens of cards to send to my retail customers. I find the task of repetitive counting, sorting and packaging to be very soothing. It allows time for thinking.

One thing I've thought about this week:  I sit on the floor a lot! With many of the flat surfaces covered with equipment (computer, printer, etc.), I put my paper trimmer on the floor and have cut the paper there. It's funny, I've often done crafts on the floor in the past. (When I paint, however, I do sit at a table!) I can remember when Emma and Chloé were babies, I'd be down on the floor or playground surface playing with them and look over and notice that other parents were sitting on benches or standing and talking together. I'm sure that says something odd about me.

This week has made me think that I may introduce more cards to my shop, both from my previous inventory as well cards created from my newest work. I think the chickadee card could work very well as a holiday card.

My Little Chickadee

It was a pretty quiet weekend--lots of homework being done in our house.  I took advantage of the quiet time to paint.  I haven't painted many birds before.  I did a painting of a snow bunting earlier this year but I wasn't happy with it.  I decided to try again and I'm glad I did.

The chickadee is one of my favourite visitors to our backyard.  It is a polite, delicate and joyful bird.  I find the sight and sound of it to be uplifting.

I did this painting on a paper I've never used before.  It's actually paper that is mounted on a thick board (Crescent Watercolour Board).  I normally paint on textured cold press paper but this paper is hot press and therefore has a very smooth surface.

Maybe it was the new paper. Maybe it was because I am constantly inspired by the gorgeous bird paintings of Geninne and some of her beautiful 'birdieness' has rubbed off on me. :) Whatever the reason, I think it turned out!

I just might have to give that snow bunting painting another try.