The Eighth Night!

Designing is an odd process. There’s a certain amount of inspiration coupled with repetition and experimentation. There also seems to be a recurring theme of frustration! But I learned long ago (probably in my days as an auditor) that the best thing to do is to walk away, change what I’m doing or, if I can, sleep on it. That’s what happened a couple of weeks ago. I worked for a few hours on an idea for our Chanukah cards. I had a good feeling about it right off the bat. It was based around a hand drawn, hand colored Star of David I had made previously. But as I neared the end, I began to get that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something was wrong. Everything looked flat and unexciting. I printed one out and it confirmed that my stomach should be thudding.

Big sigh, actually several big sighs. I had to fight the impulse to keep plowing forward. If I do that I end up in a worse place, like adding color, after color, after color of paint in a blob on a palette. Pretty soon all you have is a big, muddy blob. But I had a deadline. Chanukah was just a few days away. I headed to bed. Just before I dozed off, that defeated feeling pressing in heavier than any quilt, two different designs flashed through my mind. The weight lifted. It felt so clear and strong I didn’t even reach for my glasses and a pen and paper. I knew they would be there in the morning. There might even be more. I fell asleep immediately.

The next morning I woke up with the previous night’s ideas front and center. Sure enough, there were a few more tagging along as well. I headed for the laptop and was able to translate what I had in my mind into the computer. Not too terribly long later, (with Chuck’s assistance) our Chanukah cards began to glide out of the printer.

On this
the eighth night
Chuck and I
wish you all...







Original drawing, design and manipulations by LMR/Pink Granite. Software: Apple iPhoto 5 & Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac. Font: Papyrus.