Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Valentine 1




"Afternoon Delight"

I love Valentines. It's not about the holiday or receiving them or any of the mushy or commercial aspects of Valentines day. I frankly find all of that annoying! It is the remembrance of things past, of when we were small and we bought those boxes full of cards and made one for all of our friends and the teacher would set aside some time to be together and open them, read them, eat candy together and laugh and swoon about the cute boy that gave me one...

I have made at least 100 different images for card companies to be used for Valentines. I love making them even more than receiving them. I wanted to show some examples of the unique cards that I have made for this occasion. The example I am showing today is by Marisol Inc. The reason I loved doing cards for them is that they would send me a sheet of words and I got to create whatever I could dream up as long as it fit within the template and utilized the words. I would always try to fit a house in the picture which was not easy but for this Valentine it really worked well. For Marisol's everyday line and Valentines I was required to make 4 individual pieces of art. The front of the card, the diecut that was in the upper center of card, the mini card that fit into the lower diecut portion and the doodles that went in the interior of the card. So if I made 10 Valentines, I really made 40 pieces of art to make up the whole 10 cards. The advantage of making them this way was in the end the front cover was painted without the diecut so I could utilize it for other things or frame it and it was a piece of art.

left: Front and gift certificate of greeting card

right: interior and gift certificate in diecut holder

center: original art "Afternoon delight" 1996

7 comments:

Brian the Mennonite said...

Your post was a powerful reminder for me today. I am a grade two teacher and I have 26 of those people who are young and making their fond memories every day in my classroom. I will have to remember to take the time and be a kid again with them, read their cards and smile, and let them share their box of cards. Eating candy as a group also sounds yummy.

Your artwork is fun. It is obvious that you enjoy it.

Also...I have a friend who intentionally doesn't buy flowers, or candy, or anything for that matter on Valentines Day as his own little protest of the day. He says we should be making more of an effort to do those sorts of things ALL the time. Nice idea I thought.

andrea said...

You do work hard, Val, and the reults show your effort as well as your talent. I also used to love Valentine's Day. I think Valntine's Day should be a day of food ~ cooking for loved ones and enjoying it together ~ more than anything else.

valerie walsh said...

yes, you are both so right! Andrea yes, we should spend it together making things, having fun and eating good food and candy... Brian, my husband is not into holidays to much so he does bring me flowers for no reason and he brings me treats all the time as he knows I work to hard, rarely leave the homestead and deprive myself of bad things ie: cakes, cookies, and all things yummy so he brings me goodies. I think of him as well and treat him to things he likes and we both get to enjoy the flowers and goodies together for no reason at all!

Unknown said...

Your card designs are just yummy.
My husband and I hardly celebrate this holiday.
We tend to do things when ever. Birthdays and aniversaries are more important.

Caroline said...

Wow you did Valentines differently there to the way we did them when I was at school - thanks for the cultural insight.

Janet said...

Grammar school valentines were the best, weren't they!....and decorating your collection bag, which always involved gluing on those heart shaped paper doilies!

Chuck said...

Wow, you have a nice blog.

Happy Valentines to you!