Helen Chick
To all my readers — my vast internet audience of millions (yeah, right!), including friends met in real life and seen often or rarely, virtual friends and acquaintances, the lurking silent mystery readers, folk who have ended here by accident, and even spammers (yes, it’s Christmas and I’m feeling charitable!) — may you be blessed with a wonderful Christmas that brings you joy and peace, and may 2011 be a year of happiness and fulfilment for you. Warmest regards, Helen.
Some of you have already received a physical card, while for others it is still in the mail (including some international ones that I thought I’d sent, but then discovered yesterday to my chagrin that I hadn’t, so I’m afraid they’re going to be late (sorry Helena, among others)); for the rest of you, I hope you’ll accept these virtual wishes.
[And, while we’re here, let’s just have a little philosophical diversion about political correctness. I’ve read quite a few things about the de-Christianifying of Christmas (and, yes, I know the Dec 25 celebration wasn’t a Christian festival originally, blah, blah, blah, but it became one), and about how people are now feeling obliged to say “Happy holiday season” to people. I am over this. The point is, for me “Christmas” is about Christ, but that my belief in Him — and the fact that the festival falls at the end of the year which naturally lends itself to a time of reflection — also leads me to contemplate more deeply than usual the value of my family and friends. So, when I wish you a “Happy Christmas” it indicates my beliefs and I’m not trying to impose mine on you (though if you want to know more just ask!), but it also reflects my appreciation for you and my hope that your life will be blessed with good things. Okay? Good. Glad we have that sorted out. 🙂 ]
A post or two or more ago I promised you that this year I would show you the process for creating this year’s Christmas card. So, here goes.
| There’s a major component in the process that cannot be shown visually, and that’s the “inspiration” phase, where I have the idea for what I want to try. Sometimes this inspiration comes well in advance (as was the case last year, when the fact that I was in Oxford gave me the idea for my theme and how to approach it); other times it’s the end of November and I’m panicking about what to do. In the latter case — which is pretty much how it was this year — I just grab a piece of scrap paper and a writing implement and see what happens when I start doodling.This, then, is my first sketch of my design, done in pencil in a small artist’s notebook (even though — on both counts — I am not a small artist). The image shown at right is approximately the actual size of the original. At this stage I was happy enough with the composition, although there were a few things I was worried about because I know I have difficulty with animals, women’s faces, and the female form in general (especially when “great with child”!) … but I decided to take a risk and continue. |  |
| The next step was to decide what media to use. Over the years I have used various approaches, usually governed by what I think will produce the best effect for the style that I want, what resources I have available, and what mechanism I am going to use for production. Some years I have used pastels, others charcoal, and one year I think I even used whiteout pen, and recently some designs have been illustrated digitally; some cards have been photocopied, some printed professionally, or printed as film prints, or printed on my home printer. Anyway, this time I decided to go for an ink and wash look. I haven’t used this medium before; in fact, the annual Christmas card is pretty much my annual artwork (!), and so my experience and expertise with a vast range of media is negligible. Consequently I needed to see if I could get the effects I want.Now I know practice makes perfect, but I sometimes find that the more you do something the worse it gets, so I did just the one study*, shown at right. I was happy enough with the result, so I moved on to producing the actual card, this time on 20cmx15cm paper.
*Actually, I was in a screaming hurry, and patience isn’t my strong suit anyway. |
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| Google came to the rescue to give me photos of donkeys to use as models for Mary’s beast of burden, and I was content with how he turned out in the sketch. Mary’s bulge, on the other hand, is, artistically, my own responsibility and although I was less happy with the result I wasn’t game to attempt to improve it because I couldn’t figure out what to do to make it better.One of the critical consequences of moving from draft sketch to the “real thing” is that the “hand-wavy” details — such as Mary’s feet — that had been left out of the draft because all I was worried about at that stage was getting the basic essence of the design, all of a sudden have to be decided upon and brought into being.I have no idea what Mary would have had on her feet! Worse than that, given that drawing feet is another of my artistic nemeses I probably just should have assumed she had a really, really long dress … but I can’t help thinking that would have looked even sillier.
What usually happens at this stage is that if I’m “happy enough” with the design, then that’s what I use. |
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| Now for the scary bit. When it’s pencil, it’s erasable; inking is indelible. The next stage was to track the lines with a confidence I never feel, and, now that I look back at my study for Joseph, I can’t help thinking that I should have used a sort of “sketching” approach to the inking to make the lines less formal and well-defined.But I didn’t … and I was still “happy enough” with the result (although still dubious about Mary’s face and figure … oh, well).My Christmas card making tradition dates back nearly 30 years, I suppose. When I was a kid, my dad used to (and still does) make an annual card, usually using lino- or wood-cuts and with type-set messages set in real old-fashioned lead type, which he printed on his printing press. (Yes, he has a printing press. Actually, more than one. In fact, at one stage we were probably the only house in all of Australia with two pianos and three printing presses. I should point out, however, that two of the printing presses are “only” small flat-bed presses about the size of an A4 page, and it is one of these that is Dad’s usual implement of choice … although he has used the big 750kg treadle-powered machine on a couple of occasions.) |  |
| One year, probably when I was in my mid-teens, time was short and the family card didn’t happen. However, my sense of the “tradition of giving a personal homemade card” had been established, and I was loathe to miss a year.There was only one solution: make my own, but quickly and cheaply. This meant by-passing the printing press. I can’t remember right now exactly what I did for that first card (almost certainly something that I produced by photocopying), although I do have a copy of it (and the subsequent ones) stored away somewhere.The rest, as they say, is history. Well, tradition, anyway.
For this year’s design, once I had the outlines inked, it was time to dilute the black ink to varying degrees and “colour in” (I don’t think it is appropriate to suggest it was anything so sophisticated as “painting”!). This year I used my home inkjet printer to print the scanned artwork on parchment calligraphy paper; I’ve created a similar effect for the main image at the beginning of this entry by running the image at right through a “sepia” effect. And, since I was happy enough with the end product, that’s what I used. ************************************ So, now you know. Happy Christmas. 🙂 |
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Christ-mas is a great time to reflect upon the past year of what we have received in ours lives….loved ones near and dear, loved ones that have passed away….Reflections on what it is to be, alive ,with music in our hearts,and gratitude to those that we have loved and come to love in our lives.
Peace on earth goodwill to men/women,
peace on earth good will to men/women.
Joy to the world and a Happy Christ-mas to you…..:)
PS…..I read what you wrote..the card was wonderful….
It’s lovely hearing the story behind the card! Happy Christmas. 🙂
Ooh, very nice!
wait
“may you be blessed with a wonderful Christmas that brings you joy and peace, and may 2012 be a year of happiness and fulfilment for you. Warmest regards, Helen.”
What do we get for 2011? Do we skip it entirely? That won’t work for me, I’m turning 40, and I refuse to miss it and go straight to 41… although that would get me closer to that magical year when I understand the meaning of life the universe and, well everything!
Oooooops! I really was getting ahead of myself (saves me having to bother with a card next year!)!
May you be blessed with a wonderful 2011 as well as a fantastic 2012, and a terrific 40th (talk about behind the times, though: I did that ages ago!). Meanwhile, I’ll just slink off and do some surreptitious editing.
Love your creativity Helen – me, I just reach for whatever takes my fancy in the newsagents/post office. Always intend on trying something, but get to mid Dec and realise that it might have to be next year. So your 30 odd year record is impressive – and no doubt a wonderful back catalog of works. Which I’d love to see if you still have the gallery complete!
I love your card and the info about your process work. I love how unified the composition is. Her right arm points to her left, which leads around Joseph, down his arm, across the rein, up the donkey’s head, and back to Mary. It’s a warm, loving circle. Beautiful! I would love to see all your other cards. All the best to you in the new year, Helen!
[…] card history 1986 to present In response to a comment made in response to my post about the creation of my 2010 Christmas card — and because I want to digitise some of my paper archives — I decided that one of my summer […]