Whew!

I don’t know how YOU feel when a big project is done done done, but I feel GREAT! It almost makes me feel like I’m on vacation with nothing to do, but of course, the piles and lists grew exponentially while I perfected the project whose deadline pounded in my brain each day until, well, it didn’t. Because it was done!

Which is all to say that the 2020 calendar will be mailed out early this week If you haven’t ordered yet, can I convince you to grab your mouse or stylus or finger and check out the video below and/or the Shop, where details abound. A final note about that: each year I have visited the print shop a second time to fill orders because my first estimation was (happily) too low. Since the printer requires I fulfill a certain quantity to keep the cost lower, often I end up with several unsold ones. This year, I increased my first printing a little from previous years’ estimates, but I don’t plan to have a 2nd printing. When the calendars are gone, they’re gone. If you are a procrastinator (as I tend to be), but you want a calendar or two or three (which, of course, I hope you do!), best to order them before too long. I will hate disappointing anyone. Yes, I will.

The artwork this year is a combination of painting the messy but really fun way (with brush and real paint) or completely digital or a mixture of both. I thought you’d enjoy a glimpse of the process. On Frida’s page here, I scanned a canvas painting and polished it up, using either Procreate, an iPad app, or Photoshop. (I am hardly an expert at Photoshop; I spend a lot of time making mistakes there, but it’s pretty helpful for the last detail stages of an art piece.) I also made some design changes and added the ubiquitous cat. I usually draw my own cats, but there wasn’t much room left except on the roof and desperate times call for desperate measures.

The video is 2-1/2 minutes long. Below it is a replay of the preview video of the calendar.

Mais Que Nada, Brasil ‘66, Sergio Mendes

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