Thursday, June 6, 2013

Down The Rabbit Hole

I'm  not very good at blogging,
As you may have surmised by now.
I like to write, but
I tend to write like I talk
Short Bursts
(that doesn't mean I'm not long winded, cuz I am)
It's more like prose I think
not that it rhymes
or is in any way lyrical, 
but because I love to use language
in as many non-traditional ways
that I can think of....

Like spelling words the way I think they look cool
instead of spelling them correctly
I only really use punctuation if it helps emphasize what has been written
& it looks cool.!?":';.
Always Liking The Cool
I'm completely addicted to the ellipsis........

My Very First Ever Animated Gif
& Still One of My Faves

So it's quite possible that my blog
isn't every one's cup of tea
&
of course it doesn't help
that I am consistently inconsistent
in keeping up with it.

The oddity about all this is
that for over the past 18 months or so
I have found myself designing blogs.
Yeah,
Sure,
I had put together a few blogs for friends & myself before then,
 but I had always used graphics & artwork I had purchased.
Or
even better using freebies
 from sites like the wonderful
(who I still visit often.....hee hee)
and many others the like.

BUT in January of 2012
a Newly Found Sista, Geanie Finley, 
asked me to create a blog for her

WHAT??
No Way
NO NO NO

Not
for someone who doesn't already know & love me
despite my eccentricities
&
 This bog would need to be very different
Geanie had told me she had always wanted a blog.
She wanted it to be an expression of herself,
Of Her Gypsy Soul
This girl was definite about what she liked
&
what she liked
was anything but 
stock graphics & neutral colors

"I don't know," I told her, "I can try."

OMG!!!!

 I'd never done any original work before
at least not for anyone but myself....
I was feeling completely screwed at this point.

I didn't even know...

How am I going to....

I mean I.......

(eyes watering, heart racing, dry mouth)

PANIC!!!!

I didn't have any computer programs for that kind of thing
&
even if I did
I wouldn't know how to use them to create
 any part of the ideas I had in my head.

So I...
Googled
Googled
Googled
Googled
until my googler
was pooped.

I downloaded
GIMP
&
Photoscape
&
bookmarked endless pages on how to use: 
Layers
Masks
Filters
Scripts
yada
yada
yada
all of this 
just to create the artwork only.

My second attempt at animated gifs. This one was for the JuJu blog.
Gif's have become quite the addiction for me...


Then I was back to bookmarking pages again.
This time I wanted to find out
how to write "code" for Blogger
so I could make the artwork
I had designed
Fit & Perform 
As I envisioned..
&
of course, there was always
trial & error, trial & error, trial & error

It took me FOREVER..
well almost forever
4 months actually
but
it was original.

JuJu is Geanie Finley's Beloved Business.
This is her blog Header.


Why am I telling you all this?

Well,
Because My Friends
I Just Finished
 My 4th 
"Original Design" blog
&
with every new one I create
I get a little better
 & 
a little more knowledgeable

The Blog of Brenda Braun An Artist & Owner of Decadence
My second blog creation...

Original Graphic for the Link to Brenda's Etsy Shop
This girl makes GORGEOUS jewelry!



My Latest Client,
the sweetest & kindest & most PATIENT
Person on the Face of the Planet
Ms. Jackie McMullen of 
Jaidyn Pearl Diaries
had to wait almost as long as Geanie.

However Folks......

Geanie's Blog.
My First Blog.
"ONE PAGE"
that's it.

This Time
 Jackies Blog
"8 PAGES"

Woooo Hoooo People!! 


Most of Jackies Blog Pages Have
Backgrounds & Graphics
Completely Different from the Home Page (above)
Each with their Own Individual Look.

All My Designs are Still created in GIMP & Photoscape
(Although I have recently acquired 
Photo Shop Creative Suite 5 & am eager to start learning how to use it)
Everything I designed for this blog
needed to speak about  Jackie
while speaking to her readers as well. 
She is a multi-talented girl
working her artistry in several different mediums,
writing, photography, painting furniture, cooking  
& the sculpting of her family.
A true artistic life

Jax's Blog Button


I wrote 8 pages of CSS code
&
This Time Around 
I started teaching myself to write Java Script.

(scary stuff, forget a semi-colon or bracket & nothing will work.
For someone easily distracted like me with my A.D.D. ,
{yes it's true, I'm a real diagnosed space-shot,} it's definitely scary stuff.)

I know that to some of you
what I'm describing sounds
A Lot Like Greek, 
 and it is.
kinda
Cuz it's definitely a foreign language,
one that I didn't know how to read
much less write 18 months ago.

I'm pretty sure that I don't do things the correct & proper way
&
I'm Okay With That

I am Basically a Digital Collage Artist
NOT a traditional graphic artist...
Wouldn't really know how to be a traditional anything
Never Have

So I know that
"once again"
I won't be everyone's cup of tea




& I still have miles to go before I sleep....



So This Is My Thank You Note
to ALL of my clients.

Whether you had a blog designed & built,
 business cards or labels designed,
Facebook Covers or Etsy Banners created
Photo Editing, Videos, Marketing,
 any & all work that I may have 
done for you in the last year & a half,

Thank You 
Thank You
Thank You

Thank You
 for not running in the other direction
when I told you I was self taught,
Thank You 
for accepting that my learning curve
would be a part of my scheduling
&
Thank You 
for actually paying me well 
(despite my lack of credentials or artistic education)
for working at something I love to do.


I Feel Suitably Blessed!!
xoxoxo


"Unthinkably good things can happen, even late in the game.
It's such a surprise." ~Under the Tuscan Sun




PS~
If you make a visit to my business blog
please excuse the mess...
no time lately to work on my own space.
But that's kind of a good thing.
Right?








2 comments:

Jackie said...

Merci Buckets to you! (this is how we saw thank you at work, lol)

You are so loved and appreciated.
All the love that flows from your brain..to fingertips..to puter is just so original....yes. like. you!

Such a pleasure to work with you and to get to know you (atleast scratching the surface)....JaidynPearl wouldn't have been born if not for Auntie Chase!


God Bless.
You Rock.....

geanie said...

What the..... You mean to tell me you did not know what the hey you were doing? LMAO you never let on..... You just said yeah ok I will do that no problem. Before I knew it I had the most beautiful blog I had EVER laid eyes upon and still do (sorry Jackie no disrespect). Lala you are so talented and you always inspire me beyond belief. I love you girl so keep GIffing and coding and googling and whatever other word I don't understand because without a doubt your work is amazing but most of all original xoxoxo


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