Hanging out my shingle

So after nearly four years at my current day job, I’ve decided to return to life as a freelancer. The steady paycheque has been nice but I think freelancing is more in line with the life I want to lead right now. I’m hoping to focus my work on publication design and production as publishing has always been my favourite area to work. My first job was with a book publisher nearly 20 years ago. Over the years I’ve been designing and producing books, magazines, newspapers, CDs and DVD packaging and hope to continue in that vein as a freelancer.

The other benefit to freelancing is that when jobs are scarce, I’ll have lots of time for painting! See the method to my madness? I also have some illustration and cartoon projects in the back of my mind. My hope is that between the freelance and my art-making efforts, I’ll be able to support myself. Seems reasonable, eh?

If not, I expect by the end of the year I’ll have an irritated wife, a drained savings account and a resume that reeks of desperation.

But that won’t happen (he says anxiously).

So, if you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you’ll probably see a lot more activity: more posts, more art, more design projects, and maybe a little more of a push to sell my work.

The pic above is of my fancy new cards from moo.com. No, I’m not on commission. I just don’t mind pushing a company that does such nice work for such a great price. Thirty bucks for 50 cards, great stock, nice finish and delivered quickly. I just got the 50 because I’m not settled on a “look” yet... I put this one together in a hurry to make sure I had cards before the day job finished.

Wish me luck!

Oh and if you're are in the market for design work, inquire within. (my bio at right has an email link)

Silly season

Oh, poor blog. So neglected.

I don't feel one bit bad about though. I decided a few months ago that that guilt and stress no longer have any place in my life. And I've got to say, it's been a good couple of months.

So, in the summer months I think blogging will have to go on hiatus while I'm pursuing activities of a more summery nature. On the upside, the garden's coming along nicely. The veggies are growing like crazy, the raspberries are just about ripe and my first landscaping project for the year is underway. Maybe I'll do few posts on that.

Everything's good.

I've got a few little art/doodle projects underway but nothing to share yet.

Back when I was working in newspapers, my buddy always referred to the summer months as the "silly season". It's the time when the news seems harder to dig up because the newsmakers and those connected to the newsmakers all seem to be on vacation. I suppose that's why the traditional media outlets resorted to "Great Summer Reads" sections and the like. I guess this newfangled internet is changing all that too.

Anyway, I thought instead of ignoring the blog in the coming months I'd post some old cartoons from the paper. Oldies but goodies. Well okay, they're not bad. Oldies but not baddies. I'll start with the first couple I ever did. Some of them may need explaining as they originally accompanied stories.

Happy silly season.