Blog - saxtonstudio blog

March 11, 2012 In business, communication, life and the universe, marketing, networking, philosophy, social media By Patricia Saxton

Social Media Roller Coaster

I hear a bunch of exasperation out there about social media.

Bottom line, we have to make choices about our time ~ these days, almost on an hour-to-hour basis. In any given period we may ask, is this a good use of my time? Is this what I want to be doing, is this what I HAVE to be doing, is this just what happened when one thing ran into the next and here’s where I landed?

Those of us who are self-employed need to insert structure into our day, or we’d not be at all productive ~ and that requires a hefty dose of self-discipline.

This may work beautifully if you work with tasks that have clear beginnings and endings (not to say there aren’t snags and challenges that could send potentially simple project into galactic proportions), but far less controlled if you’re in the concepting stage of a design project where you’re, let’s say, trying to break the rules in imaginative, but still effective ways. You can’t set a timer for that. But you can set a timer that says it’s time to shift gears, have dinner, take a walk.

So what then do you do with the onslaught of social media demands on top of all the rest? Do you skip the walk to check your twitter feed? Post facebook quotes while you eat dinner? Pin on Pinterest early in the day, while checking email and planning calls … and yea … you see, things can start to overlap and then maybe your grip starts to slip, the ride is moving and your hat is flying… and you’re saying, “wait!, whoa, slow down!” Yet the world out there is saying, “ha! right! time waits for no one, better hop on!”

So you sigh and shrug and try to keep up.

Or you decide not to.

Here’s the thing: there’s no rule book that says you have to leap into every social media outlet that comes along. That said, I’d be leading you down the wrong road if I said you shouldn’t participate in at least a few of your choice. But by all means, unless you’ve got a budget and a staff whose sole job is to handle every social media site, be choosy.

When all those invites come in to join this group or that network, don’t impulsively jump. Let it sit. Check it out. If it feels right, you may want to climb aboard. If it feels a lot like “ugh, do I have to?”… then don’t.

Either way, don’t miss that walk in the park in order to get a front seat on the next social media wave. If it really sings to you, you can join in after your walk.

March 9, 2012 In art, branding, creativity, design, history, imagination, inspiration By Patricia Saxton

Getting Set for St. Patty

For those of you who like to honor St. Patrick, or have a love for all things Celtic, “52 Weeks of Peace” / Week 29 is for you!

Yep, it’s just about a week away ~ the day of dance and drink, and the traditional feasting of Irish bacon and cabbage, all to honor Saint Patrick, the patron saint and apostle of Ireland.

Saint Pat was actually born in Roman Britain (way back in the fifth century), but apparently was kidnapped at 16 and brought to Ireland to work as a slave. (I did not know this!) He escaped (phew!), but returned to Ireland in later years, bringing Christianity with him, appealing to both the Roman Catholics and the Irish Protestants of the land. (No small feat in Ireland… so I’m guessing he must have been charming, as well as devout.) In the process, he also elevated the status of the shamrock, by using its three leaves to explain the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461. Patrick has endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity.

And a little trivia (courtesy of Wikipedia):

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in Dublin on March 17, 1783.

The biggest celebrations outside Dublin are in Downpatrick, County Down, where Saint Patrick is rumoured to be buried. In 2004, the week-long St. Patrick’s Festival had more than 2,000 participants among 82 floats, bands, and performers and was watched by more than 30,000 people.

The shortest St Patrick’s Day parade in the world takes place in Dripsey, Cork. The parade lasts just 100 yards and travels between the village’s two pubs. : )

So there you have it. And as they say, “If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, then you’re lucky enough.”

March 7, 2012 In art, design, graphic design By Patricia Saxton

Designing For a Cause

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~ Leo Buscaglia

…………

Sometimes – well, more than people know about ~ many of us designers lend our services because we feel it’s the right thing to. Talents are shared so that they may in some way help a person or worthy cause along. We do it because we’re able. Obviously we wouldn’t be putting food on our own tables if this was our mantra for everything that crossed our desks, but it sure feels good when you can do something just for good.

Sometimes though, it takes more than a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear ~ certainly more than a helping of design – to turn a life around, as in the case of my nephew’s beautiful 7-year-old son, who needs neurological surgery for his autism.

Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are still in the planning stages for a fund-raising event (as is this poster), but I’m so glad to be a part of it, by giving “what I’m able” to give. And I figured it might be cool to share some “behind the scenes” for this hopeful event.

Bless his little heart, and his loving, attentive parents.

March 2, 2012 In art, books & stuff, branding, creativity, design, illustration, inspiration, photography By Patricia Saxton

“where in the world is peace?” … from wintry pines to westminster abbey

Alright, not exactly at Westminster Abbey, but close enough! And I’m pretty sure this bag did make the trek to the abbey, along with London’s other great sites.

Then as if to remind us that March it may be, but winter isn’t over quite yet ~ a lovely snow-tipped vision of peace among earth’s leaves and branches.

Thank you both for spreading our peace message in everyday ways! Gratitude…!

(ps: you can see all “where in the world is peace?” images compiled on our special “where in the world is peace?” page. Totes, mugs and things are available here. Send your own pictures to 52weeksofpeace@gmail.com and we’ll also post them on our FaceBook page. Let’s see where peace goes!)

February 29, 2012 In art, design, inspiration, life and the universe By Patricia Saxton

52 Weeks of Peace (squared) / #62 / Flower for Ursula

Yesterday I learned that a friend had died. She was the mother of one of my daughter’s childhood friends. Overwhelmingly sad, I went to the wake, hugged her family and spoke for a while to Ursula as she lay, peaceful now, in a casket, feeling that she heard me. I hope she did.

Ursula and I met at a kiddie music class. In a waiting room of mom’s before the first class, she and I gravitated to one another. I instantly liked her. Not just her Irish-British accent, but her strong, quiet warmth and her friendly spirit. Shortly after that we met again when our girls went to pre-school. The girls would play, we would chatter and make snacks and keep an eye out that the girls were sharing nicely and taking turns.

The girls went to different grammar schools, our lives became busier and we would see each other less, but as if clandestine meetings prearranged by the universe, we’d often bump into each other at the small grocery store nearby. When we did, it seemed that time would stop so we could have a good long chat right there in the jams and jellies aisle. And if they weren’t traveling to her husband’s home in Italy, she would come over for tea at Christmastime. She was one of the first to subscribe to my blog and told me many times how inspired she felt by my 52 Weeks of Peace.

We shared a connection that didn’t seem to need frequent visits, a fondness that was always apparent when we did. I looked forward to more teas together when our lives were less demanding.

This all may sound very ordinary, but ordinary takes on a whole new light when someone is gone. A light gone out too soon. And it makes me have to say: if someone has touched your heart, try to have that cup of tea together now, not later.

I send enormous prayers to her two beautiful teenage daughters and her loving husband. And I dedicate this flower to Ursula, because she loved peace, and because she was both delicate like a flower and a ray of genuine sunshine in my world. She touched my heart. She was lovely. Just a lovely human being.

Go peacefully Ursula, as you watch over your girls on wings from heaven.

February 28, 2012 In advertising, branding, business, creativity, design, graphic design, marketing, presentation By Patricia Saxton

Six Businesses, Six Business Cards

Using the same businesses from “Six Businesses, Six Logos” (with one substitution), here’s how their identities start to play themselves out in a practical format.

Although limited by fitting the amount of information any given client feels is necessary into a relatively small space, you can have a lot of fun with business cards, especially if you’ve designed a logo that allows you to pull from various elements. The key here is to not only support the brand identity through consistent logo use, but to expand upon it by appropriately enhancing the look and the feel. The canvas is small, but the impact doesn’t have to be.

February 26, 2012 In advertising, branding, creativity, design, graphic design, imagination, intelligence, marketing By Patricia Saxton

Six Businesses, Six Logos

Someone recently asked me, “How do you create a logo? Where do you start?”

I didn’t have a ready answer, except that it just sort of happens ~ ideas, concepts, visuals come to mind, which then evolve, and then get tweaked into a finished product. And while this is the truth of it, I’m sure it was highly useless to the person asking the question, especially the part where it “just sort of happens”.

If I were to try again, I’d say that the “just happening” probably comes from many years of what I’ll call research. It’s being in a business where you’re constantly aware of branding, you’re using different fonts and font combinations on a daily basis, working with shapes and colors and sizes and revolving trends. So that when you sit down to “create”, there’s all this history at your disposal. A muscle that’s been exercised regularly. You know where you can bend and stretch the limits, and you know ~ both intuitively and figuratively ~ what won’t work.

With that in mind, I have 4 rules I’ve always followed when creating a logo:

1.) Clear the head.

2.) Listen.

3.) Find emotional touchpoints and discern the personality of the business.

4.) Distill to its simplest form.

Of course within the process there’s the wonderfully muddy area where creativity swirls. Marrying concepts and tastes, the play of fonts, and the interweaving of symbols and shapes to give a visual voice to the intent of the logo: which is to be distinctive, memorable and clean, ready to leave a solid, ever-present, impression.

Here are 6 recent logos from 6 different businesses: A Non-Profit Foundation for Special Forces families, Landscaping, Real Estate Staging, E-Learning, Speech & Presentation Coaching, and Osteopathy. (I might mention that most of these presented the additional challenge of being particularly long names, which can be trickier when it comes to applying them… more on that next.)

February 23, 2012 In art, books, children's books, creativity, drawing, illustration, imagination By Patricia Saxton

Dragon’s Egg

egg sketch: another sneak peek of creatures yet to hatch…

February 21, 2012 In animation, architecture, art, branding, business, fine art, illustration, writing By Patricia Saxton

Mermaid Mardi Gras

While writing “The Book of Mermaids”, I learned that many mermaid celebrations, oddly enough, coincide with our human holidays. So I’m imagining there’s a bit of frolicking good fun going on beneath the ocean waves this last day of Mardi Gras. Bubble-lined parades, dancing in rock caverns, the drinking of rich, salty concoctions, and generally speaking, some swishy, swanky good times under the sea, complete with masks and costumes. (Note: It might feel a bit turbulent if you happen to be on a cruise, depending on how near you are to the festivities.) Happy Mardi Gras!

The Book of Mermaids

February 20, 2012 In art, branding, communication, creativity, design, inspiration By Patricia Saxton

52 Weeks of Peace (squared) / #61

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Week #61 / 52 Weeks of Peace (squared) / © Patricia Saxton

February 19, 2012 In art, branding, creativity, design, imagination, inspiration By Patricia Saxton

52 Weeks of Peace (squared) / #60

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” ~ C.S. Lewis

Week #60 / 52 Weeks of Peace (squared) / © Patricia Saxton

February 16, 2012 In art, books & stuff, branding, creativity, design, illustration, inspiration, photography By Patricia Saxton

“where in the world is peace?” … madagascar!

I suppose the only thing that could possibly have made this one even more exciting would have been if the movie characters had joined in! (Not to mention a real zebra…) Thank you for this terrific image, and spreading the “52 Weeks of Peace” message farther and wider.

Peace mug overlooking city of Antananarivo, Madagascar

February 14, 2012 In art, fine art, painting, poetry, words and language By Patricia Saxton

3 Classic Love Poems

On this day of love, whether you have a sweetheart or not, it seems a perfect day to share some sophisticated literary candy from a few poets whose words have withstood the tests and tides of time… enjoy them well!

18th Sonnet, William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43), Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Love’s Philosophy, Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In another’s being mingle–
Why not I with thine?

See, the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower could be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea;–
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

and a virtual treat for you... yes you, reading this post : )

February 12, 2012 In appreciation, inspiration, life and the universe, music video By Patricia Saxton

Whitney Houston ~ Rest in Peace

All the world mourns Whitney Houston today. But I don’t think we mourn the loss of a “big star”. I think we mourn the loss of something that was great and genuine in our midst.

Part of the tragedy of Whitney Houston’s early death is that we could have easily imagined it working out so much differently. We could imagine her growing older, becoming a grandmother, and a laughing, wise and dignified grande dame to a next generation of talented singers and actresses with dreams as bright as Whitney was in life.

We’re in shock, not just because she was so young, but because it just seems all wrong somehow. As if she took a left turn and got utterly lost, unable to find her way back. And now she’s gone back to the very beginning, by reaching the very end, too soon for the rest of us to fathom.

I’m not so sure it’s anything other than that, although we could philosophize all day that her passing reflects the downside of the spotlight, a fall from grace, the perils of super-stardom… because, there is no doubt, Whitney was a superstar.

She was a bigger-than-life star simply because her gifts were powerful and so completely pure. No bells and whistles, no shock-value accessories, nothing but a voice that was heaven-sent and an ability to make each tone matter, each word touch ground or circle the sun, and the physical poise and beauty to carry it off. It is the rarest of individuals who reach that level of fame and adoration with no embellishment needed. She was not just another starlet ~ she was a class act, with talent as real as it comes.

I sometimes think that certain God-given gifts are born into souls too tender for this world. That very sensitivity allows them to share their gifts purely ~ as surely Whitney Houston did ~ but their humanity, their frailty, takes a beating. A wrong turn too many and in the end, there is mourning.

Rest in Peace, Whitney Houston. The world was a better place for your having been here.

February 11, 2012 In art, drawing, fine art, illustration, painting By Patricia Saxton

Details, Details

Details rule my days, all day, most days. Design details, illustrative details, word details, project details, scheduling, parenting, you name it. (Which is partly why, I suppose, that I love to paint backgrounds with giant sweeping brushstrokes, and why I love big, broad views with never-ending skies.)

When it comes to my art, people often ask “how do you do that shading with a pencil?”, or “how do you create that sense of depth on a 2-dimensional surface?”. Of course I can show them, or I can teach techniques, but the truth is that when you’re in the throes, you’re not really “thinking”, it’s more like feeling your way. (And it should also be said, that one of the key things about details is knowing which ones to leave out.)

In any event, since details play such a big role in my work, I thought it might be interesting to share some “up-close” artwork. Hope you enjoy the closer look!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: