From Patricia Saxton’s “Pencil Point Series”, a long-runnng self-promotional campaign based on her logo and favorite tool, the #2 pencil.

It starts out when you’re small ~ imaginary friends to share your secrets with and mythical beasts under your bed, dolphins swimming on clouds, dancing spaghetti and talking fish…. and if you’re lucky you loop back around after you’ve grown up, after at least a few journeys into more serious, practical waters.

There are some who never wander far from that magical place of the imagination, but most of us stray. We twist and scuttle around winding roads of this and that important thing. The key is to not stray so far and so long that we forget. Because our imaginations are like beautiful shiny rocket ships, launching a thousand ideas and dreams. Imaginations make art and music and electricity and cures for diseases and stories that make us feel and think and grow. Imagination is liberating. It’s a life force beyond our comprehension – we have to use it to know it, and even then, just around the bend there’s always more marvelous wonder not yet discovered, not yet realized, not yet “thunk up”. Always.

……….

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
― Albert Einstein

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“What’s Your Point?” Pencil Point Series / © Patricia Saxton

It started with a college art class assignment~ one of the few assignments I adored ~ where we had to draw one crazy shape (or some such thing), then interpret in a myriad of ways.

I remember my shape was squiggly with random loops ~ kind of Miro-esque now that I think of it ~ and that I went nuts. I could barely keep up with all the ways I could keep the same design but make it look completely different. Colors, lines; the possibilities were endless! This was better than a drawer full of chocolate, or at the time, maybe more like a keg of beer and a bunch of great friends.

Eventually I had to stop, probably needing to put in some study time for other classes. Besides, it was a meaningless shape, so there was no impetus to keep going beyond the “oh cool” factor.  I do think though, that because it was meaningless, my mind opened up to explore freely.

And so it was that this freeing exercise came in handy later on, when I started my business’ first promotional campaign. The memory of “many designs from one” prompted what became a signature series ~ those of you who’ve known me for a long time know exactly what I mean when I say “pencil points”.

Every 2-3 months for several years I’d send out a new Pencil Point Postcard (the pencil point also being my logo, giving it “meaning”), and the response was fabulous. Everyone had a favorite, people really looked forward to getting the next one, and I had fun creating them. And when pitching my design wares, pulling out a stack of pencil point cards almost always sealed the deal. Even if clients weren’t going to need something quite so creative, I think they liked knowing there was that kind of original thinking behind the scenes.

When business turned electronic, I decided to start a new series, online. “52 Weeks of Peace” postcard book was born, and the subsequent “Plethora of P’s” series. There will probably be something new in the future, but neither the peace signs or the positive P’s have run their gamut yet. (There are still more pencil points, too; I just have to draw the line somewhere … no pun intended!)

Sometimes I think it might be some kind of mental affliction. Maybe I am a little nuts. But really, “oh well”. We all have our quirks.

“A Plethora of P’s” / © Patricia Saxton

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(above illustration from the Pencil Point series)

You do understand what this means, right? You can have ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner ~ any time is ice cream time!

It also makes it a bit more “legit” for those of us who already imbibe freely…. for those of us with a couple of quarts in the freezer at all times and hot fudge at the ready …. And it provides another opportunity to show that it’s next to impossible to be anything but happy while eating ice cream.

What’s your favorite? We have the whole month to explore… scoop up!

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