Asking for help

Wednesday 2

Yesterday I got the proof for my upcoming ad for Plein Air magazine back from the designer. It was done by Victoria Brzustowicz of Victoria B. Creative. Not only is it simple and energetic, but she wisely took a red pencil to my copy.

I’ve never hired a graphic designer before—it seemed redundant in that I was once a graphic designer myself. However, I have deadlines looming.

Victoria—who has been a painter since high school—took my 2015 Schoodic workshop. As my husband perused her proof, he pointed out that she seemed to have an intuitive understanding of what was important to the potential student. I posed that to her and she agreed. “I try to put myself in the role of the consumer for every ad I do, but for this one I had first-hand knowledge.”

Not exactly just rolling out a wall. Every room was complicated, and Jenna and Kyna did a better job than I would have.

Every room was complicated, and Jenna and Kyna did a better job than I would have.

I am trying to build on something I learned while painting my house: the idea that I don’t have to do everything myself. I’m a good wall painter, but there were 12 rooms to get through—13 if you count the basement. My doctor recommended Kyna Jones and Jenna Herington* to me. They turned out to be fantastic painters; better than me, in fact. The place looks stunning.

That just figures: Kyna has an MFA.

I was initially reluctant to farm out the house painting, but it turns out I had no regrets. I was able to concentrate on other things, which allowed me to finish up before the end of the year.  That made me willing to try jobbing out a graphics job. I feel equally comfortable having done that. So I’ve asked Victoria to do my workshop brochure as well.

Artists tend toward being jacks-of-all-trades, partly from necessity, partly from insatiable curiosity about how things work. Left to our own devices, we would grind our own pigments, make our own medium, build our own canvases, frame our own work. That, I’m realizing, is to some degree busy work, deflecting us from the actual business of painting.

Tomorrow, I’ll share the details of my workshop, but until then you can go here to preview it.

*They don’t have a website but can be reached at 585-944-4149.

Carol Douglas

About Carol Douglas

Carol L. Douglas is a painter who lives, works and teaches in Rockport, ME. Her annual workshop will again be held on the Schoodic Peninsula in beautiful Acadia National Park, from August 6-11, 2017. Visit www.watch-me-paint.com/ for more information.