Getting there...

 Who knew that redesigning a website could take more than a year?!  Of course this is a very different year from most...in the past my dear webmistress, Sonya at Morgansites.com and I would mostly sit next to eachother in front of a computer and say "let's change that, can we move this here, let's add the other thing, do you want this, I'd like to delete that..."  

And instead, in this COVID year, we've exchanged a seemingly endless parade of emails and the occasional phone call!

This is both good news and bad news...I can take my time, mull over things at odd hours, and make sure that's really what I meant, and wanted to, say.  On the other hand...the bad news is that I can take my time, mull over things at odd hours, and make sure....well, you get the idea.  

Tweak, tweak, tweak, tweak...but we're getting there, with the help of dear friends and my beloved knight, who have acted as beta readers.  I can't thank YOU enough!

Just had to include my little poppets...

and of course the creatures we live with...

So far, this hasn't made the cut...

...but this has, talking about building our dreams...

There's a new gallery of my work in a number of genres, including journal sketches, paintings, fantasy, pottery, and professional illustrating jobs from years past.  There will be a few videos, mostly of the how-to persuasion; the art tips are all there, so are the mini classes, and a new Bookshop...

Can't wait to show it to you!

Meanwhile my classes, tips, and books are still available on my somewhat chaotic old site, here: https://cathyjohnson.info and I am very grateful to all of you who have visited, reached out, become students and friends over the years.  You make it all worthwhile!

Please do comment and let me know what you think...

Yeah, no big surprise...I do tend to change things!

So, indeed I DID change all the class buttons, as I suspected I might in this post.  I decided to use the same art and font I used for the new class banners, to pull everything together, and I like them!

(And no, clicking on them now won't take you there, sorry!)

Now we're working on mailing list forms, checking spelling and sense, figuring out the new galleries of my work, linking everything...I'll announce when it's finally live!

 And of course my classes are still available on my old website, and will be till we get the new one up!  You can find them here: https://cathyjohnson.info/online.html

Working on that Website Re-do!

I've been working with my wonderful web designer, Sonya Morgan of Morgansites.com, with a complete redo of all the pages, simplifying, making sure links work, dropping old stuff.  Mind you, we've been dealing with this since right before COVID-19 lockdowns last March...it's not exactly a speedy process, and both of us have other irons in the fire.  Step by step and page by page, we chip away at it, though!

You may have seen my last post on the subject, here: https://cathyjohnsonart.blogspot.com/2020/12/website-redesign-work-in-progress.html

Now, we're trying to reorganize the main class page, updating, cleaning up, bringing it into the 21st century...and hoping to still make it as appealing and informative as possible!  Each class has its own page, of course, and I'm happy with them, but the main page was confusing...

One update--rather than use the old class buttons like the one below, I'm hoping these new ones will be more in keeping with the new site...

This is the old button for the artist's journal class...it's no longer a "new" class, and Comic Sans captions just don't cut it any more...

 

New one--probably, unless I redesign it again!--here:

So, cleaner, fresher, hopefully more self-explanatory.  Some of the new buttons keep the same art you may have seen on my old web page, https://cathyjohnson.info/online.html, some don't, but I thought this really captures the subject matter--so I kept it.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the new header for that class page, which will have all the info about how it works, what is included, price, accessibility, etc.

And many MANY thanks to my knight as well as dear friends and beta readers, who have found plenty of things to clarify throughout the new page...maybe in a month or two we'll break a bottle of champagne on the bow and launch!

Pretty sure Joseph's keeping me what passes for sane, fed, warm, and happy, in addition to beta reading and invaluable suggestions of course!

 And of course my classes are still available on my old website, and will be till we get the new one up!  You can find them here: https://cathyjohnson.info/online.html

Website Redesign--a Work in Progress...

 

I'm redesigning the banners for the class pages, as well as redoing my whole website (erk!)--and I'm trying to use art that was actually IN the class (though I think the backlit self-portrait may have snuck in there--not sure!)

I work in ink and wash a lot and really love it--I've got some pieces that were done long after the class was finished, but I think to be fair I probably ought to stick with mostly what was in the class itself, what do you think? I want to give people an idea of what they're going to learn, and although the technique is the same, the art is different. 

 

This one, for instance, is not in the class, but I loved how it turned out...

 

I've redone the banners for all six existing classes, and the banner for the main page, with no end of simplifying and rewriting and overall housecleaning of the whole site.  My wonderful webmistress Sonya Morgan at Morgansites.com is endlessly patient and creative!

Deleting CDs from the catalog since we can no longer make them ourselves and Cafe Press quit years ago...the ones I have remaining are in my Etsy shop, Cathy Johnson Art,* and when they're gone, they're gone.  We're changing over to downloadable as we have time--and of course some already are!

*Remember there is still a lot of original art there, as well as prints.  I've bogged down listing new things, but I WILL get badk to it.  Please take a peek...

Meanwhile of course, the classes are all still available on my original website! The upgrade is a long way from finished...it will be much cleaner, simpler, and more navigable.

...and of course as always, your opinions are more than welcome.

Working on that website...

How odd, when you look at your old website through new eyes.  It came from a time when my freelance work was my ONLY income, and almost everything I did had to be a way to earn my keep.  Some worked reasonably well, some did not and fell by the wayside (I don't make 18th C. style jewelry any more!)

So as the years passed I added more and more--new books, classes, images, blogs, galleries, links...and it became a huge, confusing mess that had very little to do with where I am now--or who I am now.

The new version will be vastly simpler, and a great deal will just go away.  It no longer applies.  I'll maintain the catalog (which will also be simpler since we don't do CDs any more) and the classes, at least the self-directed ones for the present, but the rest will be cleaner, more focused, and a good deal more personal and less business-oriented.  I'm a good deal older now, and I have less energy to waste.

There will be a focus on whimsy, fantasy, spirituality, creativity, nature...and gratitude.

For I am more than grateful I can turn my focus in those directions...

Shedding those old skins takes time and effort...I hope it will be worth it.  I plan to have fun, while I'm at it.

Omigosh...

 ...it's way past time to update my website, and I'm drowning!  

I want simple, clean, streamlined, and NOT include everything but the kitchen sink!  I just kept adding and adding and adding over the years...

I don't feel like the same person I was then...well, all the cells in our bodies change every 7 years, so I guess I'm not.  My interests have changed, my energy has changed, life has changed around me, and I'm on a different path...

All's well, but my website isn't. Poor old dinosaur...

I think updating the text is about the hardest part!

Simplify, simplify...hail Discardia, there too!