Formerly Cathy Johnson Fine Art Galleries
I haven't gotten comments on this blog for some time, and I suspect it's because of the way Blogger has changed moderation. I've adjusted my settings, but who knows if that will work?
I'd appreciate it if you would post a comment, though...I feel sort of lonely out here by myself!
This one is from my Artist's Journal Workshop mini-class, which I've been giving away free during the time of the pandemic, so it may be familiar to some of you--but it's fun and encouraging, and may save you some frustration! Herein are LOTS of ideas on how to save a journal page or sketch that's gone wrong...
(I wish I knew how to embed them here...I used to be able to do that! But click the link and you'll get there...)
And meanwhile, feel free to browse my YouTube channel, there's a lot there that IS public and there will be more all the time, for a bit. It's here: https://www.youtube.com/user/KateJosTube/fea
tured
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!
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...
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| 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:
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| 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. |
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| 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
I am one of those people for whom Christmas wears a veil of sadness; while there are bright lights and music and excited plans everywhere (though God knows not so much this strange, sad year), I celebrate the Solstice with as much peace and beauty and sacredness as I am able.
The Light returns...and December 26th always comes.
Modern Christmas music...meaning, in most cases, anything after 1900...makes me cry. Like all of us for whom Christmas is more a time of sadness than excitement, I have my reasons. I try not to inflict them on others. I regret that my beloved Joseph has to live with it, with me and my need to hibernate, and bless the man for doing all he can to make it easier for me.
I miss the celebrations we used to have at Fort Osage National Historic Site, sharing simple, handmade gifts, decorating with pineapples, a traditional symbol of hospitality, live evergreens and candles and no glitz. We sang 18th C. (and earlier) songs. We made our feast of foods that might have been available 250 years ago, and it was beautiful. And it didn't trigger my memories.
But I promised a slightly more current Christmas story, didn't I?
Many years ago, when my first husband, Harris, and I lived in a small bungalow in the city, he gave me the perfect present. Other years, Christmas had been a bit crazy, splitting our time between his mother in southern Kansas, and my dad and his new family in Independence. Christmas Eve one place, Christmas Day in the other, no matter what the weather. We were torn, as most families in that situation can be, and exhausted by the demands and expectations.
Bless Harris, he didn't drive, and for some reason he always wanted to do his shopping on Christmas Eve...so that meant me sitting in the car somewhere for hours while he braved the crowds, looking for the Perfect Gift.
One year I'd said I really needed a muffler...I meant a long, warm scarf, but he remembered images of women with hands tucked inside a fur muff, and he wouldn't be satisfied until he had searched every store in downtown KC. (Needless to say, fruitlessly! Muffs went out 100 years ago or so...)
But this year, his mother was gone and seeing my dad was less fraught. We'd bought a pretty little bungalow in the Brookside area, and had room for a tree--he'd had a lousy childhood and I always tried hard to give him the best Christmas possible, with home made cookies, fruitcake, decorations, and all the traditional trappings. He hadn't mentioned braving the crowds on Christmas Eve, and I was very grateful--that would have been gift enough!
An old friend who knew what he'd gotten for me that year took me aside and said "get your face ready for Christmas morning...you're going to be really disappointed." And I wondered what on earth...?
But Christmas morning came, and he shyly handed me a heavy box, messily wrapped...and when I tore it open there was no need at all to "ready my face."
He had bought me an electric typewriter, a beauty of a machine. He knew I wanted to be a writer, after years of workig for others in stressful jobs--and he helped make that dream possible.
He knew me. And he gave me love and hope and the future I grew into.
Remembering this story always makes me smile, when I think of all the jokes about husbands buying their wives a new frying pan or blender or whatever, instead of the lingerie or perfume or God knows what they "should" be buying. And how angry the wives are fully expected to be.
Ladies, I wish you all an electric typewriter, and love.
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.
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| 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.
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.
...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!
