Jingle Bells and Hot Spells

Close your eyes.  Channel your inner "winter evening", hum a few bars of Nat King Cole's "Christmas Song", sip on that imaginary cup of hot wassail, enjoy the crackling fire, finish picking the okra and tomatoes, swat a few gnats...WHAT??  Welcome to the world of art licensing.  Because of advance production schedules for the companies who license my work, the subject matter in my design studio very rarely lines up with the season out my window.  More often than not, I am in the midst of creating new holiday artwork for clients while the air outside hums with the sounds of crickets, tree frogs and night bugs.  But wait - there is more.  This winter, while the snow piles up outside my door, I'll be hard at work on the latest designs for your garden and your summertime table - designs that are slated for the retail shelves for the Summer of 2012!  Crazy as it seems, and as much as I don't want chestnuts roasting on an open fire in August, that is how it works.  All of you kindred-spirit artists out there are feeling my pain, I know.  Such adversity!  Actually - what joy to be blessed with the ability to share my talent, no matter what the season or circumstance.  For the rest of you, next time you buy a Christmas flag that makes your heart sing, or deck the halls with the most adorable ornaments ever made, or sit down to address that box of Christmas cards like the ones recently produced by my friends at CR Gibson, above, be sure to thank the artist to conjured it up in their sun-baked, humidity-dazed, mosquito-bite-crazed brain.  Happy Holidays, y'all, and pass the citronella...