bemol Ardiente — The Rather Earnest Painter

I have been spending time today thinking about a logo. It's not that I need a logo, but when I was building my website on Squarespace they offered to make one for me. It's rather simple and not quite the perfect fit, but it's there and it works. So, I thought that I'd revisit the years I spent studying design/art and play with a logo for myself.

It's brought me to think about what I'm trying to do with the website and this new direction I'm trying to take – writing and art. I revisited the notes that I took originally and I saw that I was supposed to be painting again. I've known this and I've intended to do it. But, I haven't actually done it. Alas, there are only so many hours in a week. But, I do need to make it a point to work this in. I can add it to the After Hours Sprints I do with an online community - WANA Tribes. We spend 40 minutes at a time in uninterrupted work. The idea is that maybe we can't dedicate half a day to something, but we can fit in 40 minutes. I generally use those minutes to write, but I can alternate writing and painting.

I visited a list of words (a Word Cloud) that I wrote at Kristen Lamb's recommendation. (She's the creator of WANA Tribes and she teaches branding, blogging, writing etc.) The words are supposed to describe me and my brand. The logo I created with Squarespace includes a cat, but I tried to incorporate a drawing of one of my own cats. It's not working for the logo, but I'm going to keep it because I like it. (Ideas for painting!) Other ideas from my Word Cloud are books, painting, mysteries, Agatha Christie (I adore Agatha Christie to an almost unhealthy level.) Cats are definitely in there as well. How could they not be? They are 50% of my life.

I have a color palette chosen already. Really what I need for the logo is something to enhance my name in Caslon typeface. I have started with a grid and a circle. As I said, I tried switching the circle out with a cat face - didn't work. I'm thinking of trying pages turning; this could represent writing, reading or painting – the three things I'm trying to promote.

All in all the project is making me think about my website, think about my brand, think about what my goals are and it's a way of pushing me forward. When I come up with what I think is a usable idea for the logo, I can enlist my graphic artist friend to help me from there. But, I don't want to outsource this experience. It's important to what I'm doing with my art and with my life. Going into it, I had no idea this project would have such an impact.