XMAS CARDS: MY SIGNATURE SANTA EXPRESS

THE VERY FIRST XMAS CARD

First, dear reader, my employment of X …. Or rather the utility of my X:

X comes from the Greek letter Chi, the first letter of the Greek word for Christ.  The mas is from our Old English word for mass.  A common (Christian) belief is that Xmas originated as a secular attempt to take the Christ out of Christmas; whereas in fact, this practice dates back to the 16^th Century.  As for me, neither exclamation rings seasonally true.  I am just a short-cut secular snappy-title guy (note my repetition as the literary device employed in XMAS and EXPRESS within my blog title).

Every Xmas I make up a dozen or so personalized cards to present to my favorite people.  And each Xmas I design a new card.  Last year I drew Santa doing a selfie in his IPhone; the year before that I drew Santa playing a guitar; and the year before that I do not remember.  (I never keep any of my past cards; the supply is always depleted before New Year’s; I’m that generous!)

Not so strangely with these cards, I do not like to call myself a craft person.  With regard to my Xmas cards, they are crafty but not commercial -- I don’t sell my Xmas cards.  I’m quirky that way.  And not so strangely, too, I do not refer to myself as a portrait artist.  My preference is to be recognized as a portrait busker.  Give me ten minutes and I can draw your visage, and that’s that.  The longer I linger on a countenance, the more my customers expect. The more minutes it takes to draw someone, the more that someone expects a photo-like print.  

Today my blog entry is a how-to on how I do … Xmas cards.

The very first Xmas card (shown atop this blog entry) was created by Englishmen, Sir Henry Cole, and his artist friend, John Horsley, in 1843.  Two batches of that original were printed (2050 cards) and they were sold for a shilling apiece.  

For this year’s card, I started by drawing my own hand.

Like this.

Then I draw Santa.

And then I create my Santa card express line.

After all is drawn I start adding color.

When the coloring is completed I personalize the greeting and closing on each card.  This, by the way, is the only time of year that my longhand is legible.

For my signature greeting or salutation on each card I write “MERRY XMAS, ______!” Usually I write MERRY in red and XMAS in green.  For the valediction I write, “From your favorite busker!”  Or sometimes, depending on the recipient, the complimentary close will be “From the Child family!”  This is usually written just in pencil black or grey.

There you have it.  These Xmas cards have been on my mind all week and finally they are close to finis.  I just have to color and address them, and then dole them out.   

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas …

 

VIEW FROM MY BALCONY

ALL ABOARD THE SANTA EXPRESS!