Occasionally Thoughtful

Barbara Schreiber, Greeting Card Universe April Challenge winner

What awards or contests have you won outside of GCU?

I’ve never entered anything anywhere outside of GCU as I never had the time or the ambition and am too lazy ….

What are your 3 favorite cards in your storefront?

My favorite design is always the one I’m currently working on.

Please list any of your professional social media sites:

I’ve got two blogs, but never find the time to post something.

https://barbara-schreiber.blogspot.de/

https://etoilesandfernweh.blogspot.de/

What was your inspiration for your winning card?  Please walk us through the process of how this card went from an idea to a greeting card.

I pondered on the design challenge subject “GOLD” for some time. (I thought about “you have a heart of gold” friendship card – rejected it) and then decided to do a Golden Anniversary design.

I wanted the gold to be subtly prominent (not as a gold background) and a design that would be elegant (as befits the gold) and more neutral, mainstream, as befits the age group. I did not want an overly romantic card. (That would be better suited for a younger age group).

Two hearts or love birds in gold did not appeal to me as this card is for a more mature age group. As it is a celebration, I chose two champagne glasses instead (more neutral) and I could fill the glasses with “golden” champagne. Besides being the “gold” element, champagne glasses do say: It’s celebration time!

As I’m not a good photographer, I wanted to do illustrations.

I needed a lot of space for two text blocks – one on the top and one on the left of the card – so I placed the glasses and flowers to the right, using a composition form that resembles a J, to give it a more dynamic shape, as I did not want an overly fussy, cluttered design. I wanted the “gold” to pop, so I chose a neutral gray background, keeping in mind that a couple who has been married for 50 years would prefer something romantic, but not overly romantic … (just my thoughts 🙂 and the design would be more classical and fresh, so I did not chose red (color symbolizing love) as a background. I knew the flowers would be pink (did not want the standard red) and I love the combination of gray and pink.

To counterbalance the strict gray background and in order to give it a more playful appearance, I added a big white frame around the gray and more “gold” in the form of circles – the fizzy champagne bubbles, and also so that there would be a bit more of “gold” somewhere else in the design, not only in the glasses.

Since celebrations go together with flowers (and I did want something romantic included, as befits a wedding anniversary), I added some watercolor roses and hearts, as watercolor florals are very trendy at the moment.

I put all the bits and pieces together in Photoshop and played around with positioning and overall look. Thanks to the help of a nice reviewer, I changed the text “golden” in “golden anniversary”, so that it looks nicer and is better readable.

You’ve won many GCU’s Design Challenges What advice would you give to other artists who are hesitant to enter?

Don’t be hesitant. Just do it. It’s learning by doing. Don’t let fear hold you back. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. A lot of platitudes, I know, but true never the less. The design challenges make you leave your comfort zone, try out new things, techniques, colors, subjects, categories  … Even if you don’t win, you have tried out something new, which is great! I always enter the challenge because  it takes me into directions I otherwise would not have taken. I often make mistakes and not every painting or image turns out well, but in the process, I’ve learnt a lot.

 

What sparked your interest in art? Did you start as a young child?

Yes, I started as a child. In our family, we had two professional ballet dancers, one artist,and one opera singer. I didn’t inherit the musical traits, but I did inherit the love for creating and art.

I love flowers, nature, animals, so those were the main subjects I did as a child. I experimented a lot and tried drawing with candle wax drippings on a paper (burnt my fingers quite a few times) and rubbing burnt newspaper ash over the image and scratching away the bits of wax that did not look nice. This was done all in black and white and had a sort of dreamlike feeling to it, due to the scratched out parts. That was one of the first paintings I sold – an image of a dove with outspread wings done in that manner.

I started with pencils, charcoal, and over the years moved on to acrylic, silk painting, pottery, pastel chalks, watercolors, mixed media, oil paint and lately digital art.

Do you have formal training or are you self-taught?

I went to art school for one year. The rest is self-taught, especially Photoshop. Before I started creating for a POD site, I just painted and sold my paintings or hung them up on my walls. When there was no more empty space on my walls I started eying the ceilings and thinking about hanging up paintings there and the technical difficulties of doing so, I decided it was time to move on and I discovered GCU. I soon found out that designing a painting is something completely different than designing a card.

I used free photo editors in the beginning (did not even know what pixels, resolution, dpi and layers etc meant in those days), slowly moving on till one day I bought my first Photoshop software. It took me quite some time to learn the ins and outs, and am still learning something new every day. I now use Photoshop CS6. I have a huge library of books on all sorts of art techniques or anything that has to do with art. Every new technique or style fascinates me.

Is your work done by hand and then scanned or do you work entirely on the computer?

Most of it is done by hand and then scanned (the illustrations and paintings). I love using my fingers to rub the paint around. I’ve got Adobe Illustrator, but never really took to it, as I like the smell of paint, the feel of actual paint and for watercolor paintings, I need the real thing as I love the way different colors flow together, mingle, create blooms and granulate.

The collages (vintage elements/photos and other things) are done on the computer. But regardless of which work I do, I give it a make-over in Photoshop, adjusting all possible things, using filters. I just love to fiddle around in Photoshop, try things out, see where it takes me.

Have you ever/do you currently have a job other than as an artist?

I used to be a hostess on two ships (one in the Mediterranean Sea, the other on the Rhine). I worked for travel agencies, then as a foreign language correspondent for several companies, mostly translating or doing secretarial work. I worked in the Netherlands, Monaco, Cyprus and in Germany. I stopped working full time after I got my kids due to health reasons. I taught watercolor and pottery classes. I now teach senior citizens, but only work part time, two half-days a week.

What GCU artist(s) do you admire?

Frankly, there are so many GCU artists I admire – I often look at the “Just sold” carousel and sigh: I wish I had made that card … what a clever idea, color combo, technical skills, imagery, touching text, humor, wit  …  I do want to say a big Thank You to Doreen Erhardt and Corrie Kuipers for sharing valuable tips and information, and to the Reviewers, who are so helpful and whose advice has always made a card/design better!

What would we be surprised to learn about you?

I’m a lousy housekeeper but like to cook (Indonesian, Vietnamese, French, Italian, Chinese). I love to read. History fascinates me and I wanted to study archeology, but unfortunately couldn’t because of financial reasons. I wish I had a time travel machine, so I could go back and forth. I’m very curious what things will be like in 300 years also. I like surreal and quirky things/images. I procrastinate a lot. I spent sixteen years of my childhood in Africa and India and traveled extensively in past days. I love making my own jewelry (wire wrapping, preferably copper, ethno/boho style and when I will have the time, I want to try out metal clay). I often have artist’s block and a white canvas can still scare me.