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| Our new look created by Durwood Coffey |
Actually, I feel that this design was a birthday gift as the artist charged me a very low, low price for an original illustration. I've been in the ad agency business all my life so I know what these pieces go for and they are never cheap. Still.... I am blessed to know the artist.
There is no way I can be self-employed for decades without fabulous people creating my look and doing the crazy behind-the-scenes work that is so often thankless & grueling.
Durwood Coffey is our designer and has been for 20 years. In the past, I used to say, "would you like me to give you a thumbnail (a rough layout)? He would decline my offer. Although sometimes he would humor me and accept it. But he never followed my tissues. Why would he? After all, his layouts were so much stronger than anything I could suggest.
He is quite a talented commercial artist. Actually he was a combat artist in Vietnam where he served as a marine. Design comes naturally to him. You can see that he was very well apprenticed.
Plus, Durwood is a painter. He paints wild animals in groups, sea and sky creatures in their habitats. When asked for advice by others he says: "I paint for myself. Don't chase a market. Create your own."
He created a 500 piece puzzle of a frog on a frond called: Sun's Out, and he exhibits at art fairs throughout the year. There's always a huge canvass set up in his house of various critters large and small. It's a treat to see his works in progress.
Durwood is a great guy. We're looking forward to 20 more years of working together. Neither of us wants to quit. Retire to what? Besides, who knows what kind of new look we'll have by then.
In the meantime, let's keep steppin.
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