Monday, May 14, 2007

'tis madness, but there is method in it

So begins what will undoubtedly be an ever-changing parade of blog banners here at Purly V.

It all started with the last banner, the "Holy Rollers" one that the delightful Miss Kendra did for me. When I hired her to do the project -- at a very reasonable rate, I must say -- I tried to subtly warn her that, Hey, I’m crazy. But how do you tell someone that without scaring her off? Not that I’m a general, all-purpose sort of crazy. I’m not. I’m that very, very specific kind of crazy that comes along with secretly regarding oneself an artiste. Miss Kendra graciously listened to and implemented my 1001 suggestions for a nudge here and a crop there and ultimately produced a very nice banner that I really liked for a while. For a while. Then it just didn’t seem like me. From there, I strolled on over to Why should Archibald Motley’s work be featured on my blog?

Regarding the drive for artistic expression, I’ll go with another of my mother’s adages: Archibald, you don’t need it bad as I do.

Besides, I’ve got images. Lots and lots of images. And I’ve got myself a hearty and legal copy of Photoshop Elements that allows me to practice the layout work I’ve got such a bad case of the hots for. Yesterday I put the two together and tinkered around in Blogger, which turned out to be surprisingly easy, and did myself the banner above. More are waiting in the wings, so watch out.

Miss Kendra -- did I mention how delightful she is? She is. Miss Kendra does fantastic work and even though Archie and I didn’t form a long-term relationship, I love the stuff she’s done. In addition to her blog, check out these two blogs belonging to fellow WeHo SNBers:

That Is So Queer
Needs More Gingham

I’m sure Faith and Laurie Ann had the good sense to turn over their entire blog spaces for redesign, whereas I told Miss Kendra that I could only deal with my existing white background and my existing layout. Basically, she had only a banner to work with. Someday I’ll go the total redesign route but now I know I’m the one who has to do it. It’s too risky for me to hire anyone else. The next designer might not be as nice as Miss K and might just snatch me bald.

If you’re considering sprucing up your site and you want a great designer at a good price, drop Miss Kendra a line at drita42@hotmail.com.

2 comments:

Adrienne said...

Enjoy PS! I love it!

Ellen Bloom said...

Hey! The lovely Miss Kendra helped me with my current blog design too! She's a certifiable graphic genius.

BTW, LOVE the button photo!