Behind all the scurry and hustle for Garden Swirl, I’m spending time designing (more like doodling – but it eventually will lead to a finished design) the maniturgium that I mentioned in this article last week.

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an “artist proper.” From conception to execution, I am just not one of those artists who manages, with seeming ease, to produce some beautiful and intricate work of art, in ideal proportions, using pencil, paint, pen…

Instead, I am a doodler, and I manage to pull my doodles together into some kind of design that will work for the embroidery project I’m imagining.

I don’t consider this a negative thing, and I’m not belittling myself. I’m just stating a fact. I have never developed skill for sketching or painting, for bringing an idea to fruition in the correct proportions and balance, to produce a real work of art in the way that an artist, with training (or with innate skill and talent), can do.

I’m pretty decent with stylized doodles, designs, elements, and text, and so that’s pretty much where my approach to design lies.