You Raise me up this is the third image of this largest Christmas painting I have created.  Usually, I do not try to do anything fancy with Christmas painting.  The reason is that I am under a lot of time constraints, that I ignore because time is my less concern when creating a new artwork.  Of course, when it is two weeks before Christmas time does become important.  There is a lot of work to do besides completing the artwork, with Barb helping to make sure they get mailed out in time.

My first job is to complete the artwork, then I have to spend much time cleaning up the artwork.  That means touching up, cleaning up, fixing, and cleaning the artwork.  Next is the photograph.  I try to take the finish artworks portrait outside, but the light is short this time of the year, so that means I  can only do it on weekends, and this weekend, such as the temperature that I walk three miles in was nine degrees above.  Once I have the photograph, next up comes the work in Photoshop to create a credible image of the artwork, which take time.  Next up, is to design this years Christmas Card, which I do in Illustrator. This starts with last years Christmas card, and tweaks  to the design, with this years music’s words placed on the cover. Designating and printing the card and takes several days. I print just the needed number of cards plus three extra which I keep. The printing of the artwork then is next, which can go good or bad.  Once I have the master sheets, usually three pictures per, with Barbs help, I carefully cut out the images to fit the cards, sign and number them, which is a stressful exercise.  I attach the image to the card using a safe glue that I spread lightly along one edge, align,  and finish by placing a weight on the cards. We address the envelopes, based on a list of people who I have put together earlier. The next day we start with numbered image four, and always using some thought about who should get what numbers, Barb and I put the cards and the envelopes together, and the next day Barb mails them out.  Anyone who has bought, and still owns an original artwork will receive a Christmas card.  Then there are close relatives and occasionally a few special cards go out to those that have touched by life this last year in a positive way.

You raise me up, is a powerful song with a message that can stretch beyond the Christmas Season.

Scott Von Holzen