I had been itching to do some artwork for a Christmas card, both for personal and our company, Altamente. I tried a bunch of things, but I settled on this: 
We did a short run at a local printer. Turned out very nicely. I printed the friends/family one at Shutterfly. I ended up being happier with the local printer. Next time…
I wanted something that was typical to Puerto Rico, communicated home, holidays, but wasn’t wintery or traditional. It would be silly, of course, since we live in the tropics. Not all Christmas seasons are winter wonderlands. Personally, I’m not too keen on religious themes either. Not that I don’t like them, it’s just that their export is not as easy as one would believe when your clients (this card above) and friends (another card that doesn’t have the "Altamente" logo) are all over the map. I wanted them to get a card that they could happily put on their wall and enjoy, something different but cool. It turned out nicely, I think.
May we open the door to the hope that
is reborn during Christmas.
That 2008 be a year
where social commitment
and excellence are
the foundation of prosperity.
These are our most sincere wishes,
It sounds nicer in Spanish. Laura came up with that text. I used a font called BernhardMod BT. I liked the way the taller letters and capitals are much taller than the lowercase. There was something about this serif font that evoked elegance and an Old World feel.
Typical Door
Spanish Colonial Style
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Taken from this photograph by me.
I always snap pictures of these doors in Old San Juan. Anyway, I did the drawing in Inkscape and print layout in Scribus.
The door reminds me of a cruise somehow..
Nice flowers.
Have you ever been to a former Spanish Colony on a cruise? Caribbean perhaps?
Been to Cuba..? Not Spanish but Portuguese, right?
They’ve got plenty of “art deco” like colonial architecture.
Not Portuguese. Spanish. Puerto Rico and Cuba are sister colonies, both former Spanish. You’ll note that the flags are the same but inverted. Also, both were captured from Spain in the Spanish American War. Puerto Rico remained a colony of the US. Cuba reverted to self rule. Both have similar architecture in the old quarters.
And thus answers the question as to why it reminds you of a cruise 🙂
Never been to a cruise, though:)
Nah, people like me belong in the air. Going down.
Happy New Year, ye olde bastard!
Beautiful card, Jimbo! Even better on paper than on the computer – thanks for sending us one. Hope your holidays were wonderful!
The Waldheimskis
What’s going on, man? Everything alright?
Yep, just got back from vacation. We spent three weeks in the States. I’ll be getting back to my regularly scheduled (haha) blog posting as soon as I catch up on work. sigh
I just ordered a 20K NOK laptop so that I can follow your lack of updates with style:)
Scadoobeai-ai. Scadooobelooo-aiaiai *whistle*
Starting to get a little worried here. Hope everything’s okay:)