More than you ever wanted to know about Alabama native Joe Watts
Quick job for my friends at AccuPrint, downtown Birmingham, Alabama. We’re sending out a monthly postcard with the calendar for the month. Margie decided to have me take a different scene of downtown Birmingham each month. Here’s the second scene (around 3rd Avenue North and 20th Street North):
A quick postcard for my friends at AccuPrint. I’ve been working with AccuPrint since 1998 or so. Maybe before then. I got to know them when I was working with the Cahaba Group of the Sierra Club. I’ve continued to use them for much of my printing work. They are typically very fast and always entertaining. Best of all, they really are a family-owned and operated business. The dogwood blooms are particularly beautiful. Photo taken along Highland Avenue (unfortunately, the dogwoods by our house didn’t fare well during last summer’s brutal drought, so they are just barely alive and certainly not blooming).
Monthly newsletters really sneak up on you if you aren’t careful. It seems like just a couple of weeks ago that I finished the January issue of this newsletter, but here I go again, finishing another. I’m starting the third year of doing the newsletter for the Alabama Sierra Club and really enjoy doing it quite a lot.
Having monthly newsletters helps to even out the amount of work I can expect in any given month–I’d suggest it for anyone doing the kind of work that I do. Of all the projects I work on, I think newsletters are my favorite–it is always fun to piece together the dozens of bits of information and decide on headlines, pull quotes, photos and graphics and then plug it all together.
Getting positive feedback helps too!
It seems that I’m almost always wrapping up this particular newsletter on a Saturday morning.
I’ve been working for 3 days straight finishing up the website for American Mining Insurance Company–hopefully, I’ll have something to show for all the work by the first of next week. I did take a couple of hours out of that schedule yesterday to put together a quick ad for a trade magazine.
The ad will run in Utah’s Enterprise Magazine. They have a special issue focusing on mining.
I took two of the photos in the ad–I usually wind up using photos I’ve taken from the two trips I’ve taken to document AMIC’s mining tours. Going into an underground coal mine really gives you pause and makes you thankful that you aren’t doing it (I don’t have the strength or the nerve to do it). Here are a few photos from the two trips I’ve taken: www.joewatts.com/mining
Well, sort of. Ann’s off today, so I’ll only be doing a little bit of “real” work. We’ve got plans to do a bit of yard work and go for a walk. And we’ll be struggling to stay up until 12:01 tonight. Hoping we can make it.
I’m working on a logo for the Alabama Scenic Byways program–haven’t gotten it just where I wanted it, but there is interest in showcasing the pine tree somehow on the signage, so here’s one of the designs I’ve come up with so far. The font for “Alabama” is the standard font used by the Tourism Department, so I went with that for the whole sign. I’ve also done another using a sans serif font for readability. I’ll talk with the sign department at ALDOT on what they think will work.
Here’s an idea for a last minute Christmas gift, and one that really can make a difference. Give someone a calendar for 2008 from Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama. Okay, it’s a plug for something I worked on, but still, pretty worthy when you think about it. The proceeds from the calendar sales go to fund the mission of ACA–which is to help people with Alzheimer’s and the people who care for them. Visit www.alzca.org and you can buy the calendar online (using paypal, so you are safe as can be).
The brightly colored flowers of the cover art were created by 86 year old Dapsie, who was born in Briarwood. Her family of four children, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren tell us that she was a wonderful seamstress and cook. Dapsie, who has lived in Tuscaloosa for over fifty years, is known for having a smile as bright as this artwork and for being very generous with hugs!
All the art is created by Alzheimer’s patients–several area nursing homes have art therapy programs and reportedly the creation of art gives the patients something rewarding to work on and can help them have a more enjoyable life.
Just a thought!