It is rare that I make something for the simple fact of making it.  Normally any design work I do has to do with someones website or something for a print piece.  Sometimes though I’ll get a creative spark and spit something out.  It’s not fast nor easy but it eventually get’s done; I have the unfortunate nature of being somewhat of a perfectionist so many of my ideas or concepts don’t come to full realization.  I am pleased to say this one did though:

     This ran as the landing page for this website for probably the better part of a year.  I had hoped that this site would be more than just myself; that it would be a place for my entire family to post articles, share, etc.  Alas, ease of other social networking tools make that idea a little more complicated than it needs to be.  But in that vein of thinking my mind was on my family, not just my wife and kids; but my mother & brother, all the cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.  For me, looking at my family now I cannot help but think of those who have gone on before; my father, grandparents on both sides, numerous aunts & uncles, great aunts & uncles, so on and so forth.  So, having that in mind might help explain the image.
The concept was the family tree . . . it’s a bit upside in that those who have gone on before or those who are entering the ‘autumn’ of their lives are represented by the autumn leaves.  As you climb the tree the leaves get greener which represent the youth of our clan.  Having only daughters, I know that one day they will grow and marry into other clans . . . not that they will somehow lose connection with mine; but they will belong to another and things will obviously be different, as it should be.  I really don’t like this part . . . but it is what it is and it’s a good thing.  If it did not occur then the clan would come to an end.  My wife and I started a family of our own which makes our own little branch on the tree.  One day the girls will start families of their own with their own husbands and children.  I’m looking forward to watching them grow and turn into the women that God intends them to be.  Then the wife and I will be right back where we started, hopefully still laughing and loving just as we always have.
Anyway, that’s the deal with the tree.  It was done while thinking of family . . . probably holds no real impact over anyone or anything other than myself, and I’m ok with that.