The Christmas Card You Won't Be Receiving

I've been thinking about silhouettes lately. It started at work. I was asked to gather books for a grade school teacher who was teaching a unit on the American Colonies. I gathered some history books, as well as books with titles like 'The Blacksmith'. I also found some books with crafts from the colonial period. There was a page on the lost art of silhouette making. I recalled the familiar grade school project of outlining your face on black construction paper and gluing it down on a white background. It was so satisfying and fun to see how recognizable shapes are, even without all the details. I also really admire the work of Kara Walker, and love what she does with silhouettes. Anyhow all of this was on my mind when the topic of Christmas cards came up. We agreed we should make our own this year rather than buy them. I have a Gocco printer and all we really needed was a simple design to get started.
The photo shows what I came up with today.

I thought it showed a lot of potential. This is just the initial drawing mind you. It was to be printed in color with perhaps a wreath surrounding the deer. A little bit art nouveau, a little bit silly, but you know simple, obviously personal and kind of fun... I was ready to go. That was when my design got vetoed. Something about no way in hell my better half was going to let me send cards with his profile on a prancing deer to relatives and friends. Whatever. I still think I'm going to embroider the design on a pillow, or even make stuffed Christmas ornaments with the same motif. If you receive a store bought card from us this year, it's not because I didn't try.