New Websites - New Journey

Hey!  Just wanted to share with all of you the work I have been doing the last couple of months.  As you know, Big Bear is still out of work, but that doesn't mean we've been sitting around sulking.  To the contrary.  We've been busy designing and building our "web & blog design" business called "Red Easel Designs."  

It all started when I decided that I wanted to have more control over the design and functionality of my blogs "Raisin Toast," "Red Easel," and "Vaughn Fine Art."  I wasn't satisfied with the design and functionality of these sites and did not want a "templated" look for any of them.  That said, I got busy learning how to code and design - in my free time.  

It took several years, but I finally got to the point that I was designing blogs and sites for friends and family in addition to changing my own frequently.  Next thing I knew, I was featured in the 2010 book "TypePad for Dummies" for great design and functionality.  

Moving on, I started to get requests from readers and others who ran across my name on Six Apart, TypePad, or Get Satisfaction (Six Apart account).  From there, I started building a small business of my own in web design and it is growing rapidly.

Fortunately, as a result of learning web design, we have started to bring in some much needed cash flow for our family and expenses, at least until Bob becomes situated in a better job.

And it doesn't stop there!  I've been busy on commissioned paintings and crafts like those laptop sleeves I wrote about recently.  

Anyway, I wanted to share with you the sites that I have recently built and designed on the WordPress platform:

Red Easel Designs - my site for web and blog design, and web designer tutorials for Wordpress, coding, and TypePad.  With this site, I wanted it to be fresh, clean, and simplistic.  However, I wanted enough functionality to keep my readers coming back for fresh ideas for their own sites and blogs.  

So, I incorporated my own personally designed icons for Facebook, Twitter, Email, and RSS; I created a functional footer with a neat red background.  I didn't make it too busy, and I made sure that I began the process of writing posts on web design, Wordpress, and TypePad best practices in coding and design.  

I hope you will look around Red Easel Designs and take a look at my work as a web designer and how far I've come on my designer journey.

 

Vaughn Fine Art - my site for sharing my paintings, sketches, and all of my artwork - also built on the Wordpress platform.  I wanted my site to be "different."  I wanted it to have lots of interaction and functionality.  Portfolio sites tend to be too static and bland, and although the attention should always be on the work, I wanted something more without detracting from my paintings.  I think I achieved that with this design.  

If you visit my portfolio, click on the images or pages.  See where they take you.  Stroll around.  Visit different paintings or drop-down menus.  Now, not all the links in the drop-down menus are connected the way I want them, but most are, so I don't mind if you click to your heart's content.  If you get to a page with a comment box, I'd love for you to reply and I hope you like my new portfolio and web design for Vaughn Fine Art.

I love TypePad and that is the platform for this blog and also for my site for visual artists - Red Easel, however, I knew that if I wanted to expand my customer base and capabilities, I had to learn the Wordpress platform.  I'm happy to say it isn't that difficult at all going from HTML/CSS to PHP/MySQL/CSS, although I still haven't completely figured out "why" PHP is so much more capable than just HTML/CSS - but I'm sure I'll have a better understanding soon enough.

I hope you like my new websites and will visit and comment on them as well.  It's important to me to know what my readers and friends think of my work as I aim to please.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great weekend!