May I Brag A Little? by Terri Chandler

It’s so against my nature to step out on that “proverbial limb” and do anything locally for friends or family for which I receive monetary payment for work. I’m always so afraid that despite what they say, they probably actually hate it and deep in the recesses of my mind, if they don’t pay for it, they can afford to be kind and at least keep up the appearance that they liked it and walk away happy.

Well, I did it again. Only this time on a bit of a grander scale. Believe me, I was so anxious to do the work, but my fear level was on a grand scale this time as a well known and respected member of our community within the local music industry came calling, saying that he had been given my name and wondered if I would be interested in designing the album cover for their yearly Christmas CD.
I was dumb-struck! What made it even more personal was that one of the singers on the album and her husband are dear friends of ours (and exceptionally talented), and have been for years. That made my desire to do a “perfect” job that much more important, and made my desire to say yes so easy.

With no idea about what I was getting into, when “money” was discussed, as usual I wilted like a flower on a hot July day in the south.
Some how I managed to muster up the courage to at least ask that my name be on the CD cover as the artist, and wondered if I could get a little advertisement on the radio. Both requests were met with a pleasant and bright, “Well sure darlin’” and all that was left was the blood, sweat and tears after that.

I worked nearly 48 hours straight; designing a cover around what was originally a photo of a snowy day in Batesville, Mississippi that had been taken by the clients’ daughter. Sadly, while the photo looked good on KODAK paper, it didn’t translate too well once in my computer, so after some photo manipulation, I decided that the photo looked much better as a pencil sketch and hence it went.

In the end, the client was elated; I got my name on the album cover and spent the following Saturday morning turning red-faced as my name was repeated over the local radio station time after time.

I’ve been waiting for the CD to be released, just to be sure that the client didn’t change his mind after he’d seen the finished work and walked out of the house, before saying anything about it here. It may not seem like much, but to the “Local Yokels” it was a work of art. Some of the proceeds for the sale of this CD go to the local chapter of the Shriners. A fact I also knew ahead of time, which was also a factor in my decision not to ask a fee for my services.

So while my mother and son still chime, “You did this work for nothing!?” I roll my eyes, smile and try to rationalize that I have to start somewhere, love doing a good deed for a worthy cause, and maybe, if I’m really good enough, this will be the leg up I need to get noticed locally and the next time I’ll feel comfortable enough to at least charge enough to buy a bag of dog food.

~Thanks for letting me toot my own horn a little! xo Terri ;o)