Too Busy To Notice!

Stand out from the rest… whether you choose to be different
or just are, live your life because it is just that…
YOUR life!

One Shoe, One Slipper?

Most people are too busy with their lives to notice what other people think about them. This I find especially true in the mornings; eating breakfast at a hundred miles per hour, feeding the kids their breakfast at a hundred miles per hour, getting the bus to work, geting the train to work, stuck in a traffic jam in your car on the way to work, walking the kids to school, collecting the kids from school.

If you are like me and the above sounds a little like your routine... pause for a few moments during this cacophony of your kids telling you what they want for next Christmas, not the Christmas that is six weeks away - oh no, but the Christmas after that! Their minds are so stuffed full from adverts for "Frozen" merchandise or the crucial topic of who is the prettiest Disney princess! Pause for those few moments and breathe. Look around you at other people caught up in the same morning rush maelstrom and wonder who they are, what do they do after all this chaos subdues for a few hours?

Apart from the odd parent still dressed in pajamas or the tussle haired father who somehow has one shoe and one slipper on, does anyone care if they stand out from the crowd? Does anyone choose to be different; to express their own identity? Are we all too busy living our lives to actually live OUR lives?

Diverse Before The Hearse Arrives?

Most people do take time to dress in a way that represents them, listen to one or many genres of music from punk to trance - one that represents them, follow a particular sport that represents them - be it anything from football to scuba diving or support a certain political party that represents them. Whatever orientation, age, size, colour, or creed you are - we all have an identity and have a need to represent or be represented.

If your life is too busy to express your diversity, the years will fly by and before you know it, the last form of expression you will have is whether to be sent off in a pine or an oak casket. Perhaps you will get to have a say on the inscription on your headstone....

"Here I Lie, Too Late To Be Diverse Before The Hearse Arrived"

Be diverse! Pause to live a little... or a lot! Take the time to notice other people and their diversity - better still - celebrate it!

This topic got me thinking and inspired my latest graphic t-shirt design.
It is called "diversity" and plays on the idea of one diver expressing himself.

For Divers & Non-Divers Alike!


You can see the tees here:
Mens/Unisex & Lady-Fit

Street cREDmas

So this is Christmas and what have you donned,
or indeed will you be wearing red?

The colour red has long been associated with Christmas and yes, Coca-Cola did have a major part in cementing a single image of Santa, but they were just using an image that had long been established. Santa was wearing red and white many years before Haddon Sundblom, the illustrator for Coca-Cola in the 1930’s, produced the famous Coca-Cola image of Father Christmas. Santa Claus dates back to 16th century England during the reign of Henry VIII, when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur. 


So Coca-Cola did not change Santa from green to red; he was portrayed wearing both colours long before Coca-Cola. They merely fastened the colour red – obviously for their own commercial purposes. Either way, I prefer my Santa Claus to be red.

 

History shows that red is the first colour after black and white. Every culture has words for black and white. If a third colour exists, it is red. It is the colour of passion, love, danger, and anger. Red is the colour of fire and blood, the colour of life itself. The power of red is so strong even in its chemical make up, so much so that when an artist mixes it with another colour or in aesthetic proportions of a composition – the colour red is used... sparingly.

 







There are red flags, red light districts, red tomatoes, red nose reindeers, red riding hoods, red squares, red ferraris, red roses, red poppies, red rubies, red strawberries, red fire engines, red phone boxes, red post boxes, red squirrels, red lipstick, red apples, red arrows, little red roosters, 99 red balloons and indeed Red Hot Chili Peppers. There are so many things associated with the colour red. The list here could be endless. I could go on and on but one final association to mention is that red is the global symbol for... STOP!

 
International drinks manufacturers do take every opportunity to promote their brand. I myself at www.fishtanktees.com while not an international brand, yet :-) and while I do need to promote the Fishtank Tees brand, I would hope that in doing so I have at least been somewhat informative and even a little entertaining. My favourite colour t-shirt is probably always going to be black but I have created some designs that I think look pretty cool on red t-shirts. 

Maybe if you wear one this time of year (over a long sleeve...it’s a bit chilly out there!) instead of wearing the traditional “Christmas jumper”, you'll have some “Street cREDmas”
– here are a few links:

http://buff.ly/19AClfy
http://buff.ly/1jmJpTj
http://buff.ly/1fIGVJL




To finish off here is a little music by a band with the word red in their name and snow in the song’s title, Merry Christmas! http://youtu.be/yuFI5KSPAt4




















Santa photo by Miel Van Opstal (not endorsed),
attribution license. ref.: http://buff.ly/1hoKcyr
Chilli photo by Vernon Swanepoel (not endorsed),
attribution license. ref.: http://buff.ly/1hoJ3qM
Stop sign photo by Chrishna (not endorsed),
attribution license. ref.: http://buff.ly/1hoORAx