From Florida with Love!

At the end of last month I received an order for liqueur labels from the USA. Actually, it was my first international order -- I had done some labels for export before, but only for local customers. The order was placed by a small manufacturer from Florida. It was a series of three different flavored liqueurs called Limonzala -- Lemon, Lime and Orange. The shape of the bottle suggested two separate labels: the primary and the secondary. After we agreed on prices and I received the basic concept, a blueprint of the bottle and a photo of the actual product, I set to work.

The order didn't fit in my usual understanding of liqueur labels, so I had to improvise. The thing is, the liqueurs here in Georgia are mostly based on sweet fruits, almonds, coffee, chocolate, etc. -- but never on citruses. Also, they are mild, considered to be a "ladies' drink," with no more than 25% alcohol by volume. Consequently, the liqueur labels I usually make are somewhat "feminine," with floral ornaments, pretty vignettes and so on.

Limonzala Liqueurs are in fact citrus vodkas, with 40% alcohol, so the choice of style was obvious -- no heavy decorations, ornate elements or dark colors, but everything light, bright and "vodkish." As for the fruits, photo-realistic ones wouldn't do here, so I locked myself up in the FruitLab and bred the new sorts of "digitally hand-made" citruses, exclusively for U.S. export.

I finished the labels in a week or so. As a finishing stroke, I added some Florida sun, palms and a girl on a beach chair, and sent the demo version to the client, along with an actual product prototype, as I call them (you can see it on the right).

I liked the results myself, but even so I didn't expect the reaction to be so rapturous: the client was so happy that he doubled the payment! The labels were approved without a single change, except minor edits in the back label text.

Last week I safely received my payment and sent the final version in Adobe Illustrator format, as requested by the client. The labels are ready for printing, but we still have to wait for the U.S. Government approval. My work is done, and I'm looking forward to the long-term business relationship with this new-found partner from Florida.

Russia, Nicaragua... ESET

What these two countries and an antivirus software developer could possibly have in common? I'll tell you what -- they all regard Abkhazia, a breakaway Georgian region, as a country (although, as I've heard, the parliament of Nicaragua still hasn't ratified Ortega's recognition of Abkhazia and so-called "South Ossetia").

I discovered this fact last Monday, when I was browsing through ESET's website (my trial version of Smart Security 4 had expired and I was looking for purchase options). While the presence of Abkhazia and "South Ossetia" in the country lists of Russian websites and software products is a common rule after Medvedev's recognition (some displayed Abkhazia even PRIOR to the recognition), the rest of the world usually respects the territorial integrity of Georgia and avoids listing its breakaway provinces among legitimate states. So it was rather unexpected to see something like this on a Slovakian company's website:


Generally, ESET seems to have a thing for including autonomous regions in country lists -- like Aland Islands (Finland) for instance -- but that's not really our business. But Abkhazia is certainly OUR business, so I decided to let them know how wrong they are. I sent a short letter to Christopher Dale, ESET's PR manager, aiming for the weakest point of all companies -- the sales numbers. Here it is:

Dear Sir,

I had decided to buy ESET Smart Security 4, but then I saw Abkhazia in a country selection list and changed my mind. If you think a couple of extra purchases from this Russian-controlled province is worth loosing a lot more Georgian customers, then be my guest. Maybe it's just business for you, but it's politics for us.

Sincerely,
Rezo Kaishauri

I had little hope for a positive response (or any response at all), so I decided to start a thread in a political section of Tbilisi Forum -- the largest Georgian-speaking web community in the world. The reaction was immediate, and soon a squall of angry letters rained upon Dale's mailbox.

Apparently, the massive onslaught did its work -- in a few days ESET silently removed Abkhazia from their country list, as you can see below:

Some may say, who cares about country lists, when there are much bigger problems. Well, we care. Because every small victory matters in this great war for people's minds.

Between Two Worlds

Long time, no post. I was a little busy last month -- Diana took a holiday and, naturally, decided to spend it here, with me. We had a great time, mostly doing nothing, just enjoying each other's company, listening to music, watching movies, walking in the nearby park, visiting some friends, doing some shopping, taking pictures and... am I forgetting something? Ah yes, we got married!

It was like one of those spontaneous Las Vegas marriages, only in Tbilisi, without getting drunk to the point of kissing the priest instead of the bride (there was no priest, no begin with), and insidiously planned in advance. On June 18, after some epic struggle with the Eternal Guardians of the Civil Registry, which lasted for three days and three nights (actually, it took only two working days, but it's strictly off the record), we became man and wife... Okay, okay, maybe the struggle was not so epic -- I just had lost my bill of divorcement (yep, I was married before) and had to retrieve it from the dusty archives (yep, I was married in the previous century), and Diana had to have her papers re-translated from Lithuanian by a local certified translator (speaking in RPG terms, finding one turned out to be quite a side quest) -- but for us it was a real adventure, a romantic tale of registering an international civil marriage!

In fact, it was a double marriage, because my best man (or rather the best witness, since it was a civil marriage) and his de facto wife, with whom he has two grown-up kids, had never been officially married, so they decided to join the ride. A group marriage registration is always fun, although a bit odd-looking. Ah, and we totally forgot about the flowers! And the photos! And the kids from the previous marriage -- one kid, actually (and yep, he's mine) -- and relatives, and the dinner! Well not entirely -- my younger brother was there, and my mother... Jesus! I just remembered -- I forgot to tell my dad! He doesn't know I'm happily re-married! Excuse me, I need to make a phone call...

...OK, where were we? Ah yes, the dinner. No, forget the dinner -- there was no dinner anyway -- the marriage itself, that's the most important thing! You may ask, what's the point in being married, if you don't live together? Well, the point is... it is... okay, there's no point, actually, but it's so romantic! Yep, we're the most romantic married couple EVER -- I live in Tbilisi, she lives in Vilnius, we see each other mostly through our webcams, but look at this from the brighter point of view: we spend our best time with each other -- our holidays! We accumulate our passion day by day, saving it for our sweet reunions... What can be more romantic?

Now seriously. Of course, we don't like living apart, and we're working on that. For now, we live between the two worlds -- Vilnius and Tbilisi, Lithuania and Georgia, her world and my world -- but these two worlds are getting closer to each other with every single day, her world becoming mine, and mine -- hers. According to the laws of the universe, someday they will merge together. How, when and where exactly, it doesn't really matter -- the most important thing is LOVE, and all the rest is just details.

Now that our improvised honeymoon is over and Diana has departed, I have very busy weeks ahead. We made a plenty of photographs for many of my future projects, including the sequels to Red Bound, Crank-Up, Quagmire of Lust, Masochist, Body Language, Stairway from Heaven and many others. Also, I'm planning another trip to Vilnius next month, so I have to make some preparations.

As for this semi-virtual marriage, there is nothing unexpected or hasty about it. If you trace back the history of our relationship, you'll definitely see it coming. We've known each other for five years and met in person a year ago, just to confirm that we are a perfect match. At some point we felt that the search for that special someone was over, and we were meant to be together. Of course, we don't need official papers for that, especially when we both are religious persons and regard church wedding as the only TRUE marriage, but consider this an act of commitment, a declaration of intent, if you will. There will be a real wedding, with flowers, relatives, kids from previous marriage and everything -- all in due time.

That's it, folks -- just wanted to let you know, where on earth I had disappeared for the whole last month. Now you know everything and hopefully you are happy for me. Ah, and sorry for the absence of new photos -- all we have is that blurry one taken in the airport just before Diana's departure, the rest is from summer 2008, like this one, where we're eating the famous Mtskheta meatloaves. Want some?

The Purple Haze

The Purple Haze

What do you see
In the haze of her purple night?
Glinting eyes,
Teasing smile shining bright?

What do you smell
In the dark of her purple room?
When she buds
Like her lilac in bloom?

What do you feel
In the bed of her purple rose?
Trembling touch,
The sweet pain as it grows?

What do you hear
At the dawn of her purple day?
Silent voice
That keeps asking "Please stay?"

* * *

I wrote this small poem shortly after finishing the artwork. I was looking at it and the verses began to float in my head, just like that. It's strange, because I don't write poems on regular basis -- I have written a few in my youth, but who hasn't? And they were all in Georgian, so this would be my first poem in English.

Anyway, back to the artwork. It's sort of a commission, only I don't get paid for it -- just an old promise redeemed. My friend, who is the model in this picture and the "client" at the same time, has a thing for lilacs and all related tints and hues, so the color choices were obvious. Since I rarely work with purple and violet, it was a good opportunity to visit that unexplored part of the spectrum and play around. Also, it was my second time with oil pastels -- another virgin soil for me. Thus my enjoyment from the process was doubled.

I chose a bluish-violet pastel paper, very toothed and very hard. Not the best choice for oil pastels, but I like the canvas feel it provides. The size of the paper was another rarity for me -- most of my works don't exceed standard A4 size, and this one makes a whopping (for me, that is) 40 cm square. But, despite the size, the drawing didn't took much time -- the paper was quite dark, so I didn't have to cover all the surface. I managed in two days. The portrait came out a bit darker than most of my other works, and a lot rougher around the edges than my usual style, but I don't complain -- change of pace is always refreshing.

Tamro

It may sound strange, but this simple Ossetian countrywoman was my first guide into the mysterious World of Art. She's my late grandmother's sister, and I often visited her in my childhood days. Back then she was a teacher of drawing at her local village school, and her house was full of art related textbooks and publications. We spent countless evenings just browsing through them and talking about art. I've been drawing pictures since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, but it was those unforgettable evenings that kindled a real flame from the little spark I always carried in my heart.

This portrait is my first attempt in oil pastels. It's been drawn on a toothed pastel paper, which proved to be quite a challenge with this viscid medium. The old lady looks as if she's troubled or in pain, but don't worry -- it's her regular expression due to the permanent facial nerve damage she received in her adolescence. It gives her a unique twisted smile, which I find most heart-warming and adorable.

Easter Levitation

Here it is at long last -- my belated Easter tribute. I intended to finish it for the Orthodox Easter, which fell on the 19th of April this year, but my designer's work interfered, as always.

In the picture there are four levitating objects, associated with Easter. The first one is a buxus leaf (in Georgia we use buxus instead of palm branches); below it there is a chalice from which the red wine is pouring down, painting an Easter egg; at the bottom you can see a slice of paska -- a sweet bread with raisins, traditionally prepared at Easter in Georgia.

Art Holding Logo

This one went surprisingly fast, smooth and easy. The whole process of creation and endorsement took only one day. The task was to create a simple, good-looking, modern logo for an art holding company, without going to great conceptual lengths. I was given only a couple of days, so I had a certain skepticism regarding the quality of the final product. But fortunately, my worst expectations proved to be wrong: the logo came out neat and solid. It surely was no world-beater, but the client was happy with the product, which was quite enough for me, considering the circumstances.

Originally the client wanted to use an eight-pointed star as the leading element of the design, because it was a trademark of their related project: the Hollywood-style memorial stars to honor the famous Georgian actors. I expressed a strong concern that such an element could give the logo somewhat cheesy looks, but still promised to work on that concept. And I did: on the right you can see one of the several demos where I used the suggested element. Fortunately, these "star" versions were rejected in favor of a more modern concept, just as I hoped.