Artist featured on greeting cards
Work of John Fewings appearing in national line of greeting cards
The work of a city artist is featured on one of three environmentally friendly, made-in-Canada greeting cards now available nationwide after a call for submissions was made last year during 150th anniversary celebrations.
John Fewings, whose editorial cartoons have been published in The Examiner for more than three decades, was disappointed when he learned Tree-Free Greetings Canada chose only one of his 20 submissions for its Canada Arts Series.
But then he learned about how the Oshawa-based company was flooded with responses and he was among a chosen few.
The blue card captures Fewings’ unmistakable style.
It includes a narrow graphic of a beaver and Canada flag with the words “It’s Canada, eh?” above a larger panel with falling snow and a gloved hand clenching a snow brush/ice scraper along with the words “Our battle cry … Yaaaaaa!”
The freelance graphic designer/cartoonist was pleased with how his art was treated – the envelope even includes a smaller graphic combining elements of the two panels as well as a faded version of the larger panel.
The artist, who also enjoys painting landscapes, for example, is hoping the relationship will blossom into something more. The company has indicated more of the cards will be printed if the current stock sells.
“We’ll see where it goes,” Fewings said from his Hedonics Road home Tuesday. “I was quite pleased with what they did. It looks pretty good.”
Brand manager Brian Heiler anticipates good things from the series, which hit shelves at more than 1,600 participating retail locations earlier this month.
The cards, which retail for $3.95, are printed in Canada using post-consumer recycled paper and agricultural byproducts and vegetable inks.
“The recent Buy Canadian push has consumers looking are where items are made,” he stated in a release. “With this new line (customers are) not only supporting local manufacturing but (Canada’s) talent as well.”
Fewings, a Simcoe native, began drawing caricatures of his high school teachers to get under their skin and get laughs from his friends.
His first editorial cartoons appeared in The Port Dover Maple Leaf and The Simcoe Reformer and at one point, his work appeared regularly in more than two dozen newspapers – including The Toronto Sun.
Fewings got hooked while filling in for another cartoonist.
“I sort of got the bug for it,” she said, explaining how the freedom of opinion and immediate connection he makes with readers as what he likes most. “It’s a good feeling.”
NOTE: See work by John Fewings at www.fewings.ca … More on the Tree-Free line, which is distributed by MapArt Publishing Corp., visit www.tree-free.ca and www.mapart.com .