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Emily Carey
Graphic Designer and Illustrator
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Restored and Recolored Christmas Cards

My great-grandfather, James A. Saxton, was a commercial artist from the 1930s to the 1970s. After my family unearthed his hand-drawn Christmas cards in 2021, I retouched and recolored them digitally using the vestiges of color left on the deteriorating paper then printed them and sent them out as our family Christmas cards for that year.

Church bells Christmas card, colors taken from the original hand-drawn piece

Church bells Christmas card, colors taken from the original hand-drawn piece

Mary and Jesus Christmas card - saturated. This card was so deteriorated that the colors were nearly indistinguishable, so I created two versions. There was also some evidence of the use of gold leaf on the card, so I added a shine to each piece.

Mary and Jesus Christmas card - saturated. This card was so deteriorated that the colors were nearly indistinguishable, so I created two versions. There was also some evidence of the use of gold leaf on the card, so I added a shine to each piece.

Reindeer Christmas card, colors taken from the original hand-drawn piece

Reindeer Christmas card, colors taken from the original hand-drawn piece

Mary and Jesus Christmas card - muted. This card was so deteriorated that the colors were nearly indistinguishable, so I created two versions. There was also some evidence of the use of gold leaf on the card, so I added a shine accordingly to each piece.

Mary and Jesus Christmas card - muted. This card was so deteriorated that the colors were nearly indistinguishable, so I created two versions. There was also some evidence of the use of gold leaf on the card, so I added a shine accordingly to each piece.

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