In 2019 I became aware of the wonderful Artist, Author and Designer Jerome Pumphrey through Instagram. I was following him and then he wrote a beautiful children's book "The Old Truck" with his brother Jared that I pre-ordered and wrote a blog post about. Along with the pre-order there were all kinds of wonderful gifts of illustrated cards and pins and a beautiful canvas reusable bag, and so I began to get a sense for more of the wonderful work these two brothers were doing.
One day I saw a post on Instagram that he had created an illustration for the film "The Never Ending Story." I had seen the film as an adult just a few years before because a friend who had loved the film as a child had shared it with me because it was such an important film in his life. When I saw the post about the illustration I wanted to give a copy of a print of it to this friend as a birthday gift, and so sent Jerome a message explaining why. He told me at the time that he didn't usually make prints for people and so he didn't have a way of selling it to me, but that if I would respect his copyright and not share it with anyone else except for this friend, he could send me a file that I could then have made into a print. I happily agreed, and he sent it to me, recommending that I have it printed on card stock and said that I could find a place online to do that. I was grateful for the help with suggestions because I am not a visual artist or a graphic designer and I would not have known where to begin with a project like this.
Time went on and I tried to find a place online that would print the pdf file that I had, but I wasn't having any success. I didn't want to bother Jerome again because he had been so kind and so helpful already, and so I kept looking. My friend's birthday came and went in February of 2020, and then the world as we know it changed, and though I still kept trying to find the right place to print this beautiful image, it seemed to get harder and not easier because of everything else that was happening. From time to time I'd meet someone who would say they might be able to help me and at some point in early 2021 another friend offered to try, but then while we were talking about it he said he would want to change the image and make it darker because he preferred it that way and that of course was not what I wanted at all out of respect for the Artist and because I loved it the way it was.
Time continued to go on and I continued to search, and then one day just a few weeks ago I found a company I hadn't been able to find before online called Sign Bliss. They create signs and posters for businesses, and they have a variety of things that they print on including card stock, and they prefer printing from pdf files. I went through the process of selecting sizes and paper, and uploaded my file. Because I am not a designer, I hoped that what I was creating would work and I made my purchase. I could have asked them for help through their customer service which they offer in a very friendly way, but my project was such a small one and I didn't want to bother them with it, and as everything seemed like it looked all right, I took a chance that I had figured out how to do it.
When it arrived it was absolutely beautiful, and the turnaround time was so quick it was just in time for my friend's birthday. The whole experience with this company was so wonderful that I am wondering what else I can create with them next. Sign Bliss it absolutely is, and so true to the company's name that I had to write about them and let everyone know that there is a company like this that made the story that began with a friend's favorite film and connected to an Artist's lovely work be a story that is a beautiful one.
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