An afternoon with the illustrator who designs our greeting cards
Lincolnville Beach gives a small shop like Beyond the Sea a setting that rewards a closer look. The view towards Penobscot Bay, the salt in the air and the mix of holidaymakers, summer residents and year-round locals all shape what people want to carry home. Among the books, jewellery, textiles, art and specialty foods, a greeting card can feel surprisingly substantial: a folded piece of paper with a place, a season or a private joke attached to it.
An afternoon with the greeting-card illustrator reveals how those small objects are made. The work moves between observation and reduction: a harbour, a pine tree, a café table or a line of coastal weather is simplified until it fits both a postcard-sized surface and the palm of the hand. The result suits Beyond the Sea’s emphasis on Maine makers, New England craft and useful curiosities, while remaining easy for an overseas visitor to understand.
A shop where local stories gather
Beyond the Sea works like a community noticeboard with shelves. New books sit beside carefully chosen second-hand titles, locally made pottery shares space with stationery, and textiles lead the eye towards gifts made by people whose names are known to regular customers. Nothing needs to be merely decorative. A card, notebook or soap can reflect the coast while still being useful in an ordinary week.
That practical character shapes the greeting-card work. The artist has to acknowledge familiar Maine details without turning every design into a souvenir postcard, and has to make an image legible at a glance in a busy shop. The shop also runs book signings, festivals, drawing classes and presentations, all listed on its upcoming events calendar. A card often enters a customer’s life through one of these encounters: seen beside a signed book, chosen after a class or tucked into a parcel for someone back home.
From a blank card to a small scene
The first stage is usually visual rather than verbal. Maine offers abundant material, but the illustrator selects one gesture rather than a complete view. A gull crossing an empty sky, a stack of lobster traps or a row of beach chairs can say more than a crowded panorama. The chosen detail is then tested repeatedly at thumbnail size, where a weak shape disappears and a strong one holds.
Line and colour follow that shape. Fine ink gives edges definition, while a limited palette keeps the design calm enough to print and affordable enough for a shop range. Some cards use a wash of ocean blue; others rely on warm reds, cream paper and the dark green of coastal pines. Lettering receives the same discipline, with hand-drawn words adjusted until they feel part of the picture rather than pasted onto it.
The final decision is what to leave out. A message may need space to be personal, while a seasonal design can be more playful and immediate. The illustrator balances both needs by treating the envelope and inside as carefully as the cover. A card that looks complete on a shelf should also open into something useful, especially for birthdays, thank-you notes and the many occasions that do not fit neatly on a calendar.
Drawing Maine without freezing it
The best local images are not simply records. They catch a habit or atmosphere: the way afternoon light falls on a shop window, the abundance of blueberries in late summer, or the determination of a local business opening before the first ferry arrives. These subjects travel because they are specific without requiring the viewer to live in Lincolnville Beach.
Scale changes what can be communicated. A broad landscape suits a panoramic card; a small object can become bold and graphic on a die-cut shape. Four formats make the practical design choices easy to compare:
| Format | Design priority | Strongest use | Familiar Australian retail setting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Folded A6 | One clear image and a tidy handwritten message | Birthdays and thank-you notes | Supermarket card aisles and stationery displays |
| Panoramic | A coastline, horizon or row of buildings | New-home wishes and local farewell notes | Boutique gift-shop shelves |
| Die-cut | A recognisable object such as a shell, leaf or boat | Children’s notes and playful congratulations | Craft markets and independent gift stores |
| Illustrated folio | A quieter cover surrounding a large blank interior | Sympathy, encouragement and personal correspondence | Newsagents and charity-shop displays |
These choices also show how format affects perception. A compact card feels intimate, a panorama offers a sense of escape, and a shaped card asks to be held. The paper and finish complete that message, especially when a design is intended for display in a New England home rather than immediate posting.
Cards for celebrations and everyday moments
The range has to cover the informal language of card-giving. Some people arrive with a date and a name; others have a feeling but no suitable wording. For major occasions, the illustration can establish the mood before the sender writes a line of their own.
- Birthday cards pair a festive image with room for an age, joke or shared memory.
- New-home cards focus on doors, gardens, harbour views and the pleasure of making a space personal.
- Thank-you cards use quieter details, allowing the handwritten message to carry the gratitude.
- Seasonal cards mark coastal winters, summer gatherings and the changing pace of the town.
Everyday correspondence benefits from a different kind of design. It need not announce a large event; it can simply offer a graceful way to say something that deserves more care than a text message.
- Blank-inside notes suit a short greeting without forcing the sender to find words.
- Milestone cards acknowledge a new job, graduation, engagement or move.
- Thinking-of-you cards use small Maine motifs rather than an overt holiday message.
- Encouragement cards bring a little colour to a difficult week without becoming overly sentimental.
The shop’s wider assortment reinforces that versatility. A card can stand alone, accompany a book, wrap a small gift or sit on the café counter as a prompt for a message. It is this range of uses that turns a piece of illustrated paper into a practical local purchase.
Taking the idea to an Australian market
For Australian readers, the first comparison is the card-buying routine. In Sydney and Melbourne, birthdays are often covered with a quick purchase from Coles, Woolworths or a newsagent, while independent gift stores, church fairs and weekend craft markets attract buyers who value originality. A Maine card occupies an unusual middle ground: local enough to feel personal, but portable enough for a post marked for Melbourne, Brisbane or a rural postcode.
Metric sizing is another useful point of comparison. A folded card around 105 by 148 millimetres, close to Australia’s A6 format, sits comfortably beside a standard Australian envelope. Artists can therefore adapt familiar proportions without asking customers to work out a foreign scale. The environmental assumption also changes: a design celebrating rain, wool, harbour light or native coastal vegetation may feel more resonant in an Australian home than an image built around northern-hemisphere seasonality.
Selling across borders brings legal and commercial realities. Australian Consumer Law requires consumer goods to be of acceptable quality, match their description and be fit for a disclosed purpose. Copyright also matters: the Copyright Act 1968 protects original artwork, and buying a card generally does not transfer the right to reproduce its image commercially. For online imports, GST becomes relevant when the value of low-value goods reaches the A$1,000 threshold, so Australian sellers need to understand the threshold before presenting imported cards as a bargain.
None of this removes the emotional appeal of a handmade-looking card. It simply adds context to the purchase. A visitor can enjoy an American coastal scene while knowing what standards apply at home, while the shop gains an international audience for work rooted firmly in Maine.
An afternoon with something to take home
The final part of the visit is a conversation about selection. The illustrator looks at a card intended for a new home, asks what the recipient will miss, and considers whether a view of the water says more than an image of lobster traps. This exchange makes the process feel less like ordering from a catalogue and more like choosing an object for a particular person.
A book can then extend the story. A visitor might pair a coastal card with a newly released novel, browse a rack of second-hand favourites or take a break in the café while deciding. The surrounding goods encourage browsing without pressure; art, specialty foods, jewellery and stationery all offer different ways to remember Lincolnville Beach.
The shop’s programme gives the afternoon a purpose beyond shopping. Choosing one book signing, festival, drawing class or presentation turns a pleasant visit into a plan. The concrete next step is to write one selected event’s date in your calendar before leaving the shop.