on starting in my new position

I'm in the middle of the switch between positions at Powell's, from In-Store Merchandising and Promotions Coordinator to Lead Visual Merchandiser. Until the Burnside location chooses its new person for the position I'm vacating, I'll be going back and forth between jobs, but today I'll be getting set up in my new spot. This morning, I'm thinking about my early days as [to keep from saying the whole title again] Merchandising Coordinator, back when window displays were one of the largest components of my job.

For my first window display, I chose a couple of favorites: Tom Spanbauer and Hawthorne Press. Hawthorne was just reissuing Tom's first book Faraway Places, and I did up a window with Faraway Places on top and a slew of other great Hawthorne titles on the bottom. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of it, but I do have an image of the panel I put together for the top of the display.

So DIY. I created it in Word and printed the pieces out in 8 1/2 by 11 on the copier and then tiled them together until I had a panel going 46 inches across. I think I put together the sky picture from some smaller sky picture, which I reproduced a number of times and then [again] tiled and smooshed around using some online Photoshop-like program until I had some odd, not-quite-real clouds, and hoped the lettering and the books displayed in front helped hide that fact.

Since it's such a long, thin panel, you can't really make out the quote I used from Faraway Places, one of my favorites. I'd write it out here, but since it's getting late and I have to get on to work, I've put the picture in again sideways and if you want to turn your head, you'll find some poetry.

I think it's sweet that not only was my first window display for Hawthorne Press, but now that I'm making this change, Hawthorne (and Faraway Places) is at the forefront of my work again, in our big promo for the month.