u/Fart_teacher

My name is Lucie and I am a former ECE teacher getting a PhD to do research about gender, race, and labor in ECE. I believe that many of the labor inequalities that ECE teachers face in the US are related to our workforce being more female and more Brown and Black than other subsets of teachers, and that  perspectives from Black ECE teachers are often over looked in conversations about labor and professionalization. 

I am doing a dissertation on labor tensions in ECE, and on the ways that Black women in particular think about and navigate these tensions. I am hoping to work specifically with Black women who teach Head Start or Early Head Start in Illinois (especially Chicago or Central Illinois)

There is no commitment to participate in the study. At this point, I am hoping to build connections and meet people. I am linking an interest survey for you to express potential interest! Feel free to share with others if you know anyone that meets the criteria.

I should specify that I am a white woman. I am committed to doing this project in a way that builds genuine connections and reflects the perspectives of Black women. If you have more questions about how I am thinking about my own identity in relation to the topic, I am happy to answer them!

Also, I welcome any tips anyone has for finding folks who might be interested!

I do some watercolor as a hobby and my friend asked if I would want to design something she can use for wedding invites (She is a close friend and I definitely had room to decline if I wanted, but I enjoy projects like this! She also helped a lot with my own wedding.)

This is a bit out of my wheelhouse and I am not that experienced with more design oriented or illustration-type work.

I know there are some technical areas to correct, and I think I need to move some of the orange flowers on the left to leave room for text.

What else do I do as a next step? I typically add a lot of detail to my work and have trouble leaving things more painterly, so I need advice before I overwork it. I am also open to changing things I have already done (mountains look too flat and heavy for sure)

Also, I have tried to turn things I make into digital prints before and they never look very high quality. What would be the easiest way to turn it into a digital image that my friend can put text on top of it and doesn’t look terrible? Any tips on printing?