What Would Life Be Like Without Memories?

Memories are very essential to our everyday, every hour, every minute, and every second breath of life. Memories are how we recall moments in time. And photographs are visual memories and snapshots of special moments, the evidence of life experiences to cherish, share as stories and preserve for many years to come. 

My name is Ardena Brooks, and founder and CEO of Designs by Ardena. We are proud to serve other communities, offering photo restoration (also called image repair), composite/collage art, graphic design and print services for 15+ years. Repairing photos has been a wonderful and major part of our service. So in addition to sharing a little about myself, I’d like to share a few secrets as to how your damaged photographs can be repaired, restored and then created into memorable art. The transformation from photos to art is incredible, bringing memories back to life and I’m excited to share this with you.

Art has always been my passion since as far back as I can remember. My earliest recall of my love for art all began with my aunt, who taught me the basics of art, allowing me to take her art classes, and watch her paint. During my eleventh grade art class, I was selected to represent my high school to paint my first historical mural right in front of the White House in Lafayette Park.  To top that, I won 3^rd place in an art contest in West Germany, then sold my first watercolor painting all during my senior year of high school. I was so excited and so inspired!

Well after that, I went to college, married, had 3 children and I now have 7 grandchildren. Over 20 years of my life I worked as a secretary, data entry operator and in bookkeeping positions, never happy with any of them. So after being laid off, I went back to school, graduated from the Art Institute of LA, and began my graphic design business over 15 years ago, while working with Ever Increasing Faith Ministries TV, as head graphic designer, where I received much of my knowledge and on the job training as a designer. Today, I’m in full time business offering the same graphic design services, but also photo art services for small businesses, chamber organizations, as well as private clients. I’m also a member of the GLAAACC, Recycling Black Dollars, and a proud member of the Los Angeles South Chamber of Commerce (LASCC), participating on their marketing team. I’m happy to say my business has grown and is growing with the assistance and help of  business coaches and chambers, especially with the LASSC. There’s a multitude of training from this organization to help small business, all for the advancement and empowering of our businesses and communities. What can I say…the LASCC is not your average chamber and it has truly been a blessing to be an active member. 

In addition to offering photo restoration, composite/collage art, and graphic design, especially during COVID-19 pandemic, we are zoning in on creating social media ads and zoom backdrops. As promised a few secrets to creating memorable art are first accessing the problems of photos such as tears, spots, spills, fading and missing parts. If there’s enough image, we repair and restore them, as close to the original photo as possible. The next step is creating the art. This is where the magic happens. And last we highly recommend durable print options to protect your investment, so your beautiful art can be preserved with longevity for many years to come. 

Old Photos are generally very fragile, and even some new ones, if not kept properly. However, know that many times your damaged photos can be repaired, restored & created into beautiful art. 

So how will you preserve your memories? And just think about it, what would life be like without memories?

Ardena Brooks, dba Designs by Ardena

www.designsbyardena.com, ardena@designsbyardena.com

800.484.1914, 323.484.1914