Wanted to work some subversive Christian themes in with the logo. Vague halo imagery, the top of the hill, focus on the white, placing the grayed Ichthys upon the hill so it's noticeable but not dominating. I felt the nature aspect carried itself naturally with the presence of the tree with the sunset-like backdrop, which doubles as a series of paint values.
Thanks for the entry and putting so much thought into the process! We need The Eco-Painter specifically listed, though. Also, I worry about handling a logo over time where the text is so small in proportion to the overall logo shape...particularly with a name like Trachtenberg!
Also, the Ichthys should be pointing the other way.
I never knew that the Ichthys always needs to face right. Made some minor touchups to the basic idea. Skrank the icon in comparison to the text, scaled the "T" and "G" to a higher font size to frame the entire design. Added a gray arc around the icon, to contrast the colors against either darker or lighter colors. (If you print a black or white halo over certain colors, it makes the design look muddled or out of focus.) Matched the arc's shade to "The Eco-Painter" text. Added the line to help separate the text, visually, and emphasize the name. Thinking of some other ideas; may have time for another kind of design.
I like the text much better. In fact, I really like the layout of the text. The graphic is still just not not reflecting the bright feel we're looking for with this brand.
Got rid of the logo, decided to concentrate on the company name. Tried to focus on some minimalism by incorporating the Ichthys into the text (was trying to avoid it to some extent, but it works) and using the colors within the text field. I wanted to frame the edges of the text with a hard color, so that eliminated the soft blue and tinge yellow (per the CMYK's requested anyway). I added small leaves to the borders of the company name - just large enough to be subversive and not dominate the image, leaving concentration on the name. Dropped a sublayered black text to frame and ground the otherwise bright text.