Love Letters

TYPE magazine + Typography Dojo

Image from TYPE magazine website

 

I just registered to receive TYPE magazine, after seeing a mention of it on Instagram, where there was a caption about a "Baker's Dozen" of the worlds newest and most interesting calligraphers, and my girlfriend Julie Wildman was mentioned as one of those 13 calligraphers! I'm SO excited for Julie!!! Here's an image of some of her calligraphy magic:

 

CONGRATULATIONS, JULIE!!!

 

 

In other news, if you're interested in Typography, and if not, WHY NOT?!?, I stumbled onto a site named Typography Dojo which I urge you to check out! It's a very well-rated webcast with lots of educational material and information. Check it out and let me know what you think!!! 

 

Have a great day, now, GO MAKE SOMETHING!!!

 

 

Happy Funday Friday Fabulous Happy Day!!!

Good Friday morning!

Long time, no see, I know...

I'm semi-retired now, and I'm teaching Copperplate calligraphy at the Birmingham Community House in Birmingham, MI, and I'm writing everyday, sometimes for hours a day!!! 

I've been SO busy growing and learning and getting ready for this new phase of my life, and I don't know if I've EVER been happier or more grateful!

 

 

 Life is really, really good!!! 

 

How have you been? Are you following your dreams? Are you working towards the next phase of your life? If not,

why not?!?!

 

 

 

Easter weekend musings from Detroit...

 

  I hope it is beautiful wherever you are!

 Last night, after dinner out with my husband,  

I made two things I'd never made before and they both turned out to be absolutely FABULOUS!!!

The recipes were from King Arthur Flour company,

one was a flourless chocolate cake in honor of my friends who celebrated Passover this week,

 

and the other was Almond Clouds in honor of how much my husband loves almonds!  

 

They were both quite simple to make, the cake was the easiest, partly because I didn't make the glaze (thought it couldn't have been simpler, just melted chocolate chips and heavy cream)... instead, I just used powdered sugar on top... this dense, dark cake probably has the MOST intense chocolate flavor ever... SO delicious and totally worth making at home from scratch, and if I can pull it off, anyone can (seriously!)... 

The  King Arthur Flour Company is likely not new to many of you, but I had never purchased anything from them prior to this winter when I started baking bread... (SUCH a treat, BTW, to bake your own bread! More on that in another post)... 

Quality products, terrific recipes that are tested and reliable, and great employees who leave useful feedback to customers comments... which is perfect for a novice cook/baker like me!  

So the treats were a huge hit with my husband, and hopefully his work colleagues will feel the same way...I can't WAIT to hear back from him to learn if everyone else liked the baked goods as much as we did! :D

 

While this was not my typical kind of creative foray, it was great fun and I really enjoyed myself...

it's nice to make something for someone else just because... it made me feel good and I hope those who partake of my baked goods today will "feel the love"!

Take care, have a great weekend, Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Spring...

Now, go!   

Make something! 

(And be sure to have fun while you're at it!!!)

 

Greetings from Detroit!

Howdy, ya'll!  

It's a gorgeous Saturday morning here in Southeast Michigan, something we haven't seen in what feels like AGES!!!

It's so interesting what sunshine and longer days does for a soul, isn't it?

I feel SO much better now that the long winter is over (for the most part... the forcast is for Tuesday here in SE MI tobe 39 degrees for a high and 24 degrees for a low!)... YIKES!

 

OK, on to business... I thought I'd show you a little of the things I have been working on here lately... 

First of all, I'm taking an Oprah class from Dr. Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection, here is this week's "Weekly Intention":

Here's my journal work for this week:

(I'm really struggling with not being judgemental of this... it's not something I spent a lot of time on, obviously, and now I wish I had!)

 

Here's my "Playlist", my interpretation of Dr. Stuart Brown's list of what constitutes "play", and then my list of what I like to do that is "play" to me:

This class has helped to remind me of how fulfilling it was for me to be making SOMETHING pretty much every day, and how much I enjoyed blogging and ending my posts with "Now, go make something!"... I failed to take my own advice and as a result, just haven't felt like myself... (as my dad would joke, "I'm not exactly sure WHO I felt like, but it wasn't me!")... so, though the demands of grad school are at times seemingly overwhelming, I have realized I NEED to carve out time for PLAY... even if I have to schedule it like an appointment... for my mental health and overall well being, it is as important as any doctor appointment or exercise, or frankly, for me, eating...

MY SOUL NEEDS PLAYTIME!!!

SO,  I've been drawing:

(This is a contour drawing of the top of an armoire in my bedroom)

This is done in an Evernote journal... does anyone out there understand how this is supposed to be used?  I just haven't taken the time to figure it out... I'm starting to feel old... I need a teenager to just show me once and I'll be fine!) :D

 

This is a drawing of some of the gorgeous pattern work chosen for the Sochi Olympics... I thought their graphics were just gorgeous and when I dove a little deeper, to learn more about the designs, I learned there were representations of different sub-cultures in Russia, each with their own unique artforms... and I think the designs were charming and beautiful and SO well done!!!  I just LOVED the colors and the patterns the way they were used to "brand" the Sochi Olympics!

 

 

Do you remember how beautiful and colorful the patterns were?

 

(CreditChang W. Lee/The New York Times)

What I'd give for some of the swag these kids are wearing!!!  Hmmm... maybe I need to peruse ebay and see if anyone is selling any of their Sochi Olympic garb! :D

 

A map of Russia from the official site for the clothing and Olympic swag... HOW cool is this!!!

 

These are some class notes from a workshop I took with Peter Thornton, someone I'd wanted to learn from for ages, and he is just a wonderful teacher with a wealth of knowledge and skill, self-deprecating and funny and very warm and human!  We spent a lot of time discussing and examining the concept of CoNtRaSt in our artwork and also spent a lot of time looking at, and studying the letters of Adolf Bernd, this is a link to a Google search I did of images, it is amazing!!!

 adolf bernd painted letters

Here is a beautiful example of one of Adolf Bernd's painted letters... the detail is AMAZING, all done in watercolor, the shades of which are just SO beautiful!...

 

I hope you've taken some time recently to fill up your creative well, and if you haven't, WHY NOT?!?  

I'd LOVE to hear from you if you've had the same sort of challenges and how you've done what you needed to do to take care of yourself!

THANK YOU for stopping by and taking the time to read this post, take good care!

 

Now, GO MAKE SOMETHING!!!

(And be sure to have FUN!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Been away far too long...

Howdy! 

I'm hoping I still have followers who actually stop by once in awhile, but if not, I completely understand! I've been negligent, careless, thoughtless, selfish, and just plain lazy when it comes to my blog. My blog was my baby for the longest time, then SCHOOL got in the way...

 

Bronson School of Nursing, Kalamazoo Michigan

(I lived in a great big, beautiful old house with gorgeous oak trim, with five of my school mates, what a trip!)

 

No, not that school, but a couple years ago I was in school to finish my BSN and now I'm in school to earn my master's in nursing, and it has kind of taken over my life. I never knew what a procrastinator I was until I went back to school! It's fascinating all the little things I can find to do rather than doing my school work! Washing windows, scrubbing out the vegetable drawer in the fridge, giving the cat a bath... no, wait, scratch that! Giving the DOG a bath! Organizing my junk drawer, you name it, I've done it to avoid the work I need to do. It's really pathetic. I keep telling myself "I'll do better next week" or "I'll work ahead so next week won't be so much of a crisis to get my work done". Do you think it happens that way? Well, so far, no it hasn't. Honestly it's my calligraphy pens and paper that keep calling me! So I'm trying to fit in just a little art time everyday, no matter how small, so that I don't feel like I've left the creative side of me in the dust somewhere. 

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! I hope my art world friends and acquaintences are doing well and I promise to make time for your posts! Whatever you do, please don't give up on me and please be patient with me!

Oh! I wanted to turn you on to a magazine I may have talked about before, but it's worth revisiting even if I did...

MAGAZINE

This is a little gem in the publishing world of art magazines... I guess you'd classify it as an art mag. The tag on the magazine is:

 

and the topics run the gamut from issues about writing (including lot of typewriter information) to issues about linens and textiles to issues about my favorite, COLLAGE!!! (Current issue, number 18). So I hope you'll check the magazine out... a subscription for a year is not inexpensive, but the quality of the paper used for the cover and the internal pages is marvelous from a tactile standpoint, and the writing and information contained within is well worth every penny I've spent to get it delivered to me from CANADA... O Canada! Terre de nos aïeux, Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself...  everytime I hear Oh, Canada I hear the Canadian Anthem in my head... I think it's because we watch so much hockey here in the Detroit area, eh?!?)

So, check it out, I think like me, you'll really love it... it's definitely a keeper! I've saved every issue I have, though I'm sad to admit I am missing the very first issue :(

OK, till next time, Bonsoir!

Now go make something!!!

So Sweet!!!

Recently, I visited an Etsy shop called Edelweiss Post, which is owned and curated by a handsome young man from Minneapolis named Patrick...

  

this is his photo from his Etsy site...

And here's the envelope he sent me after I wrote him the old fashioned way (snail mail)...

I love that Patrick has saved his grandfather's stamps and is using them to make beautiful stamp collages. Patrick is my new pen pal and I was absolutely thrilled to receive this beautiful envelope in the mail!

It's fun to find a kindred soul who appreciates the beauty of old things, things that aren't made any longer, things that become precious to us because of this.  

I hope you'll visit his Etsy shop and support his endeavor.  

Happy Holidays!

 

  Bubba and our entire family wish you and yours a very happy holiday season and a peaceful, art-filled 2013

HI All!!!
I've missed posting! Just finished my son's wedding invitations, which I will write about, but until I do, here's a bit of eye candy that I found while reading Fast Company's email newsletter this morning. It is Whiteboard artwork done by a teacher named Gregory Euclide, which is done during his lunch break and then is ERASED!!! Holy terrors!
This work is amazing!!! I hope you'll check him out here:

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670421/sweeping-landscapes-painted-on-a-high-school-teacher-s-white-board#1

Chicago adventure...

Hello!  My daughter Corey and I traveled to Chicago over the first weekend in May, to see the Sketchbook Project at the Hyde Park Art Center, and it was a terrific trip! BTW, I misspoke in my previous post about the Sketchbook Tour, it wasn't at the Newberry... the Chicago Calligraphy Collective's exhibit was at the Newberry... more about that in a minute!

 

Exterior of Hyde Park Art Center... VERY nicely done!

"Sculpture" done out of old encyclopedias... cool idea, even more interesting in person... 

We were encouraged to sit down and draw and write on a postcard that would be given to the attendees at the next Sketchbook stop, in Portland. 

It was cool seeing my book there... I'd forgotten about some of the images I put in it, and the very best part?  My daughter didn't want to leave it there... she wanted to sneak my book out of there and take it home with us!  And on her postcard, she wrote "Go see Kathy McCreedy's book, she's my mom and I'm SO proud of her!"  That really meant a lot to me, as Corey's a bit on the quiet side and has never really said much about my artwork... (I kept her postcard... it meant too much to me to give it away!).

This is Corey on the steps of the gorgeous Newberry Library in Chicago, where we saw the Chicago Calligraphy Collective's outstanding exhibit... I was SO glad we got to see both the exhibit and the library!

This is a window at the downtown Chicago Macy's store on State Street... LOVE the message on the window and love the bikes painted red, hanging in mid air... I want one of those bikes for my garden out in front of our house!  Waaaayyy too cool!

We also visited the Merchandise Mart, which was not on our original itinerary, and the shops were closed because it was a Sunday... but it was AMAZING!!! The building itself is just spectacular... 

Flowers on the railing at the Merch Mart overlooking the Chicago River...

How amazing is this art deco styled brass mailbox?!?  There were two of them on the first floor of the building.  I wish I'd had paper and a pencil to do a rubbing of that gorgeous trim work!!!

Another terrific sentiment on a display window!

From what we could tell, the Merchandise Mart is where the folks in Chicago with lots and lots of money go to pick out their tile, fixtures, cabinets, etc. when they redo their kitchens and bathrooms... or perhaps their decorator goes there to pick up samples.  Either way the displays were stunning.

This is wallpaper in a display case that evidently has gold leaf running through it... that is an entire bowl filled with gold leaf, and in person it was beyond stunning. I'm sorry the camera couldn't pick up the true effect of what could actually be seen. (I'm thinking this is what photographers refer to when they talk about how a digital camera makes things look "flat").  

This is a tiny sample of the brass trim around the elevators at the Merch Mart... this same sort of trim is around every display window, and along the top of the walls where they meet the ceiling... and if you look closely you can see that in the elevator well there is similar brass trim up on the ceiling, underneath the trim on the outside wall.  I cannot even begin to imagine what that brass trim would cost in today's dollars. 

This little gem of unusual architecture is near State Street and Madison, across from a clothing store I think was named Zara, that Corey HAD to go to... imagine my delight to see this building that is totally surrounded by a huge skyscraper!  The windows in the three archways were made up of ripply glass that must have been original, and the mullions in the windows were curved, something I've never seen before!  I believe the building is being used as a restaurant now.  You can see where the roof at the top meets the new construction above it.  How terrific that the house wasn't torn down, as it is a real treasure and a real treat to glance up and see such a delightful little find!

So, that's a recap of our three-day mini vacation to Chicago... the weather was really unpredictable and the blisters on my feet have almost healed... and it was totally worth it to have such a nice weekend with my girl!

 

NOW GO MAKE SOMETHING!!! 

(I'm off to go continue working on my son's wedding invitations... wish me lots of luck!!!)

Spring greeting...

Spring greetings! 

Just a quick reminder, the Brooklyn Art House' Sketchbook Project 2012 is on its way to Chicago, May 3rd, 4th & 5th!  The exhibit will be at the Newberry Library, and if you are in that neck of the woods, I hope you'll go see the exhibit... it's FREE and it should be VERY interesting!  

 

Here's a link to a VERY cook sketchbook from the 2011 project: http://www.arthousecoop.com/library/77#page-slide_1

I hope if you take a look at it you'll let me know your thoughts.  I love the addition of what I think must be screenprinting in the sketchbook... I wish I knew a printer who has scraps like the graphics printed in this sketchbook.  I would happily pay for the imperfectly printed images to use in my journals or collages.  Any ideas? (I apologize that I cannot show any images from the book, but it's not mine to access).

I hope you are enjoying spring and find yourself making SOMETHING everyday!

Seth's upcoming book debut!

If you aren't familiar with my friend Seth Apter, you need to head over to his site, The Altered Page, now!

He has a new book coming out very soon and is doing a promotion during the month of March.  Each day in March he is highlighting the artists he has chosen to collaborate with in his book, and it's a great opportunity to learn more about Seth and his work, along with the work of the very talented collaborators!  

Seth is a terrifically talented, humble, & kind man who has an entirely different daytime occupation, but manages to wear his many hats extremely well! He has been one of my most supportive "online friends" for quite a number of years now, and I am always amazed at all the things Seth has managed to create &/or organize.  This is one busy, dedicated artist, and I'm so proud to call him my friend!