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Just a little doodling with the new pen... besides riding my bike on a warm, sunny day, there's not much else I really want to do right now, besides play with pen and ink... too bad life keeps getting in the way! I'm SO looking forward to this upcoming long weekend! Oh yeah, and warm weather!!! :D
Recently I received my Moo cards in the mail, and I can't begin to tell you how much fun I've had with them! If you've never seen Moo cards, they are the same width of a business card, but half as tall. (Or the same height but half as wide... you decide!) You can go online to the website, and upload your own images. There, you can manipulate the images to your liking, and decide how many different images you'd like made into cards. It's $20.00 for 100 cards... you can make 100 cards using one image, or, you could do like I did, and use many different images, and get multiples of each. On the back, as you can see, is my blog address, my website address, and phone number. The texture of these cards is wonderful, and the heft of the card stock they are printed on is really nice and thick. Besides, given that we have a kitty named Moo, how could I resist? :D
This is my name written by one of my instructors, Diane Stum Fekete, at today's workshop... pretty cool, huh?!? She used my new Ruling Pen and gouache. I added it to a scan of some collage I had done on a card I sent to a friend.
I can see how Diane's letters "dance" across the page, while I see that mine are more hesitant and restrained. But I am really excited! This certainly isn't the most exciting post I've ever published, I realize... I just wanted to share a little of today's fun, and I wanted to get something posted before the work week began. This next week at work is going to be pretty busy, so I may not have time to "play" until next weekend. I hope you had a great weekend, and I hope your week is a creative one. Now go make something!
Please understand, this is just practice, and I am not fishing for compliments, okay? I'm just putting this "out there" as a sort of starting place. You see, I took a leap, and asked someone in our calligraphy guild, who's work I admire, if she'd be willing to take me on as a private student. And she said Yes!!! We're going to start working together after Memorial Day, and I can't wait. I've been thinking of doing this and wanting to study privately for a very long time, but just never asked. Whether I was afraid of asking for help, or if I just wasn't ready for some other reason I'm not aware of, doesn't really matter. What matters is I went outside my comfort zone and asked for help. (This is a really big deal for me, seriously). So the italics practice above is where I'm starting from, and hopefully, before too much longer, I'll have improved practice samples to show you!
Below, is our Calligraphy Guild's new logo, designed by Lothar Hoffman, in honor of the Guild's 30th Anniversary. I think it's spectacular... Mr. Hoffman is incredibly gifted and well known in the calligraphy world, and a very, very nice man. Our Guild is holding the annual "Tips & Tricks" workshop this coming Sunday, so I'm sure there'll be lots of fun things for me to share next week, so please be sure to "stop back by", okay?
So what have you been wanting to do, but just haven't? What's holding you back? It's worth thinking about and maybe journaling about, because I'm convinced that's how we grow as humans. By stepping outside our comfort zones and taking risks, we allow ourselves the opportunity to learn and grow, something that's not always terribly comfortable.
So have yourselves a wonderful day and maybe even try something you've been thinking about, but have never done before. And if you do take a leap today, please be sure to let me know how it goes!
All my best... now, go play!
This bright and cheerful, happily received mail art was sent to me by Tina from Maryland... Thanks so much, Tina! I really, really needed that... your timing was perfect and I love the "Be Still" message... it's quite apropos to my life right now, so I appreciate your sensitivity. Don't you just love it when someone listens and really hears you?!? I need to get busy and send Ms. Tina a little something back!
Painted tyvek paper: painted with Golden Metallic Bronze Glaze (slight green undertones on most of the page), iridescent blue and yellow watercolor, and Golden Metallic Copper Glaze. I apologize if any of this is difficult to read... this was more my need to vent than an attempt to make something legible or "pretty"!
Toni asked me to scan my new calligraphy pen so she could see what it looks like, so here it is! The screw on the top of the flat side of the "business end" of the pen allows the two blades to open up, or close down, which affects how much ink the pen holds and the width of the line drawn with the pen. One of these days I'll become proficient with that pen and Toni has been kind enough to offer to give me some guidance on its use. What a nice gal, right?!? :D
This lettering is truly practice, not meant to be anything more or less... the new pen I'm using is a Ruling Pen from John Neal Booksellers, and I love it. I have SO much to learn! It is so true, what is said about using good tools... it makes it such a pleasure to practice. I keep looking at Yves Leterme's lettering (isn't his name perfect for a calligrapher?!?), and just marvel at his skill. I try to remind myself it took him time and lots of practice to become as skilled as he is, and my lettering will improve with time and practice, too... like I said before, I just really want my own style, a way of lettering that is comfortable to me and that I'm happy with, that is my own signature style, like my handwriting.
The letters in the new banner and the letters in today's date were done with my new calligraphy pen... I've been "playing" most of the morning, and I've been having a wonderful time! I want to find a style of lettering that's my own, that is not "perfect", that is free and fun and versatile... and I finally feel like I'm on my way.
A neighbor's house burned Friday morning... I can't help but think it could have just have easily been our house. Thank goodness everyone and the dog got out okay, but it will be six months to a year before the house will be habitable again. What a tremendous loss for this family and for our neighborhood. It's a really cool, unusual 60's ranch, and I look forward to our neighbors coming back home to it.
I finished the article I was preoccupied with, right on time. Why do I procrastinate the way I do?!? Kim left me a comment that said it best: essentially that she's learned to just "go with it", and trust that she intuitively knows how much time the project will take, and to have faith that it will happen on time. She's right, and I'd love to be able to be so easy going. I agonize over deadlines, but it doesn't help me to get moving on it at all. I guess I'm just really happy it's done and now I can concentrate on something else for awhile! Anyway, thanks for the great advice, Kim... I tried hard to relax and it all came together just fine.
