Love Letters

What is it I really want?

The title of this post is a question I ask myself often... and the answer to that question changes fairly frequently... frequently enough that sometimes I get a bit frustrated with myself.  But it's a legitimate question.  I'm not dead yet, and in all likelihood I may need to work for another 15 years or more... so "What is it I really want"... to do with the rest of my life?  

This is a journal page I did a little while back, made up of colored gesso, dress pattern pieces, stenciled images, painted tyvek, and a magazine image. 

So, what do you want to do with the rest of your life?  Do you ask yourself the same kinds of questions? 

It's a question worth asking yourself... the late Steve Jobs expressed it very well when he said:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

 

 

A different take on journal pages...

Good morning!  

After taking an absolutely terrific workshop recently from Jacqueline Sullivan, I've been trying new things in my journal pages, and I thought I'd share the results with you. 

 (This is a photo of Jacqueline, showing some of our backgrounds).

This is the early stages of one of the pages.  The first thing we did was to paint the pages with black gesso and let it dry.  Then we covered that with a layer of diluted Golden Absorbent Ground, and built up layers on top of that, using Golden acrylic paints and various acrylic inks.

 

  

Here is the same page many layers later:

(Honestly, this page is not quite such a shade of baby poop green!)

I can't really say if I'm happy with this page or not, I kind of feel like it's still a work in progress.  But I've enjoyed the process, and I guess that's what is really important.  I've learned some new skills and am trying some new techniques, and most of all, I've had fun doing so.  

 

This is another page that has very little writing on it at this point, and I have absolutely no idea where it will go from here, but this page I'm fairly happy with just like it is.  

(Unfortunately, the color reproduction is not necessarily accurate.  In the steps from scanning the artwork to posting it, and then taking into account different browsers and different monitors, I doubt what you see is exactly what I see; but you get the idea, right?)

So I'd like to encourage you to go get your journals or some watercolor paper, and just play.  Try something new today, and if you don't like it, remember you can cover it up with gesso.  If you still don't like it, add a new layer of paint or pastels, or paper.  

  (And let me know if you've done something you're happy with, ok?!?) 

A Sample of Calligraphy by Massimo Polello

I don't recall how I found this gentleman's video, but I'd like to share it with you.  It is calligraphy as art set to music (that is tolerable), and it is beyond beautiful. I've watched it all the way through at least four times now, and have let it just play as background while I did practice work, ispired by this stunning video.  

Massimo Polello - Latest Works 2010 from Photophilla on Vimeo.

 

Mr. Polello has more of his work on his website, which is stunning.  I hope you'll take a look and enjoy. I can't help but feel inspired after looking at this beautiful work, I hope you will, too.  

 

 Now, GO MAKE SOMETHING!

 

Is handwriting becoming a lost art?

This past Friday, Detroit News columnist, Marney Rich Keenan, wrote in her column that not only do we not send handwritten letters any longer; but now children are not even being taught handwriting in school. Apparently, learning how to print neatly will be enough, and then students will move on to learn keyboarding. Handwriting will be reduced to rudimentary printing, and cursive writing will be a lost art.  

Ms. Keenan's article, Individuality is lost as art of handwriting dies, brings up a lot of hot issues for me, and it is well worth reading. I hope you'll take the time to read it.  As a calligrapher, it makes me even more concerned than I already was, that ours is an art that may be in peril; and how do we bring calligraphy to today's youth? If they don't even know how to write in cursive, will they have any interest in the tedious work of learning to write with a REALLY old fashioned pen that has to be dipped in ink?  It would be infinitely easier to just find a pleasing font, and layout whatever information needs to be conveyed on the computer, but it would no doubt be lifeless and boring (at least in my opinion).

I think like a lot of things, sending and receiving a hand written letter will become even more cherished, because it is so uncommon and so special.  Recall how sociologists worried that the computer would isolate us even more than we already were at the time? (I'm thinking that was around the time of the Y2K scare).  And now, we seem even more connected than ever, through blogs, emails, text messages and the like. Likewise, the DIY movement has been seen as an antidote to sitting and looking at sterile computer screens all day... we like to use our hands to produce things.  We like to make things.  And some of us like making cards.  

So, in an effort to let Ms. Keenan know the art of letter writing is not dead, I made her a card and made the envelope, and did my best to make it pretty.  It went in Saturday's mail and I hope she gets a kick out of receiving not only a handwritten letter, but a handmade one to boot!  

This is a simple watercolor piece I cut up and glued to the front of a 4x6" vellum cardstock. There's a kind of a shadow on the upper left front of the card, which is a stamp image done with Pearl-Ex Interference Gold, so it doesn't show up well on a scanner.  

This is the back of the envelope which is made out of recycled, painted Tyvek paper.

Here's the front of the envelope, done in an informal Uncial hand, with Keenan written with a silver metallic marker.  There are also tiny little silver dots in between the zip code numbers.

If you like making cards and sending letters, take the time to write to someone you've been thinking about lately, and let them know they've been on your mind.  Maybe you'll be lucky enough to receive a handwritten letter in return.  And if you can't think of anyone to write to, email me and we can be pen pals! 

Here are some links to some mail art sites that you might find interesting:

Mail-Art Across the World

Post Secret

Pushing the Envelopes

EMMA 

Digital Mail Art

Mail Me Art 

Now, GO MAKE SOMETHING!!! :D

These apps are terrific eye candy!!!

Hey there!  Long time, no see... and I apologize!!!  I've been working waaaaaaaay too hard lately, but that's another story for another day.  I came here today to show you my newest favorite iPhone apps... my newest way to waste a ton of time and garner new ideas at the same time!

These are the icons for a set of four apps from gawkerverse, and I am in love with these sites!  I personally enjoy the craftgawker and the dwellinggawker sites the most, but there's plenty of great stuff to look at on all four sites.  An android app is in the works, so hang on my android friends, help is on its way!!! 

I'm thinking there is a great need for graphicdesigngawker (kinda long, gonna have to work on that one), and perhaps calligraphygawker... hmmm... the possibilities are endless!!!  

Have fun and...          GO MAKE SOMETHING!!! :D

Retreat from the world...

For five days, this past week, I had the privilege to spend that time with a group of fabulous women.  We were all on our own journeys, led by our facilitator and instructor, Sharon Zeguin.  Sharon possesses a huge spirit which is housed in a tiny body, sprite-like and full of encourgement and joy.

Below is one of the pieces I worked on at the retreat... 

Somwhere, buried in there are the words to a Shakespeare quote that starts like this:

"Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, 

Pluck from the memory a sorrow rooted..."

One of the things we did was to start with Arches Text Wove 25 x 40" paper and wrote on it however we chose... in pen, in pencil, in crayon if we wanted... and then we made random marks over the words, either in sumi or walnut ink, watercolor, &/or acrylics and paste in order to be able to work with the colors for a longer period of time. Once we were satisfied with that sheet we let it dry, and made our own books from the painted paper.  

I'd always wanted to learn how to make my own journals, and now I know how!!!  I'll show you the finished product, or parts of it at least, soon...

in the mean time, GO MAKE SOMETHING, and HAVE FUN!!! 

 

Birthday card for a lovely gal

This is a card I made last night for a darling young lady, who just happens to be my son's significant other... I really hope she becomes my daughter-in-law someday (shhhh... no pressure there, Tim, just thinking out loud!).  Caitlyn's first name is done in gold and black ink... I kind of let them run together and trusted that when the ink dried, it would turn out well.  The scan doesn't show the metallic well at all, but you get the idea.  I'm pleased with how the colors in the card play off the Jazz stamp.

 

Happy Birthday, Cait!  We love you!!!

 

Check out these new Shakespeare Stamps!

London's graphic arts design house, hat trick design, has come up with a couple really beautiful stamp designs and the theme is Shakespeare.  I especially like the hand-lettered typography by Marion Deuchars.

I found the mention about these terrific stamps at Fast Co.'s website, which is loaded with interesting finds and articles.  In fact, Fast Company is one of the few magazines I read faithfully, cover to cover.   

 

Professional designers learn early to work within constraints: time, budget, materials, price. But the team at the London graphic arts firm hat-trick design has a special knack for a particularly daunting creative challenge: delivering big design on a tiny canvas.  I'm pretty sure they hit a home run on this one!

 

Wedding calligraphy, addendum...

This post is a natural follow up to my previous post about the world's smallest place cards, and I hope you enjoy it... you know how you stumble upon someone's blog or website through another and you're SO glad you did?!?  Well, I want to introduce you to a couple people, who, if you have not met them already, will blow your socks off... 

These are the kind of calligraphers who's talent inspires me to be a better calligrapher, and their kindness and generosity inspires me to just plain be better... know what I mean?!?  

First off, I like to visit Jane Farr's blog, A Place to Flourish quite frequently.  Jane's Copperplate and especially her flourishes, leave me wanting more, more, more! And even if Jane hasn't posted something new, I can scroll down the side of her blog and find new postings from others (I'd love to figure out how to do that on my blog!).  Most often, these are blog posts from other calligraphers, and it never fails, I end up on a terrifically interesting journey.

Jane's banner... heavenly!

Last night, I took a stroll over at Jane's place and found a new friend, someone who's work blew me away the further I went into her posts.  I want you to meet the incredibly talented and kind Dana Cochran, the owner and proprietress of The Ginger Parasol blog and A Fine Line Studio website and actual brick and mortar fine stationery shop in Asheville, N.C.

Dana's blog header... look at that Copperplate!  I'm swooning!

I hope you'll take a few minutes to visit both lady's blogs and leave a nice comment... this is the sort of work that is rare and special and precious. And I hope you enjoy the trip as much as I did!

 

Now...

 

 
 

Wedding calligraphy

I was recently asked by a bride to do the lettering on her place cards, and I readily agreed... I mean, how hard can that be, right?!?  Even if she had 200 of them for me to do, and a really tight schedule, I could pull it off... anyone could.  Then I saw the place cards.  I've never seen a smaller card to write on in my life.  Thankfully the bride took the time to type the names out for me, so there was no question about spellings of names, but I never guessed I'd have to wear one of those magnifying headpieces in order to do the work!  (And no old person jokes, please!  I'm not that old!!!)

 

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Originally I'd planned to write out the names in Copperplate, the sort of "standard" wedding fare, but there was no way I could do any lettering on these cards with typical tools... besides being less than two inches long and only about three quarters of an inch tall, the finish on them was really slippery, which didn't help at all.  But they are done, they are correct, and given the tools I had to work with, I am trying to be satisfied with the results.

 Let's hope the bride is happy with them!