Bound and Lettered

I have just received the current issue of Bound and Lettered. It is a great publication on 

books, papercraft, and calligraphy.

I have had my subscription for a few years and 

always look forward to getting it. The magazine can be purchased from John Neal Booksellers. 

I am honored to say I was able to participate in this issue. 

A small manuscript book I made for the yearlong Reggie Ezell class,

'Primitive to Modern', was featured.

If you do not receive this supscription, you should definitely look into it.

Bound and Lettered always has a wealth of information

and lots of eye candy. And if you would like to participate, they are always looking for how-to

articles on calligraphy, bookbinding, and paper crafts.

This issue also has an article by Fiona Dempster, 

arthur of the blog Paper Ponderings, about the project A Letter A Week. 

Check out these links if you enjoy letters and artist books.

The Last 'Primitive to Modern' Class

This last weekend was the last class of Reggie Ezell's Primitive to Modern year long class in New Orleans. The year has been a journey! Reggie guided us through traditional gothic hands to modernizing the hand; taught us to gild on vellum referencing traditional layouts and contemporary design; showed us new and inventive ways to use the resources around us to aid in taking the fear out of creating that perfect piece; and introduced the book as a visual journey. 

Thanks Reggie for your encouraging and motivating guidance through this year!

The pictures above are some of the pages in the first section of my book. The quote is "The human heart is a theatre of longing". 

I would highly recommend this course offered by Reggie to any guild that has not experienced it. 

Gilded Vellum

This work is 23k patent gold and palladium on vellum. Part of the lettering is raised gilding using painters gesso and instacol and part of the lettering is flat gilding using gum ammoniac. I am new to gilding and am experimenting as I go. The draft for this was created on arches textwove paper. (You can view it here and here.) The paper was okay to gild on but the vellum was a dream; plus I feel so official when working with vellum.

I have created this piece for the year long Reggie Ezell's Primitive to Modern Course. Reggie's class has been great to boost my creativity and to put new tools in my tool box. I have learned so much! In fact, next class is this weekend. So I am off to pack.

Homework

This is a small portion of a piece of homework I am working on for the Reggie Ezell class, Primitive to Modern. I have posted previous homework assignments. You can find them here and here.

This image is of a draft I am working on. The background image is printed out multiple times and the layout can then be worked out without fear of messing up a one of a kind background.

Pic of the week

It has been too long! The summer has been a wonderful explosion of events and projects, but has taken me away from the blogging world. I hope to get back into my routine of staying in contact with my fellow bloggers.

I am very honored and excited to say one of my pieces have been selected as Reggie Ezell's 'Pic of the Week'. If you have not seen Reggie's website, you should definitely check it out here. Reggie chooses one piece of art each week that was generated from his year long class or the 'Primitive to Modern' class. There are many inspiring artists and calligraphy examples on his site.

Thanks for the encouragement Reggie!

Stepping out on Vacation

What a crazy, wonderful, busy time of the year it has been! Just got back from the third session of Reggie Ezell's 'Primitive to Modern' class. It has been a treasure trove of information, sharing, and learning. In an earlier post there was a close-up of a piece of homework for this class. An overall shot is shown below. This piece is a recreation of Suzanne Moore's artwork from the St. John's Bible. I actually created this piece twice, once on Arches textwove and once on canvas. Both were done in watercolor. I hope to post a more detailed description of my process at a later date.

And now, school is out and my daughter and I are off on the first get away of the summer! Hurray! I will be out of pocket for several weeks and look forward to all the wonderful post and creativity in blog land when we return.

Until then!

Modified Gothic Style

Here is another piece done for homework from the first class of Reggie's 'Primitive to Modern' class. I really was motivated on the homework from the first class.

I must admit, though, this month I am struggling with ideas. But that's ok; I still have time. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

More work from the Reggie class

This text is cut as one piece from black paper and then adhered to the red paper. The circle elements tie the text together and also connect the text to the edges.

Happy Easter!

Trying to find the groove

I just returned from a wonderful extended weekend trip and am trying to get back in the groove. I love to get away but sometimes feel a little disoriented on the return.

The quote below is some of the past homework from Reggie's class.

Gilding on vellum

I can not believe how time flies. It has been over two weeks since the last post. March has been a most busy, productive and superb month. I love the spring!

This year I have the tremendous opportunity to participate in the year long Reggie Ezell class "Primitive to Modern". We had our second class of the year just this last weekend. Our goal was to work with and on vellum with different inks and also to learn to apply gilding. This is the first time for me to work with vellum and gold. We sanded our vellum to different degrees of doneness, we tested each area with sumi ink, gouache, and stick ink. My favorite on the vellum is the stick ink. Our homework from the previous class was to design and practice a small piece of text with a simple icon for gilding. After lots of practicing and testing on the vellum in class, we were ready to pen our quotes and apply the instacol for the gilding process. The process was enlightening and transforming.

I will refrain from getting too wordy now but will try to continue this topic in the future. Below is my piece from class.