Adolf Bernd Influence

This piece is inspired by the Peter Thornton class on the Adolf Bernd letters. The New Orleans Lettering Arts Association will be hosting a weekend workshop with Peter in March. You can find the details here. I have had the opportunity to experience these letters with Peter at the Letter Mingles Souls calligraphy conference and I am so looking forward to learning them again. So in preparation for the weekend I got out my book from the conference and have been inspired.

If you happen to be in the area or would like to travel to New Orleans to attend the workshop, please feel free to contact me. We would love to have you join us!

Monogram

Monogram from one of the weddings I had the pleasure of working on last year.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

dry embossing (con't)

The previous blog entry chronicled the first step in a new piece called 'I AM'.  I was unsure how to add the complete phrase. I debated between writing the full quote underneath the embossed letters, or writing the remaining quote in ink incorporating the embossed letters, or repeating the entire quote in the full field of the background. The latter option was chosen. Then for added effect, one of the repeated phrases was highlighted using palladium gilding. 

Watercolor and a Mitchell nib was used for the main portion of the text. Gum ammoniac was used for the gilding. (Note: using ammoniac on paper is tricky and requires many layers because it gets absorbed into the paper.)

dry embossing

 have always loved the look of embossed letters and thought I would give it a try on a new piece. This is the beginning. . . .

The passage will be 'Be still and know that I AM God". I am really excited with I AM but am not sure how to include the rest of the phrase. Maybe I will place the entire quote below and leave the I AM as the focal point of the piece. I am inspired by Jane Farr's piece as seen here. But maybe I can repeat the quote in a soft muted color all around the I AM.

This is the template of the letters used to emboss. I used the backing of a paper pad to cut out the letters. The letters were then pressed into Arches textwove paper. I tried several papers and the textwove gave the best results by far.

Calligraphy Class

 

I had the wonderful opportunity to give a calligraphy class to one of the local home school co-ops. There were 22 students in the class ranging in ages from 7-13. What a great group of students! None of them had ever tried calligraphy before and they were ready to dive right in. So we discussed pen angle, nib width, letter height, and so on. I was really amazed with their attentiveness and abilities. There were a couple of naturals in the class and a few creative spirits that really had a gift to make their letters unique and interesting. Unfortunately, I did not get to take pictures of their work after class. The class was over before I knew it and the children off to their next tasks.

I was able to write each child's name before class in the italic hand, as a memento. Their packets also included a broad edge marker, italic exemplars, guide sheets, and nice paper to practice on when they got home. It was a great experience. I learned a lot myself and will take that to the next class I give.

Black and White Practice

I have a friend of mine who loves to do her practice work in white ink on black paper. And I always think how dynamic that looks; plus the fact that her calligraphy is amazing! Anyway, I thought I would give it a try when I was playing around in the studio. I must say that even though the writing is not my best, the white on black is dynamic. 

Give it a try!

Name Tags Anyone!

The opportunity to create the name tags for our guild was afforded to me this year. And I must say I was excited about doing it; what a fun project! Then as I started it dawned on me, I am creating lettering for people who really know lettering. I confess a little anxiety came over me, but I worked through and this is what emerged.

The background was created as a watercolor painting. It was photographed and taken into photoshop. The guild name was hand written, photographed and added to the photoshop file. The file was then sized correctly and printed. After I printed the tags, I began to experiment with gouache color and consistency and realized the paper I printed on was not going to hold an edge. So I tried my color pencils and sure enough that was the ticket. The first color combination I really liked but it did not contrast enough with the back ground.

So the colors were modified to show stronger against the background.