Selah

Commission

Each verse written in watercolor on 140# Fabriano soft press watercolor paper.
The finish of this paper is between cold press and hot press

 and is a lovely paper to write and paint on.

Psalm 32:7

Psalm 62:8

Happy Fourth

Two of the things that make America great!

Independence 

and

Freedom

I praise God to have the privilege to live

in such a place and time!

Pointed Asymmetrical Italic influenced by Denis Brown

My adventure in calligraphy has really just begun. I received my first holder and nib for Christmas 2007. That pen holder and nib came from John Neal Booksellers. My husband did a great job to find one of the best suppliers for calligraphy essentials without knowing anything about the calligraphy world. Since then I have immersed myself in finding all I can on the subject. 

What a beautiful world I found on my journey!

My latest study tool has been the online lessons from Denis Brown. These are a treasure trove of instruction and information. Denis is teaching a compressed, extreme asymmetric version of italic. The class is wonderful in the fact that you can go back and view the lessons as many times as you like, pausing and rewinding wherever needed. There are two modules published already (over 4 hours of instruction already!) with two more to come. This is definitely worth the small cost. 

I have been practicing whenever I can. The piece shown below was done in my style of Denis' instruction. It is painted with sumi and walnut ink on a full sheet of Arches MBM paper.

This piece is for my church. Names will be written on the keys of the piano, sumi on the white keys and Dr. Martin's bleed proof white on the black keys. It will be a living piece as time goes on. 

Black Walnut Ink

I don't know if you have ever used walnut ink. Whether you have or not, you should go over to Larks Crafts and check out Kristi's article to sign up for the Black Walnut Giveaway. When I read the article, it reminded me about the time my dad and I cooked down some black walnuts to paint this mural on the wall. Walnut ink is a fabulous tool and can be used for so many things. In fact, a woman once told me she used walnut nut ink to touch-up the gray in her hair when she did not have time to make it to the salon.

It's a New Year

Fresh starts, new goals, energized being:

it's ready for us at the beginning of each day.

I hope your New Year is creative and purposeful!

This is the result of my first creative time in the studio for the year.

Inspired by the style of Piet Mondrian, this piece was created with scraps of sink art, walnut ink

for the lines and diluted walnut ink for the text.

The textural element of the writing really makes the difference by adding 

the illusion of depth.