Decorated Envelopes

I've been getting lots of good mail recently in the form of decorated envelopes. These great envelopes mostly contained deposits for a workshop that's coming to Louisville in October, and one was just a friendly gift.

Here's a detail from the lovely envelope Anne-Davnes Elser sent me. I'd seen a Facebook post where she'd casually offered to send one to others who liked the one she posted. I took her up on it. It is a stunner with colors transitioning between the letters. I love it! Thank you again, Anne! (Anne teaches workshops at Bookbinders in Atlanta, and besides her excellent calligraphy, she makes beautiful books.

This one is from my great friend Diana Hutchison. Diana used to be known as the QueenODots for her penchant for decorating envelopes with dots. She does so much more than that, and so much more than pretty envelopes. Her large scale contemporary mixed media pieces are amazing! I loved getting this happiness in my mailbox.

Heather Lee sent this spring green beauty with lush black letters that look like velvet. The letters make you want to touch them to feel the pile, but of course there is none. Note the neat ligature between the H, U and R! Gorgeous!

My friend Shirley Sawyer sent this cute little mouse-illustrated envelope. Apparently her illustrations are well known among our friends, but this is the first time I'd seen one. How cute he is!

It is so much more fun to get pretty mail than the usual advertisements or - shudder - bills.
My cousin and I used to exchange long letters written in calligraphy and mailed in lavishly decorated envelopes. We worked full time, were wives and mothers and were even busier then than now. I don't know how we did it. I rarely send a pretty envelope for myself these days. I spend my days lettering wedding envelopes for others, but they're so much fun to receive I am going to have to send more, more often.

Glen Epstein's Gift

Today I want to show you Glen Epstein's gift to me and tell you a story about it.



(If anyone knows how I can get my images to show up larger here, please let me know. In the meantime, clicking on them will make them slightly larger.)

Several years ago I assisted Diana Hutchison in planning a calligraphy retreat at Stone Rest Retreat Center in southern Indiana. The site, owned by one of Diana's long time friends, is fantastic - a huge rustic looking residence with all modern amenities. The surroundings are very much conducive to great work and great fun. The instructors were Steve Skaggs and Eliza Holliday, and the invited participants included the inimitable calligrapher Glen Epstein of Iowa.

I was looking through my notebook from that retreat last week and was surprised at the depth of the instruction - and the quality of work I had done, including writing exercises that brought out our thoughts and feelings about our surroundings. One of the exercises in this well-rounded experience was to paint strokes of acrylics onto a piece of canvas. Glen gave his to me. I had forgotten all about it. It was in that notebook and I decided to frame it to hang on my studio wall. And therein lies the rest of the story.

I took last week's unfinished painting and the gift from Glen with me when I met Diana one day last week, but when I brought them out of my car to show her, Glen's piece was missing. I searched the car over, and carefully thought of every move I'd made between leaving my house and opening that car door. When I got home I hoped to find it on the garage floor, and further hoped that I hadn't backed out over it and that it would be found unharmed. Glen is deceased, was a sweet friend to me, and I really wanted that remembrance of him. Unfortunately, the garage floor was bare. My husband's car was gone, so I hoped he'd found it and had taken it into the house. Not there.

I had placed my painting with Glen's canvas nestled in the frame of it on the trunk of my car when I'd unlocked the door. Could the canvas have remained on the trunk when I picked up my painting? If so, perhaps it had blown off as I backed out of my driveway. I got into the car to retrace my path. Not at the driveway. Not at the mailbox. Not along the street to the stop sign. I made the left turn to the main street nearby thinking I'd have picked up speed then and perhaps it had blown off then. Alas, I didn't see it there either. I drove to another street on my path before giving up the search and turning my car around. I did keep my eyes peeled for any sign of it on my way back home. Near the stop sign at my street I spotted a piece of paper in a yard. Could that be it? I backed up for a closer look. 'It COULD be,' I thought. I pulled into a stranger's driveway, ran to the yard and retrieved the scrap 'paper'. It was Glen's gift, unscathed in the damp grass. Persistence and sleuthing paid off. I'm glad I found it. I have to think Glen would get a giggle out of it.

Diana is coming over to paint with me this weekend, and I will be finishing last week's painting.



by Jan Hurst

My friend Doris Sisk

My friend Doris Sisk was a delight. She was the best person I ever knew, and I have known people from broad walks of life, including ministers from many denominations. She was intelligent and wise, and she was as good as gold - actually much better. I loved her dearly, and our meeting in that calligraphy class long, long ago led to a very close lifelong friendship. We knew each others' children from the time they were toddlers through young adulthood. We knew each others' mothers and spouses and siblings. We knew and delighted in each others' grandchildren. A year and a half ago Doris was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. I wanted to cry when I heard the diagnosis. For a few months she had blamed bronchitis for her nagging cough and fatigue, but when she finally was admitted to the hospital and got this terrible news, I couldn't believe it was true. There had to be a mistake. As I later told her, I had watched her see first her dad, then her mother and then two very close friends through their transitions from life on earth to death and the hereafter. I fully expected her to be here when my turn came. I knew I wouldn't be as good at it for her as she had been for so many. But when the time came, I tried very hard to do it well. She deserved so much better. I saw her as often as I could, and she used her energy to talk with me for hours at a time. It was a gift to have those loving conversations. Doris went to heaven on December 9th. Why is this eulogy of sorts my first post for 2013 here on my art and lettering blog? I debated about this, but our love of art and our joined artful pursuits makes this the best place for these memories to be shared. There is definitely an artistic connection. And in 2013 I will have an angel friend encouraging me in my artful wanderings. One day last week, through her children at her request, I sorted through her calligraphy supplies and brought boxes home with me. Among them were these works.

I remember when our friend and the instructor whose class we met in, Diana Hutchison, lettered this piece, winning an overall grand prize at the Indiana State Fair many years ago. Diana didn't like duplicating anything, but Doris had a way about her that was hard to refuse...she seldom asked anything of anyone else. Diana made a second similar Enthusiasm piece for Doris.

Another mutual friend of ours was Fr. Eric Lies O.S.B., a fellow calligrapher, at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. Doris acquired two pieces from Fr. Eric, both of which I have inherited. This simple small piece is one of them. The sundial consists of an embossed oval and two lines of text in white and gold with a golden 'arm'. Its simplicity epitomizes Doris's taste and aesthetic. (Fr. Eric died almost a year ago, and I am sure they have reacquainted by now.)

Doris began her artistic pursuits with needlework and moved into calligraphy as I had done. She loved lettering, and added it later to card making and handmade books. But she had also branched out and away from calligraphy, becoming a veritable master at decorative painting and faux finishes. This little wooden tub, embellished with hydrangea blossoms typifies the lovely work she did.

I miss Doris every day. I will miss her for the rest of my life, but I will have her as an angel on my shoulder reminding me to do right, urging me to keep my pens and brushes wet and moving, and to laugh often.

Organized Lady - Artist Gaye Medbury

Book Artist Gaye Medbury has an annual artist yard sale for friends only. I am glad to be one of her friends. There are always amazing bargains to be had...because she has the coolest stuff! In the photo above are Pat Pleacher, witty author of the wonderful Artkerfuffle blog, Gaye, Florida mixed media artist and calligrapher Diana Hutchison, and book artist and calligrapher Connie Newbanks. We have all known each other for many years, and this art sale was a good chance to spend some quality time with each other again. They are in Gaye's brightly painted kitchen. Below is the artfully fun entrance to Gaye's downstairs studio, where the sale was held.



Diana sorts through the fat quarters fabrics Gaye had arranged for sale. Behind her is Gaye's worktable filled with the rubber stamps she was selling.



Fabrics for sale!

The wall facing the stairway entrance, from left to right.









Gaye's metal working corner. Gaye makes beautifulluy bound books with exquisitely detailed metal covers to drool over.



Gaye's sewing corner. The boxes are not usually there - on this day they held objects for sale.









Love this lady with her paper clip hat! This was our line of demarcation. Unfortunately none of the treasures in the rubber stamp/computer area were for sale.









I couldn't resist taking a photo of the pencils in their can. Pencils are always so cool to see displayed this way.



The rest of Gaye's house is as much fun as her studio. It was featured in the Louisville Courier Journal once for its artistic originality and beauty. Gaye's personality shows in every room. What a fun way to live!





One of my purchases was this neat little kit of 'weathering powders'. I paid $1. for the box and it sells for twenty times that!

Gaye's organization, originality and talent for display were obvious everywhere I looked. I wish I had that gene. Her books, on display throughout her studio, are true works of art.

Artsy Days With Friends

Where does inspiration come from? For me, it can come from almost anywhere, a passage in a book, a FaceBook post, a seen-by-no-one-but-me image in a floor tile, a museum visit, paging through art books, workshops, and especially fun days exploring with art-minded friends. Here are a few photos from recent and not so recent friend fun days. Rob, Laura, Steve and I went to Nashville IN for a joint birthday/anniversary outing in March. These photos from a general store feed my artful soul.

A trip to Indianapolis and Carmel IN with two calligrapher friends was fun and full. In Carmel I got these photos of Doris Sisk, Jen Grove and myself along with a few locals.

Here's Jen thinking about the day's news while Doris 'reflects'.

Jen and I trying to help Grandma shop.

Jen had a little brush with the law.

A few years ago my friend Donna Hacker joined me in the NuLu district of Louisville for a trolley hop where we had these photobooth photos made.

That photo memory resides on my 'new' antique library drawers. I'd love to have a wall-full of these!

And today I had another great art day...at Gaye Medbury's annual art sale for friends. Here are Pat (Artkerfuffle) Pleacher, Gaye Medbury, Diana Hutchison and Connie Newbanks...all wonderful artists/calligraphers, and I'm proud to say, my friends.

Well, La Dee Da!

I love art. Even more, I love my friends.

Let the Bridal Shows Begin!

I made a few new small informational packets this week to hand out at a Louisville bridal show.

In the background is a piece of 'play' by Diana Hutchison (mine doesn't show much) from our play session a week ago when we tried out her new Inktense color blocks and many of my brushes. The colors were so intense! (InKtense, get it?) Here's a bit more of both pieces...these were definitely just playing around with no end result in mind.

Revisiting Old Work - Tapestry

I am finally getting around to redecorating my bedroom - as part of the major re-do of the main living areas of my house. As I took this piece off the wall, I wondered how much it might have faded, though it hasn't been exposed to direct sunlight. I did this piece in 2001/2002. I looked up the photo I took of it then and miraculously I found it (new computer, new camera and many files gone missing.) I was shocked when I saw it to see the huge difference in colors, and I wonder if I Photoshopped it to make the letters show up. (See next image.) I don't remember it as having been this bright, but it may have been. (I should keep better notes! I should also remember to take photos before the pieces are framed behind glass.)

The Rabindranath Tagore quote was lettered in gouache in the same colors as the water-colored stripes of the 'tapestry' so they appear to fade in and out. I think the piece may have faded a little, but the second picture and the detail picture are pretty true to the actual colors. And it is hard to read. I keep thinking I want to do it again with some modifications; perhaps with an eye to the may-have-been-doctored-image.

My friend Diana Hutchison used to call me "Pastel Woman" back in those days because I rarely used deep colors, so I do think Photoshop is responsible for the heightened colors in the 'before' photo.