Practice, practice, practice!

That's all for this week. Just lots of practice...many more like these. Outdated phone book pages are good for reusing this way with the added bonus that they force a lighter touch or the very thin paper will tear. I am working on several projects at once, but can't post them yet. In between - lots of practice.

Side note. Many years ago Peter T, a favorite calligraphy instructor, cryptically replied, 'those who can, do' or something similar when I asked him for advice about my flourishing. I thought he was trying to tell me I should not be flourishing, but I think I misunderstood. Barring the awkward left swing on the flourish on the p in the first photo above, I think my flourishing is pretty okay. I think I was too timid early in my calligraphy career. I'm not now.

Have I posted the above yet? My grandson did some finger painting. I asked for the yellow piece. I sealed it with an acrylic medium and then lettered a Pablo Picasso quote on it, framed it and hung it in my kitchen. I love it! Our first collaboration! The bold lettering is Neuland and the light is my copperplate script. Art by Jace.

Neuland -- Backgrounds -- ChiLife

My great friend Diana Hutchison did this mixed media on canvas, "Chi-Life". Diana was one of my first calligraphy teachers, and continues to inspire me. It is basically a painted collage of Chicago and interprets several of her daughter and granddaughter's most meaningful locations there. Many mediums were incorporated and the photo does not do justice to the color and intricacy of this piece, but I wanted to share it anyway.



This is the starting point for one of the techniques we did in the Judy Melvin workshop this past weekend in Indy. It is lettering with bleach on black paper with an automatic pen. I love the abstract look.



Here is my bleached Neuland piece with pastel pencil embellishment. Instructor Judy has sent me to the internet looking for Russian Women Artists (from the early 20th Century), because she thought it looked like their work. (Look closely at the photo below and you can see the piece before I added pastel pencil.)



End of day sampling of participants' pieces.



I believe this is the work of my seatmate, Patty Bertsch. It represents another technique. The letters were written with an automatic pen dipped in bleach. After they dried, the bleached letters were touched with pastels.




My name in Sumi inked Neuland, embellished with painted-on vinery.



Jace's name lettered in a stylized Neuland and embellished with painted symbols.



Bleach-penned letters on a rich yellow paper.