Lettres de France

I've just returned from a long vacation in France. I have over 3000 photos (!!!) to cull and edit for online viewing. Because this is my lettering site, I will begin with a few images of lettering I spied during my travels. I saw cave drawings, ancient cathedrals, castles, sunflower fields and so much more! I will share selections of all of these in my blogs (and have posted some wedding related ones to my wedding blog...click on that link to the right.)

To start, this was a common sight on doors throughout the south of France. I regret not buying the one I saw at a market sale in Foix. I missed a set of ivory dominoes too. (The woman whose booth they were in kept telling me they were 'ivoire', and wouldn't budge from the already low price.) I worried about the weight in my luggage of the mail slot, and customs on the dominoes. I did buy, from another dealer, a small nib container, some nibs and some stylos.

In Foix, a town in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains, we visited the Grottes de Niaux where we saw cave drawings (no photos allowed, but click on the link to get a view.) We also visited Le Chateau de Foix, which was mostly destroyed and rebuilt, and served time as a prison too. Included below are photos of the chateau, from the chateau and inside the chateau. Some are prison graffiti, carved into the walls. The need to communicate is universal and eternal. (To learn more, click on the link above.)

The Chateau as seen from the town.

Down the Tower stairs.

This hand lettered sign was in an ancient church, L'Eglise Saint Volusien in Foix. Sorry about the reflections. It was impossible to get a good shot of this.

I took photos of many menu boards, all hand-lettered. Here is one from Foix. The price was right, menu looked good...but the darn restaurant was closed.

Plaque from 12th Century Church.

Prison Door in the chateau.

Various examples of the Prison Graffiti.

A view of the Pyrenees from the chateau. Note the neat rows of the small vineyard below.

A remnant of some lettering in the chateau.

Just for fun, I thought I'd share this photo of a tee my friend Sue bought for her sister from a shop at Carcassonne, a walled medieval city. LOVE the grin and the 'rabbit ears'.

Traveling!!!! And A Book Made in Rosie Kelly's Class

I will be traveling for the next three weeks. I may not have internet access, so will most likely not have a new post until I return.

I do want to share more of the book I made in Rosie Kelly's workshop earlier this year.

I loved the workshop and really loved the processes we went through to make our wonderful books! I plan to gather much fodder for new books during my travels!
I had intended to enter this book in the Kentucky State Fair, but I will be out of town when it has to be delivered, and it is at a friend's house right now and I have no time to get it back.

Doing My Best to Keep Post Offices Open

With the news of many small post offices closing, I wonder if most mailings come from:
1. Advertisers
2. Utility and Credit Card Companies
3. Doctors, Labs and various insurance invoices
4. Politicians or
5. Calligraphers

I vow to do my best to add more pretty mail to the mix. I don't get enough of number 5s. I hate the political ones, accept 2s and 3s as necessities, get too many 1s and 4s. My most hated are the 4s. (I believe I've said that before!) I confess that I do most of my bill-paying via automatic payments, so have taken that much monthly revenue away from the postal service. I'll try to augment that by sending a few more pleasant notes and cards to friends and family.

The mailbox photo above is one I took near Turkey Run State Park in central Indiana when my friend Donna Hacker and I took a watercolor workshop there from Joe Fettingis. It was great fun, the scenery was great, and this was at our favorite restaurant there (a bar with fabulous fish.)

Here's a photo of Donna at that restaurant - with a friendly companion. (She's not this red - there was a reflection from the lighting.)

Here's a photo of the very talented Joe Fettingis hard at work.

Here is my attempt to paint the little Indian boy from one of Joe's resource photos.

And here is my poor rendition of the ibis (?) - unfinished. There were so many talented people in that classroom doing fabulous work that I'd much rather show you theirs!

Here's someone's old homestead off the beaten track.

Here's a beautifully tended and picturesque red barn.

And since I began with the post office and a nice mailbox, I'll end with one...send more (pretty) mail!!!

A Little Bit of Sweden Came in the Mail Today

Marie Fredriksson from Sweden sent me this wonderful Axe God necklace that she created in copper. The original image was carved into a rock in 1000 to 1500 BC and is within walking distance of her home. She has etched the figure into copper and sealed it with wax. I am the proud and happy owner of this little one from "Little One Design".

I have not just been sitting by my mailbox this week. Here is a sampling of envelopes I have been lettering all week. Street numbers have been smudged for privacy.

Paying My Dues

As a calligrapher, one might think that after a certain time there would be nothing else to learn. The ABCs haven't changed, so why do I keep studying and taking classes?

Below is proof that I do - envelopes for a couple of payments I sent out this week. Dues to one of the Calligraphy Guilds I belong to, and payment for a week-long workshop I'll be taking in September. (And I won't bore you with all the mundane receipts for books and supplies.)

And here are a few of the envelopes from the rush batch I did last week. My ergonomics are not good enough to sit for so long at a time lettering. Fingers, hand, arm, eyes and back were screaming,'Stop!'

I Am Honored - Dead Asparagus - Velvet Letters

How about that title!!?!

The above is a digital collage I made this week just to keep my hand in. I hadn't done one in a long time, had the itch to do one, and found this old photo of some of the ribbons I've won for my artwork, paired it with a practice page of script lettering and made this very simple digital piece.

Above is a photo of a stalk of asparagus from the journaling workshop I attended a couple of months ago. When it fell out of my tote bag of supplies I had to laugh. Time to bury this poor boy. He was a good prop, but he had a built in time limit, and was past it!

Below, two photos of envelopes I lettered last week with Moon Palace on silver metallic envelopes. The silver base made the letters look like black velvet. They were a bear to letter on because the silver was not a tiny bit translucent even on a light table. I had to prop two lights under my board and turn off all the lights in the room and strain and strain - and strain some more - my eyes to see guidelines to keep the lettering straight.

Boxed and ready to mail.

Ascension Day Blessing - burgundy on tan

Here's my latest project. A gentleman asked me to letter this blessing twice for him in burgundy on an old looking paper. I found a beautiful sheet of laid paper - I can't remember the maker or the name of this large deckled sheet, but it's very pretty with a wavy laid pattern. NOT the easiest to letter on!

This image shows some of the stages in the process of creating the work. A rough draft, ruled lines, and the piece with lines erased.

Here is a detail before lines were erased.

My DIL Sandy had seen this person's request on Craigslist and forwarded it to me. I'm so pleased to have 'met' this lovely gentleman (all done via email and the USPS) who told me that the blessing was also meant for me. : )