The Artistry of Beautiful St. James Court, Louisville KY

The artistry of beautiful St. James Court in Louisville Kentucky is hidden when most visitors are there. I read that more people visit St. James Court during the annual St. James Court Art Show (first weekend in October) than the Kentucky Derby, raced the first Saturday in May just a few miles away. The art show is great, but if that's the only time people see this lovely Old Louisville neighborhood, they miss a lot. The neighborhood and its architecture has an artistry of its own. It is perhaps Louisville's most architecturally interesting neighborhood. The neighborhood began as stately homes. Many of them went through a sad period of disrepair, but experienced a renewal period leading to a return to glory. It's remarkable that so much of the fabulous leaded and stained glass has survived. Some have had newer pieces of glass and iron railings added, but the charm of the neighborhood remains completely intact.

My friend Donna visited me this weekend. Today after breakfast we stopped to photograph St. James Court and Belgravia Court (a walking courtyard that is part of the neighborhood.) Though the sunshine was not right for the best photography - almost overhead and very bright) it was fun to take photos of the stately Victorian homes that ring the courtyard. It was a trip to an earlier time with a very European flavor, especially on Belgravia Court. Gas lamps dot the courtyards, their flickering flames gently illuminating the area at night. To read more about the various homes and some of the history of the post Civil War era neighborhood, please click on the above link.

Here are some of the photos I took this morning.

The fabulous fountain midway through the split courtyards at the aptly named Fountain Court. Originally commissioned in the late 1800s by the developer of the community, it was recast in bronze in 1975.

A resting lion statue at the Magnolia Street entrance.

Some of the majestic homes and doorways of St. James Court.

Here are some of the sights along Belgravia Court...accessible only by foot.

Donna working with the light to get a better shot of the fountain. Donna Hacker is an excellent travel photographer. See some of her photography by clicking her name above.

To see a bit of St. James Court during the big art show, click on this link. I notice that I took photos of some of my favorite houses back then too. St. James Court is well worth visiting on the first full weekend in October if you like art shows, but don't forget to visit when you can get an unimpeded look at the fine homes.

"Lonely Serenade" Takes First Prize in Digital Art at the Kentucky State Fair

My favorite digital collage, "Lonely Serenade" is one I did while active with the Creative Matrix online digital art group a few years ago. The Kentucky State Fair has a new category in Fine Arts for computer generated art, so I entered this piece. It is a digital blending of several photos including a statue of Benny Goodman, an abalone shell, a tree branch, a window and a wooden fence or paddle wheel - possibly others too. When I am creating digital collages the layers add up quickly, are duplicated, altered, and so on. The abalone shell is the star of this one, color-wise, but all of the elements went together so well to complete the story of "Lonely Serenade".

I hope you like it!

Here are a few other digital collages that I've done over the years.

"Orange Crush" - For this one, I layered everything in black and white except the little orange bird. I selectively colored in a few places with orange hues.

"Night in a Foreign City" (The inherent dangers of using Asian figural text is that I have no idea if I'm cursing here or saying something inane or profound or dirty. I just thought it was pretty script.)

"What the Flock" - This one started with a painting which I used for the background. I added some mathematical drawings and some script and two different raven images. Of course there's a mixture of layering, filters and blending in all of these images.

"Black Dahlia" - this one began with a photo of a red dahlia I took in Ireland. I layered some script over it, a bee image and a sprig of some other flowers.

"Continuum" - this one has lots of layering and blending, lots of coloring. Images of Queen Victoria and her family are included, along with some of my lettering and typing and bits of 'found' text.

"Universal Truths" (see note above regarding Asian text...I haven't a clue if it represents truths, universal or otherwise.)

"Viaje" - an experiment with fonts.

"Three Chairs, No Waiting" - I found this antique image of the three long-haired ladies, and an image of a chair online. I added in Spanish the words, "Three chairs, no waiting." and a pair of shears, without much hope that they would sit still for that!

"Cotton Candy" - This started with Photos from my Creative Matrix group of clouds and a baby's hand. The clouds looked like cotton candy, so I made them pink for a little cherub to grab.

"Rose Chapel" - Beautiful roses from a photo, arches from another photo taken in Ireland, blueprints and more were layered for a pretty straightforward digital collage.

I have lots of them, in several different styles. I wrote an article about creating them for Somerset Studio magazine several years ago. It's in the November/December 2003 issue. In addition, Horizons, the magazine for Presbyterian women contracted with me to do their May/June 2005 cover.

My Calligraphy and Art Books

I wasn't sure what to name this post. "I Need More Shelves" popped into mind, as did "Something for a Rainy Day", "Resources", "I Should Never be Bored" and others.

Indeed, I love art books. I have resisted the temptation recently to add more of them to my shelves, partly because - "I Need More Shelves". Partly because I have enough here to keep me busy for years, and partly because as my friend Doris and I discussed just the other day we seldom read them all when we get them, preferring to skim the eye candy. There is much to be explored in those pages! These are just my most accessible shelves of "Resources". There are others.

Because I often justify the purchase of a new book by saying it is less than the price of a workshop, I am making a late year resolution. I plan to go through each of my books throughout the year and at least practice something from each of them until I have decided which to keep and which to remove from the shelves. "Something for a Rainy Day".

Besides, I have books on DVD to peruse, such as Denis Brown's tour de force which I recently featured on this blog, Jacqueline Sullivan's and Carrie Brown's and many more...and Fran Strom's calligraphy tapes to have transferred to DVD so I can view them. Not to mention all the handmade books I want to make. I have plenty to keep me busy. "I Should Never Be Bored".

UPDATE 8/21/2012: I am so excited! My new bookcases arrive this morning! Finally I hope to organize all of my art books and group them by subject. A little redecorating will also be called for. Busy week!

Pointed Pen Uncial

A little something different from my usual pointed pen work. Because my nephew and his bride to be are having a (major!) Celtic theme to their wedding, I surprised them with an adapted Celtic lettering style for their envelopes. The pointed pen uncial that I used - and the mixed green gouache as the writing fluid - carried out their theme. The envelopes were yellow, so the green is not as vibrant as I'd hoped it would be, but I think it worked well anyway.

I thought Jennifer did a great job making their invitations by hand. She carried out the theme beautifully, and I loved the wrapping band and the pocket for enclosures. (I blurred ceremony and reception details here to maintain their privacy.)

I wonder what the appropriate Irish blessing would be? All I can think of is "Slainte!"

Denis Brown's DVD Set

If calligraphy had been an Olympic game, Denis Brown might have been the youngest to medal. At age 15 he had his first commission, and he has never looked back. No less an iconic calligraphy specimen than The Book of Kells was his study guide.

I met Denis Brown at the annual international calligraphy conference in Ohio about 9 years ago in order to arrange a visit to his studio in Dublin. Due to an overambitious tour schedule, I had to cancel that highly anticipated visit hours before it was to happen. Luckily for me, I was later invited to participate in a retreat in South Bend IN where none other than Denis taught me and several fine calligraphers his "Dangerous Lines", a forerunner to his polyrhythmic calligraphy. We all basically lived in the same house for the week.

He began that session with water in a squirt bottle to demonstrate dangerous lines on the black(green!)board.

You can see more photos from that wonderful week on my website in the "Denis in South Bend" album. At the end of that week we were looking and feeling pretty tired, as evidenced in this photo of Denis, my good friend Diana and me.

When Denis very recently brought out his DVD set on polyrhythmic calligraphy I ordered it. Excitement began when the beautifully packaged materials arrived in the mail from Dublin. Denis doesn't do anything half way.

Though I've only had time to watch a small portion of the first DVD, I can tell you that it is very thorough. Denis gives basic, practical advice on tools and set up, and advocates enjoying your practice on the theory that if you don't enjoy it, you won't be as apt to do it.

I look forward to delving into this DVD set and its 12 plasticized guide sheets as I get back to practicing some of what he taught in 2005 at Anne Binder's in South Bend.

If you'd like to learn more about Denis Brown and this wonderful DVD set (including ordering infomation if you too would like to own a set), please visit his Quillskill and Calligraphy TV websites.

(This photo of Denis Brown is from his Quillskill website.)