Monogram, Pretty Mail, Certificates, and a Bible Inscription

This is a monogram I designed for a couple getting married later this year.

I've designed a few monograms and like it more each time. I am going to work on a monogram for myself, I think, and also a monogram for my son and soon to be daughter in law.

This is some recent mail. Clockwise from bottom left, the envelopes are from fellow calligraphers Kathy Laporte, Kathy Milii, Jody Meese and Jean Wilson. Pretty!

I recently filled in names, titles and dates on these certificates. I like designing certificates, but happily do fill ins like these too.

This Bible inscription was done as a Christmas gift.

Adoption Poem

One of my projects this week was this lovely adoption poem. It was lettered in a more casual script than I usually do. Long and narrow, it was made to fit a specific sized frame. The most difficult task was to keep the lettering legible while adding bounce and looseness. I compensated by making the interior lines of each stanza plainer than the upper and lower lines.

I love the poem, and have seen two versions of it. This is my favorite. I do not know the author's name.

Thanks to my personal photographer, Sandy Wright, for brightening my photo (above) to more closely match the original.

Here are some snippets of the piece:

Fr. Eric Lies, OSB - Requiem in Pacem

Today's post is in memory of a wonderful man who taught me a lot about a lot. His sweet, gentle demeanor along with his love of life and letters are what I will remember about him the most. Fr. Eric passed away Monday at the age of 92. His health had been failing in the past few years, but until last year I always got a Christmas card from him.

You may be familiar with Fr. Eric's calligraphy. Many of his religious pieces are sold through Abbey Press and many other sites selling religious works. He studied Roman letters with Father Edward Catich, and his Roman letterforms were quite beautiful.

Father Eric was a monk and priest at St. Meinrad Archabbey in southern Indiana. I met him through calligraphy, and St. Meinrad's beautiful campus hosted many exhibits of his works, as well as those of Fr. Donald Walpole - an artist friend of his who passed just the day before at age 94. Fr. Walpole's brother was my parish priest growing up, and the stained glass windows in my church were designed and created by Fr. Donald. It was a fun little coincidence in my friendship with Fr. Eric.

Every visit my friends and I made to St. Meinrad and Abbey Press included a visit with Father Eric. Sometimes we shared lunch, sometimes a walk around the grounds, and once we were treated to the lyrical sounds of chanting in the chapel. Fr. Eric was a former director of Abbey Press and knew my recently deceased former boss, publisher of Automobile Quarterly, who at one time was art director there and often asked me about Fr. Eric. It is a small world. And I wonder if the two have met in heaven yet.

Once, friends from Kentuckiana and the Evansville region got together with Father Eric's help to have a calligraphy workshop retreat at St. Meinrad. Fr. Eric taught a session, I taught a session, several others also taught sessions, and it brought many good people together who otherwise might never have met. Last Spring I was in a workshop in Memphis with beautiful Travis, a transplant to Arkansas whom I remembered fondly from the Evansville guild. This connection to the Evansville guild also led to my taking workshops from the 'Queen of Calligraphy' Sheila Waters, whom the Evansville guild had contracted with to teach there. (She broke her wrist at one of the workshops and we feared it might end her calligraphic career, but she is indomitable.) The calligraphy field is full of such connections that make us feel almost like a family.

Father Eric was very prolific. When I once lamented that I worked at my dining room table and had to clear projects away each night, he taught me that it is important to have a dedicated space for art. In his case it was only a small table in his tiny quarters - but it was a place where he didn't have to clear away what he was working on each night, but could keep his tools and current project out for work when he had time. His days were quite full with development office work, traveling to many churches to fill in when priests were needed, prayer and more. His calligraphy time was limited, just as mine was as a young mother then. He taught me to flourish, he taught me how to drop color into water-drawn letters to get magic. Of course, when he dropped colors into his Roman letters it was sheer heaven. And speaking of heaven, I picture Father Eric in heaven now lettering for the angels with one of their own quill feathers...taken from the left wing, of course!

I found these images of a few of Father Eric's pieces online.

Requiem in Pacem, old Friend.

Valentine/Greeting Card Class

I will be teaching a Valentine and greeting card class on the next two Saturdays. From 2 - 6pm this coming Saturday and the next (February 4 and 11) I will be teaching for the Arts Council of Southern Indiana at the New Albany Indiana YMCA.

There is a roster of classes set for this month and early March. To sign up and to check on other classes, which include accordion books, intro to calligraphy and paper batik, contact the Arts Council of Southern Indiana (812) 949-4238.

Here are a few of the cards we'll be making and the packets for each.

Granny's Curio

What does my Granny's curio cabinet have to do with art and calligraphy?

I remember my Granny's curio cabinet from my childhood. It was in the dining room and held glasses, for one thing. Spectacles too, but I mostly remember the drinking glasses. They were pretty glasses with fruit painted on them. I remember tracing the fruit designs with my child-fingers through the glass doors. It also held bowls full of pennies. My grandmother sold chicken eggs (before my memory) and there remained the legacy of cups and bowls of pennies everywhere. There were also pens on the cabinet - in a basket. They belonged to Papa. Now I recognize them as old fountain pens. The pretty ones, maybe Conklins, which happened to be their last name. So there is an art and a calligraphy connection. A lot of sentimental value for me.

Long after his death I learned that my grandfather had done some metal engraving. There were some samples of beautiful script associated with it, but I have no idea what's happened to that. My grandmother had an autograph book that I loved to peruse on every visit, wishing I could write in the style of the beautiful handwriting on its pages.

The cabinet was ruined when my aunt's house had a ceiling leak in the foyer where she kept it after Granny and Papa died. The glass door was broken when the front door - seldom used - was opened into it. But when my aunt was going to get rid of it she remembered that I had always loved it. She gave it to me, though she tried to talk me out of it. I had the convex glass replaced, but the shelves and the back are in terrible shape, but somehow it seems appropriate to me that I keep my pen collection and my grandmother's autograph book in it.

When ebay was new I used to buy pens. Lots of pens. I got many at bargain prices. I also bought lots of nibs before I even knew which nibs were the best. Years went by and competition got tough. I paid more for pens. I got taken a few times. I stopped buying pens. I have many varied nibs to practice with. Who knows? Maybe some will turn out to be my favorites. (Actually, some already have and competition is very stiff now, if you can even find them.)

I do have some cool pens. One is solid gold. One is shaped like a rifle, one like an umbrella. Some are carved. A couple have stanhopes in them. One is a trainer with finger rests built into it. One has a swan carved into its staff.

I have some with ivory staffs. It seems appropriate that my husband's Indian elephant with ivory tusks keeps watch over those.

I like that my grandmother's cabinet that used to house my favorite art and my grandfather's pens is in my living room. Even if it has seen better days.

I'll Be Home for Christmas

I've never been away from home at Christmas, but that song always makes me wistful. Maybe that had something to do with my sudden urge to make these little (4 x 4 x 1 1/2") house collages on canvas this week. They were fun to do. I think I'll continue with the small canvases, but move to different subjects. I think I'll try embellishing some too. I may add buttons, spool feet and handles, etc. to some mini collages, and may do some on wood blocks too.

Here is a photo of a trio of the houses I'm calling "It Takes A Village". Unoriginal, but I like it.

This is the first one I did.

For this one I added a little bird cut from a fairytale book page.

For this house, I went to the split-level and evergreen trees. It's fun creating my own neighborhood.

And here is the image I used on my Christmas card this year. When I saw the small 8th century statue, Flight to Egypt, in an ancient cathedral in Moissac France this summer I knew I wanted to take a photo of it for my card.

Merry Christmas to all, and Peace on Earth.

Have Some Nilk, Santa - and Other December Calligraphy

I recently found this old note to Santa that my boys had written when they were little. Santa stopped in his busy present-leaving to eat the cookies, drink the milk and leave a thank you note. Good Santa!

A recent project from two angles. Though I do more Ornamental script and copperplate these days than anything else, I taught this style of lettering for many years, and am glad to know it's still 'there'.

A favor for a friend.

The countdown to Christmas continues. I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays, feeling the joy and peace of the season, and looking forward to a wonderful new year.

Journal des Vacances Françaises

Here are some long overdue pages from my journal of my vacation in France this summer. The journal is long on text and short on sketches. Missing are the flower markets and other colorful sights. Nothing from the beach and too little of the many markets we visited. I wonder if it would be 'cheating' to add after-the-fact sketch pages...I left out a lot and have lots of photos to add too. To see photos, see other entries in this blog, and click here to see my Letterlady blog, where I've added lots of them.

Two friends and I, traveling separately from Louisville and Portland Oregon, met at the airport in Toulouse, France to begin our two week (Sue) and three week (Beth and I) stays in my cousine's maison in Gargas France. We visited Toulouse more than any other place, but also visited the (topless) beach at Narbonne, the walled city of Carcassonne, the amazing cliff village of Rocamadour, the city on the sky Cordes sur Ciel and many smaller villages and towns. It was a memorable vacation!

Upon our arrival, we stopped at a large grocery store near the airport. I was fascinated by the fresh seafood displays, and we were shocked at the prices of the cheeses and gourmet meats...we soon found less expensive fare - and inexpensive wines!

(Click on the double spread photos to see them larger.)

This page includes the wrapper from my wonderful caramel ice cream cone (cornette). I think I need to add color to this page...my cornette was a beauty, but Sue's was the prettiest. I think she had some raspberry in hers.

(Why can't I find caramel ice cream in the USA?)

In the very expensive market that our first day friends Saro and Gilles took us to, the chickens (poules) were displayed with their heads on, as were the fish (poissons.)

One of my favorite experiences was visiting the Caves at Foix France in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountians that border France and Spain. No cameras were allowed inside, so I had to rely on my memory to do these sketches. We carried flashlights to illuminate our footpaths, but they were extinguished when we reached the caverns with the drawings. At that time, the guides, using minimal spot lighting illuminated the drawings collectively, but mostly one at a time. The illumination had to be limited as well as the number of people in the cave at one time in order to control the heat and try to avoid deterioration of these archeological and historical treasures. The actual drawings are about 13,000 (yes thirteen THOUSAND) years old! Amazing!

On most evenings with our dinner we toasted our good fortune to have the delightful experience of exploring the south of France. For some reason we bought a Chilean wine for our last toasts. Every French wine we tried was delicious and very reasonably priced. This Chilean wine was very good too, but I have a feeling we simply overlooked its source when we purchased it.

Older Work Revisited and a Monkey Painting

Because the holiday season is here and so busy, I'm sharing mostly older work today.
This one is from a cityscape in orange and blue. The only calligraphy on this one is the scratched into the paint scrawling shown in this detail.

And here is the piece in toto. I may gild the small yellow rectangle near the center to make it pop. (Do not adjust your monitor. The yellow wall behind the art is making everything look very yellow.)

Here is lettering detail from "Dreaming".

And here is the entire piece. There's a companion piece, much larger, that begs for bigger, bolder lettering. I may get back to it one day, but for now it's on my studio/den wall.

I love this piece I did in a Jacqueline Sullivan workshop years ago. I've always loved collage, and this Jacob's Ladder booklet was a nice twist. I hadn't done many tiny collages except as greeting cards, so it was fun to make nice work from scraps.

One side of the book.

I was criticized at an art show one year by a woman who couldn't understand why I'd used these colors for a piece about mercy. I hadn't thought of it, but I had mercy on her for being so critical. It won first place that year in the KY State Fair for calligraphy.

This is a little practice piece that I'm including because it happens to be on my desk right now. I love doing this pressurized Roman lettering.

The only current painting project at present: a monkey painting I'm working on for my grandson's bedroom. I hope I get it finished before Christmas. The foot needs some re-working and because it was done on a previously started canvas with lots of paint strokes on it, there will be some hiding and some highlighting of the colors underneath.