Art college revisited

Last year we had a little reunion at ACA(D).

Crazy fun.

Except the building looks bland & washed out. They got rid of the best part of the 70's, which was the huge main hall leading down the steps to the cafeteria, & added boxy white rooms instead. Bleccchh!

Luckily, we found that the stairwells held out some hope of creativity!

The best part?

Reconnecting with Bo & Lea.

Bo still has that funny laugh, Lea still sounds so laid back,

I'm not the only crazy one,

and now we can all feel ancient together.

Art made easy

Ok, I should be redoing a piece, but instead I discovered this photo of my Pointed Pen Class & couldn't help myself. Do I detect Angelina Jolie in the front row?

Love the kaleidoscope feature in Nero Photoshop.

Cute, huh?

Oops, Marv's come home, better look busy...

baby gift for Joshua

A little piece for Joshua...

the client asked for it to look masculine so it will suit the little boy

as he grows.

Alas, we changed the quote partway through the email exchanges,

but when I sat down to create,

my mind blocked that out,

so here is the 1st quote,

all dressed up & no place to go!

Walnut ink, watercolor, souffle gel pen;

Techniquill, Mitchell nib on watercolor paper.

Image fits a 5x7 opening.

Proclamation to Granddaughters

A recent commission;

On 8x10 Diploma Parchment.

Lettering is Walnut Ink, with watercolor flourishes, touches of gold are a mixture of gouache & Winsor Newton liquid gold.

The color around the border, last to be applied, is chalk pastels brushed against sandpaper over the paper, then rubbed on with cotton balls.

Final piece sprayed with Workable Fixative.

Isn't the idea of it, and the wording just precious?

It was a joy to work on.

Expressive Calligraphy;Denis Brown at Island Magic

My instructor at Island Magic; Denis Brown demonstrates how he writes so expressively. He puts his strokes down quickly, almost slashing, even using his pen in an upward fashion, contrary to what most calligraphers have been taught.

Atom: Denis wrote in white gouache on polyfilm with black sheet under; note the corner of the penstroke on the exit hairline of the A is taken right off the page.

Quickly written

in class by Denis.

A quick demo done in class shows the fluidity of Denis' writing.

Artist Trading Card theme: Black & White

I made 10 of these for the Edmonton Calligraphic Society exchange this week & have a few left.

It's 2 1/2" x 3 1/2".

The background of criss-crossed lines is actually the inside of a bill envelope.

Everything else is pasted on.

The top ribbon is a strip of scribbled layered words that reads"blackwordsonawhitepage"

with a Sharpie outlining the strip.

"WORDS"shapes were arranged & cut from black paper & I used a Hiro 111EF pointed pen to write the Akim style of "black scratch on white". The word "divine" in copperplate style suits the delicateness of the flourished ribbon. I couldn't wait to use this roll of scrolled ribbon that I'd happened upon eons ago at the 2nd hand store for just pennies and finally found just the right project!