Seasons Greetings

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season with good health and happiness!

We had another great meal and fun time at the Edmonton Calligraphic Society's Christmas Social. http://edmontoncalligraphicsociety.ca The theme was Christmas Around The World, where upon entering we each were presented with a handmade nametag with an airport code on the front. I thought I was visiting Romania, but my destination turned out to be Rome! Pat & Jan created a fun evening which included songs, games and interesting tales of family traditions from members and guests.

I received some wonderful cards from members. I wasn't able to reciprocate unfortunately, what with my sabbatical, and was giving out hugs instead. Ok, the truth? I spend way too much time playing with the new puppy. So much, in fact, I believe he now thinks I'm his dog mommy. What can I say...I've always been an exceptionally good barker, and in fact can bark & whine to match any mood.

So I'm posting this greeting to you from a few years ago. I've got this thing about stained glass (see how happy I was when I FINALLY received a lamp for Christmas.)

The angel original was painted in watercolors and outlined with a black fine-tipped pen; the message created in a style taught by Alan Blackman at one of the conferences in Lethbridge. It reads "and the angel said unto them fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people" Too bad I forgot about the halo; perhaps I'd intended to add it in a metallic later.

YOU INSPIRE ME and I think I'm on a sabbatical

There's a reason the advice about not creating your art to fit into a certain size frame is out there. I believe that reason could be because it might sit in a file for 6 months before any ideas start to flow.

Around 30 years ago a young man wrote this letter to his girlfriend, now his wife, who wanted to surprise him with it. She had the perfect spot on the wall, and already bought a wooden frame for it. Her request was that it fit 8x16, be casual & not fancy.
For the piece to have a more masculine feel, I played around and came up with a sharper edged ITALIC with no terminals. A changing vertical slant to the letters gave it a more casual yet lively look. I highlighted a phrase that was repeated throughout by running it vertically down the left.
Walnut ink was used in varying strengths throughout. A mixture of copper powders blended with a few drops of water and a drop of gum arabic was then brushed into the still wet NEULAND 'INSPIRE', which allowed it to bleed a bit.

Overall, I'm happy with the piece, although a couple of those flourishes (again!) off the main body of letters look stiff and the flourish of the 'e' in ME near the bottom shouldn't be touching that little one. Poor planning, but hey, it wasn't like that on the previous copy that was supposed to be the good one! The client said, No, at no time has her huband called her with Yo, instead of You. As in 'Yo, Adriann!' Hmmmph. I address envelopes & sign my emails to son#2 with YO' MAMA, so I figured it was worth a shot. In doing it again I might try swinging one of those small flourishes near the middle up and over the heading & then semi back again. The writing was quite personal so it's meant to be hard to read here.

Now, I can't sign off without my current reason for being; Biskit! Who's 6 months old now! (OK, and the husband is 56) and I took this shot when we went out to Jasper last month for a final good bye to our friend Jim.

Oh, and the sabbatical? That's self-imposed, and I have to admit I'm kinda liking it. The occasional guilty feelings are to be expected; meanwhile I'm just waiting to see what transpires. No promises. No expectations. Vegging out and really just loving being a puppymaster.

SO I'M A SLACKER...but there's more..

Apologies for not keeping up with the site, but I really do have this most excellent excuse...
A NEW ADDITION TO OUR FAMILY!
We have a new baby!
Impossible at my age, you say? (I'm 55 & 10/12ths.) Not at all!
Our boys are 28 & 30; one lives the next province over, the one most likely to procreate soonest (we hope), is married (6 years, has degree, owns house) lives TWO provinces in the other direction (Honestly? I didn't think we were that BAD at parenting) and a person just can't wait for grandchildren forever. Not this person anyway.


So our new baby is of the 4 legged variety & he joined us 7 weeks ago at the ripe age of 12 weeks. Formerly named Rascal (Uh, uh - why name him something he'll strive to become; that's just wrong). Marv came up with a name he liked on his way home from work, on the same day I picked the same name, and neither of us had heard or seen it before.

BISKIT is part Shih Tzu, part Bichon Frise. Already more well behaved than the boys- this one sleeps through the night! And no diapers! (Or cracked nipples!)






Oops, I almost forgot...this site IS supposed to have something artsy so here's a quickie down below. Notice it's not spelled Biscuit; HOW TO FLOURISH THAT?!...boring. Byskit was a consideration with even greater flourishing possibilities but that just doesn't pronounce well when being read.
Lettering's done with walnut ink & a Pelikan split nib Fountain Pen (pen came in a pkg with 3 sizes of double lines about 20 years ago but they might still be available). And the backgound kinda looks like our floors now, but who gives a crap; we have a NEW SOURCE OF JOY in our lives!


About the pictures-
#1. Rec'd this photo by email while Marv was away 4 the weekend, with the heading "Marv's new puppy". My 1st thought? "I don't THINK so!" Everbody knows we're a pet free house 'cause our 1st born has allergies.
Marv comes home. No puppy. I'm a little disappointed...a lot actually, so we phone the kid & all agree: skrew 'im for moving 2 provinces away! They can stay with friends or family nearby. Puppy arrives 4 days later. Free too, 'cause he's from friends.

#2. I am SO in love! See how I no longer have time to wash my hair, put make-up on, wash clothes (20 yr old sweater), feed Marv...

#3. Puppy's 1st visitors. Val & Morley rush over as soon as they find out. Didn't say boo to us tho. Hmmm. Friends.

#4. Yes he does. Have eyes & legs, that is. 1st haircut @ 4 months @ just 4 times the price of mine. (Really...I pay $10 to a professional hairdresser who works out of her home...don't bother commenting that it looks like it too.) Biskit's strawberry blond? is JUST like son#2's hair...maybe this one will let me try those french braids on him.

#5. For Father's Day Biskit gets Marv a John Deere bandanna. It's actually a pet bandanna, but oh well. Marv's all about J.D. tho and "Nothing runs like a Deere"!

#6. I figured maybe I should do a little calligraphy this month. :)

Calligraphic Art Show in May

Our guild is having an Exhibit!

MAY 1-22, 2009

M-F 9-9, Sat 9-6,Sun 1-5, closed Victoria Day, May18

Stanley Milner Library

102 Ave & 99 St. Edmonton

Members of ECS will be demonstarting & having exciting items for sale on Sundays from 1-5

Please Come!

http://edmontoncalligraphicsociety.ca

Edmonton Calligraphic Society offered their free fun day for members which I took in, and our 1st project was to decorate these canvas Pen & Brush Holders. Was that EVER fun!

Jackie Doll sewed each one of these up ahead of time for us (thank you, Jackie...mine alone would've taken me all day) and all we had to do was throw the paint on!

We used liquid acrylics; Dr.Martin's worked the best for lettering with nibs, and I used cheapie folk art acrylics for most of the rest, along with the flourish stamps from Quietfire Designs, ttp://www.quietfiredesign.com/

stamped onto the same paint, which we mixed & spread out on yogurt lids.

It was SO exciting!

Now I must finish our 2nd project, which was a decorated storage cube made from CD Cases.

This is a view of the back of the penholder.

Here's to SISTERS! and unfinished projects

Yep, it's finally done. My 1st and probably last fabric piece. You know, the one I blogged about a year or 2 back? I handed "SISTERS" over to my big (wh0's getting smaller by the week) sis for her recovery period, so that must mean it really is finished, although now while resizing the pics I see there's an area across the bottom that could use something...maybe very light in color as the eye needs a place to rest. I've got it; that whole canvas at the bottom could be fringed. What do you think?

I also forgot to add the poem's author, so that I could write just above the blue cord.

Remember this original, before I decided to write the complete lyrics? I know, too bad I covered it all up. Thanks again to Lisa Engelbrecht of California who taught this to the Edmonton Calligraphic Society http://edmontoncalligraphicsociety.ca/

Yay Sharon, for getting rid of all the crap & seriously tackling that awful *!x#*!!#xx** word. (EXERCISE)

Personally, I think I'll just down another couple Tylenol 4's before I step out to pick up the mail... it seems to be working quite well these days.

A Wedding Project

My cousin Danielle & Greg wanted their wedding stationery to

somehow incorporate the season without being too Christmassy. In Toronto there could be snow on the ground or still remnants of the colorful autumn leaves. Their colors were plum purple, bronze, green and brown. I did the lettering and artwork, emailed it to them, and they took care of the paper choice, printing & assembly.

After a couple attempts it finally came to me that with 3 D's and 2G's to their names a monogram could work as a decorative feature. The illustrations are a nod to the season as well as the fact that Greg owns his own landscaping company.

They had a rubber stamp made of the monogram which they thermal embossed for the invitation cover and reduced above the date on the back of their ceremonial program. Now they'll be able to use their stamp on Thank-You cards or whatever they choose.

Congratulations cousins!

Card & Envelope folds

I love the way

Margaret Poznansky used photos her father took of her as a child in an accordion fold card. It's 1 long sheet; you see 2 images 'cause it was too long for the scanner. A few strokes of a pointed pen nib (allows pressure for more weight in the lines) create a playful border. The last section on the end has been scored twice to allow for the width of the card. With that folded over like a cover all that was needed was a small red ribbon tied around to add a splash of color.

Sonja Idema comes up with the most innovative ideas. Isn't this cool how she used a much larger envelope for her tag-like greeting card; here's the front, inside view and the tag itself.

'Tis Still The Season if our tree's still up

Here are a few more lovely hand-made cards I received from fellow calligraphers.

"A multitude of...happiness" with gold dots accenting the bright red compressed italic was a lovely surprise from Thea Paul, a Bow Valley Calligraphy Guild member from Calgary.

http://www.bvcg.ca/

Gail Fournier's beautiful watercolour opens to a quote written in walnut ink in the Uncial style, which looks to be laser printed.

Both of these first 2 cards are from enthusiastic newbies...."young" calligraphers with less than 5 years of lettering behind them.

Exposure to all a guild has to offer...quarterly newsletters, knowledgeable instructors, seeing the lettering & projects of others up close, patience and a willingness to get involved have all made a difference towards the growth of these 2 ladies.

http://edmontoncalligraphicsociety.ca/

Bev Paranych has a magic touch with her Gocco machine;

she always gets good results from this small silkscreen hand printer. Her tree shaped lettering is framed by triangular cutouts with fine sparkly filligreed material behind. Or is that 2 layers of cloth...one has raised gold stars. Bev's been doing calligraphy for eons, and it shows in the smooth flow of her lettering. I have yet to figure out how she manages to put the hours it takes into the detailing of her Christmas cards, work 2 jobs outside the home, run a household and renovate, all at the same time.

(Slightly green with envy there.)

Bev gained most of her experience while a member of the

Northern Lights Calligraphers,

P.O. Box 6220.

Fort McMurray,

Alberta

T9H 4W1

Canada

'tis still the Season

right? I didn't mail-out any greetings this year but sure received some beautiful cards in return.

This one from Diane Waters is for all the ECS members. I've always wanted to do a card with greetings from around the world. Her greetings in foundational lettering are offset by the country of that language in a fine monoline which creates a nice texture. The bow attaches an overlay of vellum on which she added a personal message.

Cindy's Green's watercolours are looking so professional. It's that kind of day here today, and I just have to share.

I love the way Peggy Marce created such a wonderfully crisp card with one color ink and 2 nib sizes. You sure get that winter feeling...