From the Studio of

Baby Gift for a Friend

2012-01-18T15:37:00.000-06:00

I was told by the parents that "Hazel Joy" meant "the one whom God sees rejoicing," so I decided to put that as a banner over her name, like a prayer that she will, indeed, be one who rejoices in our God!

The spatters are gold gouache and the diamonds on either side of the name, as well as the dots at the front and back of the arched type are done in gold leaf. The lettering was done in a dark brown gouache with a pointed brush.

Some Recent Work

2012-01-18T15:31:00.000-06:00

I found this quote a while back and thought it was a great one for a calligrapher. I tried this numerous ways, different layouts, etc. Finally wound up with this one.

Winter Calligraphy Classes in Chicagoland/Northwest Indiana

2012-01-06T14:47:00.005-06:00

Don't let the winter doldrums get you down! Do something creative and come explore the "art of beautiful writing" with Julie Wildman. Here's a list of my winter classes! Classes will be held in my home studio in Highland, Indiana. I am also available to travel to other locations for half-day and full-day workshops for groups or schools. Please email me to discuss details.

Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
(Beginner)
6 weeks, 3 hours per week - adults (12 yrs. and up)
6 weeks, 1.5 hours per week - students (9 yrs. and up)
One-day workshop (adults)
$135 / $75 / $75 (fee includes all materials)

This is like Calligraphy Appreciation 101! In this class, students will get an overview of the fascinating world of calligraphy, from historical manuscripts to the modern-day lettering arts. We will be inspired by different calligraphic hands found in the many works we’ll view, and then we’ll get to experiment with the tools that the masters’ used to create those works.

There will be plenty of demonstrations and one-on-one instruction. Students will get to try new tools, different hands, all sorts of beautiful papers, and various media. Our time together will be fun, informative and not at all threatening, and maybe even a bit messy!

Rather than producing a finished piece, students will come away with a variety of samples that will help them begin exploring ways to create new works on their own time. This is a great class to whet your appetite for the world of letters! And that world is going to blow your mind!

Basic Italic
(Beginner)
6 weeks, 3 hours per week - adults (12 yrs. and up)
$120 (materials list will be supplied upon registration)

A hand that every calligrapher should have in their repertoire! We will begin by learning basic strokes and how they apply to the Italic form, then putting those strokes together in a sequence that creates the letters.

From there, we’ll move into writing sentences, learning about proper letter and word spacing along the way. Many samples from various historic calligraphic masters will be shown throughout the class, as well as modern samples from some of the cutting-edge lettering artists out there today. The student will come away with a strong, working knowledge of the Italic form.

Using the Principles of Art and Design
to Create a Finished Calligraphic Piece
(Previous experience with any Basic Lettering class required)
6 weeks, 3 hours per week - adults (12 yrs. and up)
$120 / $60 (materials list will be supplied upon registration)

Line. Shape. Texture. Negative Space. Thumbnails. Roughs. What do these terms mean and how can we use these basic skills from the areas of art and graphic design to create a beautiful, finished calligraphic piece?

Find out as we walk through a series of exercises that will put these skills to use. Using a favorite quote and image, students will learn how good design is important in achieving a well-balanced, pleasing result.

We’ll use simple illustration and painting techniques, along with a photo-transfer process, to create whatever image you choose to accompany your lettering. Not an “artist”? No fear. You don’t need to be an artist to put an image with a piece. The simple techniques we’ll learn will give you the confidence you need to embellish your lettering a bit further.

In the first part of the class, we will all work together on various exercises. The second part of class will be more individual instruction as each student begins to develop his or her specific piece.

Class Schedule and Registration Information

#1 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
6-week (adults)
Date: Thursdays, February 23–March 29
Time: 10 am–1 pm
Fee: $135 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Feb. 9

#2 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
6-week (students)
Date: Wednesdays, February 22–March 28
Time: 10 am–11:30 am
Fee: $75 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Feb. 8

#3 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
One-Day Workshop
Date: Saturday, April 14
Time: 9 am–5 pm
Fee: $75 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Mar. 31

#4 ~ Create a Finished Piece
Date: Mondays, February 27–April 9 (off April 2)
Time: 10 am–1 pm
Fee: $120 (supply list given at registration)
Registration deadline: Feb. 13

#5 ~ Basic Italic
Date: Tuesdays, February 21–March 27
Time: 10 am–1pm
Fee: $120 (supply list given at registration)
Registration deadline: Feb. 7

QUESTIONS: e: wildesigns@att.net

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!

2011-12-16T14:21:00.001-06:00

To all my blogging friends!

Marbled Papers Play Date!

2011-12-16T13:55:00.000-06:00

Wow! Haven't posted since October!!! Thinking back, that's just around the time that I started teaching some classes again and got very busy with my graphic design work. I need to take some time and browse on all my blogging friends' sites. What have you all been up to?

I did manage to sneak in a play date with some friends a couple of weeks ago where we made some marbled papers. Thanks to the detective work of my friend Rita's husband, John, we all came out with gorgeous results! John is a retired engineer who has been using his right-brain a lot lately! He has investigated all the details of which papers, inks, and surface preparations work best for paper marbling and you can see here that his work has paid off. And we got to play in one of my favorite places—my friend Luce's studio!!!

This is a section of one of John's sheets that I won at a silent auction in October.

And this is a portion of one of my sheets. I tended to like the more "organic" marbling, as opposed to the patterns that we learned.

All in all, it was a very fun and informative day! I'm so blessed to have wonderfully creative people in my life.

That's John giving Luce some instruction on how to apply the paint to the surface of the water.

And here's Cathy using a plastic "wand" that John made.

We dipped them in the marbling inks and then tapped them

so the paint would speckle the surface.

This is what it looks like up close.

Some of the finished sheets drying in Luce's studio.

Being Neighborly

2011-10-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, one of my wonderful neighbors came walking over to my house with a large, old book under his arm. He said, "I know you like calligraphy so I thought you'd enjoy this." His great-grandfather, who lived in France, had started a ledger for all the business transactions in his family. The same ledger was kept by various other family members for over 100 years and eventually wound up here in the States. The entries begin sometime around the late 1830s and are written in French. Toward the end of the ledger they are written in English.

Hard to believe that someone chose to do such beautiful writing for something as mundane as record-keeping isn't it? Enjoy the photos!

Fall Calligraphy Class Schedule and Registration Deadlines

2011-09-22T16:15:00.001-05:00

This week is the registration deadline for my 6-week classes coming up in October. For a full description and registration form, please email me at wildesigns@att.net and I'll send you a pdf document.

#1 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
6-week (adults)
Date: Tuesdays, October 4–November 8
Time: 10 am–1 pm
Fee: $135 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Sept. 20

#2 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
6-week (students)
Date: Wednesdays, October 5–November 9
Time: 10 am–11:30 am
Fee: $75 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Sept. 21

#3 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
One-Day Workshop
Date: Saturday, November 12
Time: 9 am–5 pm
Fee: $75 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Oct. 29

#4 ~ Create a Finished Piece
Date: Thursdays, October 6–November 10
Time: 10 am–1 pm
Fee: $120 (supply list given at registration)
Registration deadline: Sept. 22

#5 ~ Basic Italic
Date: Fridays, October 7–November 11
Time: 10 am–1pm
Fee: $120 (supply list given at registration)
Registration deadline: Sept. 23

QUESTIONS: e: wildesigns@att.net or p: 219.616.0135

Weekend Fun!

2011-09-20T18:44:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was spent at the BMX track, watching my son race and win two first-place trophies in his 9-yr. old intermediates class! And in between being BMX mom, I volunteered to do temporary tattoos for the kids to raise money for our home track.

I probably did over 100 "tattoos" and had LOTS of practice with brush manipulation by the end of the second day! Wrote a lot of names and "I [heart] BMX!" :-) Here's a pic of one of my tattoos and face paintings.

One little boy named "Jacob" spent 10 minutes telling my how he'd just learned to write his name. He proceeded to tell me how each letter was formed—over and over and over again! My favorite description was the "J". In his words: "OK. You start at the top and go down, down, down. Then you do a little turn this way. Then you make a little hook, but just a little one! And don't go all the way up with it."

CCC's 8" x 10" Exhibit

2011-09-05T23:44:00.001-05:00

The Chicago Calligraphy Collective's All-Members' Show, called "8 x 10" will be up at the Skokie, IL Public Library from September 10 until October 22.

I did this logo a while back for the event.

And finished this piece last week to put in the show. This is one of three that I'm submitting. The quote reads:

"Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible; to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an explosion into unknown areas." ~ Arshile Gorky

When I'm playing with shape, line and movement, I often experience that "emancipation of the mind" as I delve into areas that are out of my comfort zone. It's in those "unknown areas" where I often meet the Lord, and where I feel He helps me "extract the infinite out of the finite."

Commissioned Piece

2011-08-24T22:08:00.002-05:00

This is the piece I finished last Friday. A friend commissioned me to do this for her husband, as they are celebrating their anniversary next month. The text is from one of his favorite hymns.

The background is a pale watercolor wash. The lettering was done with brown gouache and a pointed brush. The illustration was done with gouache, watercolors, and Prismacolor pencils.

The final size is 12" x 18".

In the Studio This Week

2011-08-19T13:30:00.001-05:00

Summer is winding down. Baseball season is over. My son goes back to school next week. And now it's time for me to get back to work!

This week was spent on a commissioned piece, which is almost finished and will be shared later this weekend. But in between that and family life, I started playing with some "sketches" for an 8" x 10" exhibit that I'll be entering through the Chicago Calligraphy Collective. The exhibit will feature pieces that are all framed at 8" x 10" finished size, so they'll be pretty small. But it's kind of fun working within those specifications. I used the cola pen and sumi ink for these studies:

A New Commission

2011-07-24T15:17:00.001-05:00

Just read my last post from June. Just after that, our son was asked to be on the Little League All-Star team, so guess what I've been doing for the whole month of July??? :-)

I did have time to get this piece done for a commission job, though. The person is going through a difficult time in her life and wanted something to encourage and strengthen her. Her request was that it be "bright earth tones" in a watercolor background, with white text. And she likes flourishes.

The final size is 8" x 10".

Hello Blogging Friends!

2011-06-22T20:19:00.000-05:00

No, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth. Summer is here, and between being mom, doing freelance work, and going to BMX (bicycle racing) events on the weekends (for my son—not me!), blogging has taken a back seat yet again. I'm one of those people who just can't—or is it doesn't want to—handle too many things at one time. :-)

I've also been teaching a class called "Introduction to the Art of Beautiful Writing." Right now, I'm teaching it as a 6-week class, as well as a 2-day workshop through the Chicago Calligraphy Collective coming up this weekend. Very exciting! I love introducing people to all the different styles of calligraphy that are out there. From traditional to funky, we've been trying it all and having a wonderful time!

Also, a few weeks ago I got together with some of my creative friends for yet another "play date." We do these pretty regularly and I just love this time to be inspired by my incredibly talented friends. I'm blessed beyond belief to have so many of them in my life!

My friend Luce shared a technique she learned in a workshop with Yves Leterme (click here for his website) when he was in Chicago in January. Regrettably, I was unable to attend that one. Yves is one of my most favorite teachers and just an amazingly talented man who, by the way, has just published his first book called "Thoughtful Gestures." I've already ordered my copy!

Anyway, I digress. So, we played around with Yves' gesso and layering technique and I came up with these 4 "paintings." I'm mulling over whether I should add lettering at some point. Not sure yet. I think some of them need to be cropped; some need focal points. I'm just "sitting" on these for a while.

Well, must get back to work. I have a class in the morning that I need to prepare for. Hope all of you are doing well out there and being your wonderfully creative selves!

Signing off!
Julie

In the Studio

2011-05-14T11:36:00.001-05:00

Greetings on a cold, wet spring morning in Chicagoland!

I've been playing a bit more again, in between "work". Last week we went to a wedding of a friend's daughter. (We're at that age where the children of our friends are getting married!!!! :-) Instead of buying a card, I decided to make them one with their names and the date of their wedding on it. I did this with pointed brush (of course!), sumi ink and hot foil pen for the dots on Arches Text Wove, then mounted it to some Arches Black Cover for the card stock.

Calligraphy Demo and Upcoming Classes

2011-05-10T11:28:00.002-05:00

This Thursday, May 12, I will be giving a demo highlighting the material I'll be teaching in my "Introduction to the Art of Beautiful Writing" class. Come out for the demo and an Artist's Trading Card session at the Hoosier Highlander Art Store, 2932 Highway Avenue, Highland, IN. Please call 219.838.0632 to let them know you're coming.

If any of you are in the northwest Indiana area, or have friends or family here, I'll be teaching my "Introduction to the Art of Beautiful Writing" class this summer. Please contact me at wildesigns@att.net if you need more information or to book a class. The description is just below this post.

The schedule and fees are as follows:

Weekend Workshop
(offered through the Chicago Calligraphy Collective)
June 25 & 26
9am–5pm
Elmwood Park, Illinois
Fee: $120 members / $150 non-members / $15 materials fee
(Please go to www.chicagocalligraphy.org/workshops/
for more information on how to register.)

6-week class in Highland, IN
Wed. evenings May 18 – June 22
6–9pm
Fee: $135 (includes supplies)

6-week class in Highland, IN
Thurs. mornings May 26 – June 30
10am–1pm
Fee: $135 (includes supplies)

One-Day Workshop in Highland, IN
Saturday, August 13
9am–5pm
Fee: $75 (includes supplies)

Wildman Designs Website Coming Soon!

2011-04-15T17:24:00.002-05:00

My new website, www.wildmandesigns.com, is soon to be uploaded and will show my design, calligraphy and art work, as well as classes and workshops. But for now, please feel free to scroll and browse this blog.

Upcoming Workshop:
Introduction to the Art of Beautiful Writing

Skill level: Beginner, but all are welcome!

This class will show you the treasures that await as we discover the fascinating world of beautiful writing—from historical manuscripts to the modern-day lettering arts, and from traditional to funky.

Students will be inspired by the many different calligraphic styles found in the pieces we'll view, and then will get to try their hand at the tools used to create those works. They will not only get to try new tools and different hands, but will also get to experiment with all sorts of beautiful papers and various media. Our time together will be fun, informative and not at all threatening, and maybe even a bit messy! Students will come away with a variety of samples that will help them begin exploring ways to create new works on their own time.

This is a great class to whet your appetite for the world of letters! And that world is going to blow your mind!

Offered through the Chicago Calligraphy Collective on June 25 & 26, in Elmwood Park, Illinois. If you're interested, please go to the CCC's workshop page here to get more information.

Meeting Fellow Blogger Jane Farr!

2011-04-09T22:00:00.001-05:00

Today was the artists' reception for the juried show at the Newberry Library. And today was the day that I got to meet one of my favorite bloggers! Calligrapher extraordinaire, Jane Farr from A Place to Flourish, was there with her husband Tom. I am a huge fan of Jane's work, as well as her blog, so it was truly a delight to finally meet face to face.

Check back soon for a look at what went on at the reception today. (I'm at the mercy of others who photographed the day, since I was involved in a part of the program and couldn't photograph things myself. :-)

Chicago Calligraphy Collective Exhibit at Newberry Library

2011-04-07T23:09:00.001-05:00

This is a reminder:

If any of my readers are in the Chicagoland area this weekend, check out the CCC's juried show, Exploration 2011, at the Newberry Library, 60 West Walton in Chicago.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Exploration at the Newberry and in honor of that, the Newberry is hosting a special exhibit of all the past Purchase Prize Winners in the adjoining gallery. There is also an exhibit of French illuminated manuscripts in the gallery across the hall. Lots of beautiful calligraphy to drool over, folks!!!

The artists' reception is on Saturday from 11am - 3pm. There will be calligraphic demos, music, and a live calligraphic performance beginning at 1pm.

It's going to be a great day, so come out and join us!!!

P.S. That gorgeous logo up top was done by the super talented Pamela Paulsrud! www.pamelapaulsrud.com

Doodle with the Cola Pen

2011-03-24T20:37:00.000-05:00

I was working on a job yesterday and spent the whole day at my computer, so I needed a little break. Took out some sumi ink and my cola pen and started doodling. This is one of my doodles. Short and sweet.

Playing in the Studio

2011-03-16T01:57:00.001-05:00

In November, Georgia Deaver came to Chicago to teach her class called Stylized Writing. (See my earlier posts for work and comments from that class.)

Since then, I've been practicing some of the exercises we did in that class, and one of them inspired this piece. I was walking through the snowy woods one day and started snapping pictures of the bare trees and undergrowth. I kept thinking about how all the branches and the space in between reminded me of letterforms. When I came home, I enlarged one of the photos, printed it out and put it down on a larger sheet of paper. Then I began to write next to it, in a style that was derived from the shapes I saw in the photos. I came up with this lettering.

Today I decided to scan it in and play around with the placement of the photo and lettering in my layout software. This is the final result.

Exploration 2011

2011-03-12T23:08:00.001-06:00

Exploration logo by Pam Paulsrud

It's time once again for the Chicago Calligraphy Collective's annual juried exhibit at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The show will run from March 21 – June 25.

If you're in the Chicagoland area, please stop by on Saturday, April 9, from 11am – 3pm, for our artist's reception. There will be demonstrations as well as a live calligraphic performance by six of our members. And plenty of food and drink!

This year is the 25th anniversary of Exploration being held at the Newberry Library. In honor of that, the Newberry is taking all the past purchase-prize-winning pieces out of their vault and displaying them in the room adjoining our normal exhibit space. There will also be an exhibit of Illuminated Manuscripts and Printed Books: French Renaissance Gems of the Newberry.

It's sure to be a wonderfully inspiring time! Hope to see you there.

A New Look for the CCC - Part 2

2011-01-28T08:38:00.000-06:00

This is the front cover of our newly-designed newsletter. The 8-page newsletter is produced in black and white sent as a physical copy to all our members. However, we are toying with the idea of creating a color version and making it available in pdf form on our website.

A New Look for the CCC!

2011-01-18T15:24:00.001-06:00

Another one of my projects (over the past year-and-a-half) has been to "brand" the Chicago Calligraphy Collective. "Branding" is a process that creates a cohesive look for a company or organization, so that every promotional piece lets the viewer know it's from that specific company. We began the process of branding the CCC with a new brochure back in 2009.

(front cover of brochure)

Last year, we did new stationery and some promotional pieces.

(letterhead on left; notecard on right)

Banner (at right).

This year, we launched our new website. Check out our new look at www.chicagocalligraphy.org. (FYI: I only designed the look of the website, NOT the functionality of it. We hired a web company for that.) There are still a few bugs to work out and we need to transition over to our new webmaster to get information updated, but overall, it's ready to go.

Stay tuned for a peek at our new newsletter!

Pointed Pen Practice

2011-01-15T23:43:00.003-06:00

So, after realizing that I needed
some practice with that
pointed pen, I did this sheet.
I had some orange gouache
and a little gold gouache left
in a pan, so I mixed them together
and wrote on some black paper.

Now I see that I need a LOT
more practice!

Where is Jane Farr when I
need her???? :-)

Batik Piece with Writing

2011-01-15T23:34:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I've got some new things to share with you, so I'll be posting quite a bit in this next week or so. The first one is a piece that I showed you earlier. I did the tree in Carol Pallesen's batik workshop. It took a while to decide what I wanted to write and I finally came up with this. (Words are mine.)

After writing it with a pointed pen and white gouache, I realized that the pointed pen is NOT one of my strengths. :-)

A Christmas Tea

2010-12-15T11:17:00.002-06:00

This isn't an art post. Or a calligraphy post. But it is something that I "worked on" for about a week,
so I thought I'd share it with all my blogging friends.

Tea is a very special thing for me.
I love the art of making a fine pot of tea.
I love going to tea; hosting a tea; drinking tea and most of all, sharing tea with friends.

So, I had a Christmas Tea for a few dear friends of mine.

The food table looked like this.

On the menu...

Yorkshire Tea

Classic Cream Scones served with Devonshire Cream

and strawberry and raspberry preserves

An assortment of finger sandwiches

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Cucumber & Alfalfa Sprouts

Cucumber, Red Pepper & Dill Cream Cheese

Chicken Salad with Red Grapes

And the Dessert Course

Lemon Pound Cake

Cranberry Orange Bread

Cream Cheese Brownies

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Chocolate Chubbies

Shortbread

I am half-Italian, and the modus operandi in our home was
to never let your guest go away hungry or thirsty.

I can assure you that the objective was met and that all were delightfully stuffed at the end!

More Photos from Deaver Workshop

2010-11-23T22:10:00.001-06:00

As promised! This was done by Lisa.
Beautiful brushwork on the word "Art"!
(Sorry for the blurry image here.)

This was done by Karen.

She loves pointed brush and has

made some gorgeous strokes here.

This was one of the Luce's practice sheets.
Take a look at her blog to see more of her
amazing work.

One of my favorites

done by Rosie.

And finally, this gorgeous piece done by Linda. (Check out her site here.)

A Weekend with Georgia Deaver

2010-11-23T09:12:00.001-06:00

Last weekend, Georgia Deaver (see her great website here) came to Chicago and I had the privilege of taking her "Stylized Writing" workshop. This was my first time in a class with her and I am SO GRATEFUL for the opportunity. I've admired her work for a long time and have heard so much about her, that it was such a pleasure to finally meet her in person. She is, indeed, a gracious, gentle person and a fabulous teacher.

The workshop was called, as I mentioned above, "Stylized Writing". It was designed to help us recognize the individual characteristics that appear in our own handwriting and then to expand upon those characteristics through various exercises. I won't be sharing the whole list of those exercises here as I feel that would be unethical, since Georgia does make part of her living through teaching classes. I will, however, give one or two teaser examples and hopefully, it will be enough to entice you to have Georgia come to teach in YOUR city. :-)

One of the exercises was to make all the consonants very condensed and spiky, and all the vowels, except i, very round. This made for a very interesting pattern, as seen here. Unfortunately, I don't know who did this practice sheet, but it's very beautiful, isn't it???? (I see that this person rose to the challenge and made the "i" round as well. :-)

This was one of my interpretations of the same exercise, using pointed brush and white gouache on black Arches cover.

Another exercise was to use capitals somewhere in a text that used mostly lowercase letters. I did this quick sketch, using the pointed brush and red gouache on 90# Arches rough watercolor paper.

The hand of the master at work!

And one of Georgia's demos. LOOK AT THOSE STROKES!!! (Pointed brush example)

Check back later for more photos from the workshop!!!

Wildman Designs Featured in Calligraphy Article on the Web!

2010-11-17T00:39:00.000-06:00

I just received an email that my blog was featured in the article "40 Fantastic Calligraphy Blogs" at the website: webdesignschoolguide.com.

Take a look at the article (click here) and you'll see some of the great blogs that are listed here, as well as ones I didn't know existed. I think this article, on this particular site, is a great way to promote the "art of beautiful writing" to a younger generation of artists and designers!

Carol Pallesen Workshop, continued

2010-10-28T23:47:00.000-05:00

These last two images aren't cards. I'm not sure what I'm going to use them for. I was thinking the tree image would look good with some words written in white on the lower right side. We'll see.

Carol Pallesen Workshop

2010-10-28T23:42:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, the CCC hosted talented lettering artist Carol Pallesen from Reno, Nevada. (Carol doesn't have a website yet, but just Google her name and see what you come up with.) She taught a workshop called "Batik Cards". (Batik is a method of dyeing fabric, in which parts of the cloth not intended to be dyed, are covered with removable wax).

I've always wanted to learn batik because of the bright colors and wild patterns that one usually sees in this process. Carol made it easy by applying the technique to paper, which was a great way to introduce it to beginners.

The results were simply breathtaking. Everyone did such beautiful work! Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera so I don't have the step-by-step process to show you. I'm hoping to get some images from a friend, but until then, here are some of my finished pieces.

A Very Special Piece

2010-10-19T21:13:00.001-05:00

A dear friend of ours got married over the weekend and this piece was a gift for her and her new husband. It is a testimony to God's faithfulness in their lives.

Our friend became a widow 15 years ago, at the age 43 years old. She was left to care for five children, ages 7 to 16. Our church family, as well as her immediate family, took seriously the biblical mandate to "care for widows and orphans". And the Lord was faithful to become husband and father to her and her children. We watched in awe as her "mourning was turned into gladness" and her children grew to be men and women who loved the Lord with their whole heart, soul, mind and strength.

Her new husband was also a widower for 2 years and father to 3 young adult children.

Theirs is a story of love, loss, healing and love again. And this verse has become their theme. The fall colors were chosen by both of them, to fit with their living room decor. I used a pointed brush with gouache for the lettering and watercolors for the color.

Your Handwriting Made Into a Font!

2010-10-04T09:11:00.001-05:00

Someone on Cyberscribes just posted this link for a Pilot Pen promotional piece. A very clever advertisement. Click on the link and watch the little instructional video, which in itself, is very creative. If you choose to do it, you can get your own handwriting made into a font...for FREE!

Here's the link: Pilot Handwriting Promo

NOTE: I am not endorsing Pilot, and am not being paid by Pilot to post this. This is strictly for fun and I thought you'd be interested. :-)

The CCC Hosts a Day of Tiny Workshops

2010-09-16T14:06:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, the Chicago Calligraphy Collective tried a new thing and hosted a day of tiny workshops. There were ten to choose from: five in the morning and five in the afternoon; and each were three hours, with a break for lunch in between.

Well, the day turned out to be a great success, with lots of new members and new non-members coming out to get a sampling of "the art of beautiful writing"! It really was a great way to introduce people to calligraphy, without them feeling too overwhelmed by a full-blown workshop.

I had the privilege of teaching one of the workshops, called "Monoline Play". And play we did! I had each student analyze and trace a worksheet of skeletal Roman forms and then we began distorting those forms, as well as "bouncing" and rotating them on the page. We also tried some monoline cursive lettering. We looked at the negative space in and around those forms, as well as the space that's created on the page once you've placed the letters on it. Then we tried some exercises to enhance that space through either color or value. It was a lot to cover in only 3 hours, but as you'll see from some of these examples, I had some really talented people in my class. (I apologize for the blurry photos. Seems it's time for a new digital camera!!!)

Here's a great practice sheet, and a couple of other pieces, done by Stacey, who happens to be a professional calligrapher. Check out her website here to see more of her beautiful work!

Then there are these wonderful pieces by the amazing Rosie!

These next two pieces were done by the very talented Janice!

This next example was done by Jeannie, one of our very enthusiastic new members. Pretty nice, isn't it?!!!

This piece was done by Ellie, who got very creative with her letterforms!

This piece was done by Jan, who is a brand-new member of the CCC. I love the bright colors she used in the piece.

And last, but not least, is this little beauty by Louise. I really like the way she used the colors here.

Didn't they all do such a wonderful job?

Some New Work

2010-08-28T23:01:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is our annual Chicago Calligraphy Collective picnic and we're having a greeting card sale. I came up with these few new designs that I thought would work for the cards as well as larger prints. This first one is an Irish proverb that I thought would make a nice greeting for the front of a card. I lettered this on a 12" x 9" sheet of Arches Text Wove, with a pointed brush and sumi ink. I scanned it into Photoshop and cleaned it up, then reduced it to a 6" x 4" image for a card.

This second image was from a sheet of marbled papers that I made last week at a creative play date with some friends. I didn't like the way the whole sheet turned out, but when I isolated part of the sheet, I saw this image. I then filled in the white spaces with sumi ink and this was the result. Thought this would look cool as a very large print.

The next three images are some of my abstract markings turned into 5" x 7" greeting cards. The first one is sumi ink and a red Sharpie Poster Paint pen on a printing paper. The second, sumi ink and the Sharpie on Arches Text Wove, and the third is bleach on black card stock with the Sharpie paint pen.

Hello!

2010-08-14T16:37:00.000-05:00

Well, this time I have a really good reason for not posting for a while. After my last post, we went on a spontaneous vacation. Since we really didn't know where we were going, I brought along my laptop—my very expensive laptop—to plan the trip while en route.

All was well until the final day, when we went to a water park and I slid my laptop bag slightly under the back seat before we went inside. (The key word is "slightly". Part of the bag was sticking out.) And I forgot to zip it. And, unbeknownst to us, just as we got out of the truck, our son had tipped over the cooler that had water in it. And when we got back, all the water had mysteriously disappeared and wasn't on the seat or on the floor of the truck!!!!!

Yep, you guessed it! The "perfect storm", as my husband is describing this little catastrophe. :-)

So, after drying out the computer for 48 hrs. per my tech guy's instructions, it worked for about 24 hrs. then died. Of course, neither my Apple warranty or my homeowner's insurance covered this particular scenario. (Found out that if the water main in my house had broken and spilled onto the laptop, THAT scenario would have been covered. ARRGGHHH!!!!!)

Fortunately, most of my data had been backed up. (I have learned the hard way that I need to do that!) But my iPhoto folder had not been backed up in awhile. I took the computer in to see if it could be repaired and was told it would cost more to repair it than it would to get a new one; but they did retrieve my data, so all is well. My new computer arrived yesterday and I am now fully operational again after almost 2 weeks without a computer.

So, I hope to have a nice little post sometime at the end of this week. A few of my artist friends are getting together for another creative play date and I hope I'll have some fun stuff to share with you then.

Enjoy the rest of summer vacation and try to keep cool! We've been having awfully hot and humid weather here in Chicagoland and I've been staying indoors way too much.

A Small Commission

2010-07-20T08:38:00.000-05:00

One of my former calligraphy students called to ask if I could letter this quote for her youngest daughter, who's just about to go off to college. My student was involved in a serious accident a few years back, and she suffered some brain damage. She's had a long road to recovery and is doing well now, but it was tough for her two young daughters to go through that experience.

Her daughter likes earthtone blues and greens so I came up with this.

The Results of Our Play Date!

2010-07-11T21:51:00.001-05:00

Here are some of the cards that Martha made.

And here are some of the ones I made.

My Friend, Martha!

2010-07-11T21:46:00.000-05:00

I have been incredibly blessed to have some very special, creative friends in my life. One of them is my very dear, VERY creative and very generous friend, Martha. I met her back in 1987 when a mutual friend (her sister) introduced us. Martha had her own graphic design business and her sister thought we should meet. I needed an interview with a working professional for my final project in design school, so Martha and I met over lunch. She reviewed my portfolio and, much to my surprise, offered me a job after I graduated. So, three days after graduation, I began working for Martha and we've been friends ever since! A working relationship/friendship like ours comes around only once in a lifetime and I'm so VERY glad it's with Martha.

So, this past week, Martha and I decided it was time for a play date. We met in her basement studio to make greeting cards. First, you HAVE to check out her studio because it's such an inspiring place to make art. (There's Martha below, at right in the photo.)

Wonderings by My Readers

2010-07-03T08:46:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I posted an item about things I wonder about. I asked my readers to chime in with their wonderings, whether deep or trite, funny or serious. Thank you all for your insightful, thoughtful and beautiful comments. Here they are. Enjoy!

Jane Farr said...
•I wonder what amazing lives my children will lead.
•I wonder why I keep waking up at 4am.
•I wonder why so many people have allergies as adults that didn't when they were kids.
•I wonder why God created the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Shannon Wilson said...
•I wonder how to stop my children from losing their sense of wonder.
•I wonder why God gives me such an undeserved long leash.
•I wonder when living will replace trying.
•I wonder where He is leading me—but I'll go there without knowing.
•I wonder how blog friendships can be so rich.

Agnes said...
•I wonder when my mother's hands replaced mine!

Joygerm said...
•I wonder how anyone can be bored when there are so many things that are amazing and, well, wonderful to look at, to think about, to learn.

•I wonder at the purpose of things for which there is such an abundance, yet most of us either despise or are at least annoyed by, such as dandelions, or dog hair—there must be a really useful purpose, but we don't know it. Maybe some ingredient in dandelions is the cure for cancer or something.

Miscellaneous Greeting Cards

2010-07-02T14:12:00.001-05:00

Some thank you notes, a birthday card, and a notecard for my niece who graduated from high school.

Calendar Fun!

2010-07-02T14:00:00.001-05:00

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here in Chicagoland, so I haven't been spending much time in the studio lately. I'm in full-time mom-mode, now that my son is off for the summer, so there has been a lot of outdoor play time going on here!

I did get to make a calendar page for our CCC (Chicago Calligraphy Collective) West Side Study Group's annual calendar fundraiser project. Each year, the West Side group donates their time and talent and produces a calendar that fits in a CD case. Each member takes a month and makes 150 copies of their piece. All proceeds from the sales go to the CCC.

My month was October. Here's the finished page:

More Images from CCC Library Outreach

2010-06-21T10:35:00.001-05:00

A few more photos of our event at my local library!

A guest tries Blackletter!

Another guest tries Blackletter,

taught by the amazing master of Blackletter, John.

The talented and creative Lora demonstrates parallel pens and a special multi-color technique by doing beautiful bookmarks for one of the librarians.

The multi-talented and treasure-trove-of-all-things-calligraphic, Corinna, taught about the history of writing and demonstrated various tools and writing surfaces that were used throughout the ages. A patron tries her hand at stone carving!

The vivacious and very talented Karen demonstrates pointed brush and unusual tools using inks, bleach, and various other mediums to show patrons some funky lettering styles!

A shot of those unusual tools.

Blessing Book

2010-06-21T09:22:00.003-05:00

I also spent the last week compiling handwritten "blessings" and making them into a book for a friend who just "retired" (she's too young to retire; just quit her job of 23 years to move on to other wonderful things!). We held a surprise birthday/retirement party for her and one of her other friends came up with the idea to have everyone write a blessing for her in this new season of life. I suggested we put them together in a small book and present her with it at the party. We had everyone mail their blessings to me, along with a word that summarized the blessing. I then wrote the special word on a separate page that introduced the blessing.

Here is the result. (I've only included a few photos. The book was about an inch thick.) I used Arches Text Wove for the pages; diluted sumi ink and a pointed brush for the lettering; my hot foil pen for gold dots on the page; and some really nice handmade papers from PaperSource for the covers and inside covers. Also, I changed the black, thin ribbon to a thicker gold satin ribbon. It looked much nicer.

Summer is Here!

2010-06-20T23:09:00.000-05:00

Happy Summer, a few days early!

As you've probably figured out by now, I've been away from blogging for a couple of weeks. Being "mom" has kicked into full gear with the beginning of summer vacation for my almost-8-year-old son, so I haven't had much to blog about. However, yesterday the CCC hosted another outreach event at my local library. It was a gorgeous day outside, so we didn't have a lot of people, but the 30 or so that showed up had a great time! (As did we!)

I decided to do "tattoos". One could either choose a name or a favorite word, which I then wrote on the person's arm. I had practiced on myself the week before, and found that I was able to use a wide, broad-edged pen, a pointed brush, and the Sharpie Poster Paint pens with great ease. I also used some opaque Pelikan watercolors and some Crayola markers, all of which were very washable and non-toxic. So, I tried some of my favorite styles and got some fun results. Take a look!

Meet My Friend April!

2010-06-02T12:16:00.002-05:00

Happy Summer to all my readers, even though it's not technically summer yet!

Last week I had the delightful experience of going to lunch with a friend at a place called The Center. (Check it out!) My friend had heard that there was going to be a Garden Poetry Luncheon and thought it would be fun to attend. So we booked our spot and headed out. The Center is on maybe about 100 acres (not sure of the actual size) and is just southwest of Chicago in Palos Park, IL.

When we arrived at the luncheon, I was delighted to see one of my blogging friends, and fellow Chicago Calligraphy Collective member, April Schabes at the event. I was even more surprised to hear that she was one of the poets that would be reading in the Garden!

May I just say that I was completely overwhelmed by the beautiful poetry that the 8 women shared, including April's. So I asked April if she wouldn't mind sending me one of her poems and perhaps a piece of her lovely art to go with it. Without further ado, please enjoy "The Robin", by April Schabes. And while you're at it, check out her lovely art here!

"Robin"

Oh robin, you early bird

Flicking your tail - so alert.

The ground is still frozen

And you're scanning the dirt!

Are you casing the block

For black wormy soil?

Before choosing your site?

Before starting your toil?

Make it convenient!

Pick a spot nearby.

When your family is calling

From far, you'll not fly.

Soon it will warm up

The sun will shine -

With your full nest adorning

This front yard of mine.

Then I'll watch you tend them

You're all they have known.

Too soon this will pass -

They'll be out on their own.

And so life will go on

After those you did raise

And you'll say with a sigh -

How fast went those days.

Some Other Images from Annie Cicale's Class

2010-05-26T14:33:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, we worked on other images on the second day of class. Here are some of my classmates' drawings.

This drawing was done by Barb. It is a rock that had a marble streak down the center that looked like the letter "b"...for "Barb". :-)

Another Barb did this wonderful "sketch". I love that background treatment!

Yet another Karen did this image. I'm telling you, there were some talented people in this class!!!

And last, but not least, this delightful painting

was done by Marge. Check out her blog here.

More Apple Images from Annie Cicale's Class

2010-05-26T14:22:00.001-05:00

The work represented here is by some of the talented people I had the privilege of working alongside of last weekend. Some of them have blogs or websites, too, so where applicable, I've included their links.

First, a sampling of apples from the first day. I don't know who did the apples on the right, but she was very ambitious!

This gorgeous apple was done by Ellen, who is a wonderfully talented artist and calligrapher. Who would have thought that a red apple didn't have to be drawn with any red in it at all? :-)

This stunning composition and drawing was done by

Barb from Michigan. I love the technique used to create

the background.

This is by one of my all-time favorite
artists/calligraphers, Rosie.

And this yummy piece was done by the amazing Karen!

This apple was done by another of my favorite artists, Luce. Check out her blog here!

And this one was done by Randy, who is new to our workshops.

I LOVE how he incorporated the words into the shadow.

This beautiful sepia tone was done by another Karen.

Annie Cicale Workshop in Chicago

2010-05-24T11:07:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, the Chicago Calligraphy Collective hosted a workshop with Annie Cicale, a fabulous teacher and artist. (If you get the opportunity to take a class with her, DO IT! And check out her website by clicking on her name above.) The title of the workshop was "Word Meets Image on the Page". Annie's goal, as stated in her workshop description, was to teach the class how "text and image complement each other to expand communication. We focused on illustration to develop meaningful imagery, using simple tools such as pencils, pen and ink, watercolor and other media, emphasizing the potential of black and white—and grey—images." We used tracing paper to write out our text and moved it around our images until we got the layout we desired.

On the first day, we did a simple drawing exercise of shading a cone, sphere, cube and cylinder—the basic shapes of which all matter is composed.

Then Annie brought out bags of imperfect apples and had us choose one. We could draw it whole, slice it, chew it, smash it, etc. She wanted us to try different media in this exercise. I chose, from left to right: graphite pencil; pen and ink, with Prismacolor pencils; and a brown Pentel Color Brush and a water brush to smear it a bit.

Later in the day, we worked with text and either added it to our existing apple images, or we drew new ones. I did this quote and drawing with the tip of a folded pen, walnut ink, and colored pencil. (This is unfinished.)

The next day we began working with our main quotes and images that we'd brought from home. I chose this quote:

“It’s not right raising kids so far from nature. I suppose your boys and girls have never seen pussy willows, robins building nests, or grass covered hills. This pavement is fine for cars, but it is hard medicine for children. Hills are always more beautiful than stone buildings, you know. Living in a city is an artificial existence. Lots of people hardly ever feel real soil under their feet, see plants grow except in flower pots, or get far enough beyond the street lights to catch the enchantment of a night sky studded with stars. When people live far from scenes of the Great Spirit’s making, it’s easy for them to forget His laws.”

Walking Buffalo (Tatanga Mani; Stoney Indian) 1871-1967

(NOTE HERE: The "Great Spirit", in my understanding and belief, is the One True, Triune God; the Creator. :-)

I laid my design out in simple spreads for a book, with the idea of doing illustrations along with the text. I wanted to show the stark, bleak city environments contrasted with the beauty of nature. I also wanted to show children engaging with those environments. I started doing some loose sketches and wound up working on one of my son (when he was 3) playing in a large dirt pile. I used graphite pencils for the sketch, then used a brush and water to do a graphite wash for shading. (Also unfinished.)

Annie gave me the idea of perhaps doing the contrasting imagery, side by side. So, in this case, I'd like to show a boy playing on a dirt mound, and next to it a boy playing on a pile of trash. (The infamous dump in Manila came to mind.)

As you can see, I didn't finish the illustration, so I have a long way to go towards finishing the book. But I'm excited to work on this project and see where it leads.

I'll post some of our class photos soon.

"Wonder-full" Things!

2010-05-09T22:10:00.002-05:00

Children are experts at it. Some adults seem to have lost it. But I'm a firm believer that all of us were born with it.

It's one of my favorite words and one of my favorite things to do. I looked up the definition and found these:

• to have a wish or desire to know something
• the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
• to be amazed at (I have a permanent crease on my forehead due to this one!!!)
• curiosity: a state in which you want to learn more about something

Lately, I've been journaling about the things I wonder. Here are just a few of them:

I wonder how crumbs get into the silverware drawer when I’m only putting in clean silverware and the drawers are almost always closed.
I wonder where do little boys go.
I wonder why the honeycomb pattern is so present in nature and the universe and how one could possibly think that it happened randomly.
I wonder how it will be to one day sit at the feet of Jesus and hear him speak.
And I wonder what stories He will tell.

Here are some wonderings from my son and husband:

I wonder how parrots can talk. (Josiah - age 7)
I wonder how little kids grow into big people who don't even look like themselves. (Josiah - age 7)
I wonder why so many of us are content to live life to the minimum instead of to the max. (Brad)

So, what do you wonder about? Care to get in on the conversation? Your wonderings could be funny or serious, trivial or deep. If you'd like to share them, please leave a comment here and I'll compile your answers and put them in another post for all to read.

Thanks for listening!

Denis Brown Workshop

2010-05-08T08:56:00.000-05:00

My beginning Celtic knot. I've decided that I AM NOT cut out for the very left-brain process of knotwork! Even this simple one drove me absolutely crazy!!!

Some of my doodles from the day.

Denis Brown Workshop

2010-05-07T21:36:00.000-05:00

Hello Readers:

Well, it sure has been awhile. Funny. I've been in my studio working for the last two weeks, but I don't have too many fun things to post. Logo jobs and ads have been taking precedent, none of which you'd probably care to see. But I do have a few interesting (I hope!) things to post.

I took a one-day, Intro to Celtic Art workshop with Denis Brown at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago. (The CCC and the IAHC sponsored five days with Denis.) My 17-yr. old niece went with me. (Yayy!!!) Denis gave a lecture the night before about some of his modern work, then did the Intro workshop the next day. He spoke about various ancient Irish manuscripts, including the Book of Kells. He gave us a brief overview of Celtic knotwork and spirals, as well as the Uncial hand used in the B of K. We had a sold-out crowd of CCC members and non-members! Over 50 people took the class and were introduced to the "art of beautiful writing"!

This photo at left, and the photo below it, are free images from the Trinity College Dublin's (home of the B of K) website. I love the crispness and quality of these letterforms, as well as the very contemporary (for their day) colors and how they fill in the counterspaces.

This next image shows the intricacy of knotwork and spirals. Such amazing artistry! At the end of the day we were treated to a special showing of the Irish American Heritage Center's facsimile of the Book of Kells. It's an exact replica in size and even has all the holes and "defects" of the original. It's probably the closest I'll ever come to seeing the artwork up close.

Sumingashi

2010-04-19T10:36:00.001-05:00

Here are two more photos of Janice doing the suminagashi technique. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of the finished papers. But trust me, they're gorgeous!

Sumingashi

2010-04-19T10:27:00.001-05:00

I love these next photos. They show Janice doing a beautiful job of laying ink on the surface of the water. One of her brushes has sumi ink on it. The other, a mixture of water and PhotoFlow, which is used to keep water spots off of photographs that are being printed in a traditional darkroom setting. In this particular use, it causes the ink to disperse, opening up a clean area of water that is ready for the next dot of sumi ink. Very interesting process to watch! Janice then laid a piece of very thin rice paper down onto the surface of the water and came up with the gorgeous sheet you see on the right. Janice had done suminagashi before, so she came prepared with a dowel rod that is used for lifting the very thin sheets of paper off of the water.

Marbleizing and Suminagashi

2010-04-19T10:24:00.000-05:00

Sorry for doing these in separate posts. My blog editor is acting strangely and I can't seem to place more than two photos in a post without weird things happening!

This next group of photos is of Rita doing the marbleizing technique and her finished paper after she swirled the colors. Very nice, huh?!

More Marbleizing/Sumingashi Photos

2010-04-19T10:09:00.005-05:00

As promised, here are more photos of our play date together. I actually like the photos of the inks/paints in the water better than how our papers actually came out. As I mentioned below, we were using different materials (for the marbleizing) other than what are used for the traditional process. I think the suminagashi technique turned out better.

The photo on the left is of Rita placing the colors on the surface of a mixture of water and methyl cellulose. The photo on the right is the finished paper, after she swirled the colors together and placed the paper on the surface. One of the mistakes we made was using textured paper towels to blot our prints, as you can see in this photo.

Another Creative Play Date!

2010-04-18T23:30:00.001-05:00

These creative play dates seem to be turning into a habit! Some friends of mine from the Chicago Calligraphy Collective gathered this past week in my friend Cathy's lovely studio to do some suminagashi and marbleizing techniques. We found some simple instructions on the Dick Blick website, under a section for educators. The techniques were simplified for children, so, in the case of marbleizing, we didn't use the traditional oil paints; instead we used watered-down acrylics. We also experimented with various papers, from construction paper to better-grade archival papers.

It really was a trial-and-error experience. One of the women (Luce) had done traditional marbleizing and found our experience to be a bit of a frustration. The materials didn't work like she had been used to. (We did determine that all of us wanted to try the real thing at a later date.) But, all in all, we had a great time playing and getting messy! :-)

Here are two of our finished pieces, just to whet your appetite. I'll post a few more photos later. Enjoy!

Suminagashi technique

Marbleizing technique

Meet Artist Shannon Martin Wilson!

2010-04-10T22:22:00.005-05:00

I found Shannon's beautiful website and blog after she became a follower of my blog. She is an artist, calligrapher and jewelry designer whose work just makes my heart sing.

Shannon describes her work "as a spiritual pursuit on canvas—sometimes peaceful, sometimes uncertain. Her art speaks of those places in between confusion and hope, guilt and redemption, doubt and belief. She is a student of calligraphy and a lover of words, and most of her newer canvases are but a stage on which image and text dance. Her seminary training and love for God is obvious in the words she chooses. It is her hope that through her art a soul-awakening conversation can take place between artist and viewer."

Please check out her sites by clicking on the orange words above. You won't be disappointed!

This piece is titled "Solstice".

Sharpie Poster Paint Markers

2010-04-06T13:10:00.002-05:00

I just received some great news from fellow blogger and artiste extraordinaire Marie! The Sharpie Poster Paint Markers can be refilled!!!! (I love these things!)

Here's how:
All you have to do is gently pull the nib off. It seems to comes out quite easily. I used a syringe to fill it with Ziller ink and then popped the nib back in. You can feel the nib 'catch' when it is seated correctly. That's it. The Ziller seems to work well and has a very similar coverage to the poster paint!

Thanks for the tip, Marie! Readers, click on Marie's name above to check out her amazing art.

A Birthday Card

2010-03-30T20:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my sweet hubby's birthday
and as usual, I made him a card. (I usually
make all my cards by hand.) This was done
with a wide-point Sharpie Poster Paint Pen,
on a piece of archival colored paper. I used
Prismacolor pencils to color in the larger areas.

I kind of liked the graphic look to this card,
especially the shapes that are created
around the letters. I'd like to play with this
format a bit more, using different words.

Travel Journal for Ireland Contest

2010-03-21T23:01:00.001-05:00

Last week I found out about a contest that was offering a free trip for two to Ireland. It was through the travel company that I used back in September when my mom and I went to Ireland. The rules for the contest were to tell, in a creative way, what package you would choose from their website, why, and who you would bring.

Well, I've so much wanted my husband to go back there with me, because everywhere I went last year, I thought of him and how we would enjoy the same places. So, I came up with the following little "Travel Journal" idea.

FYI: I didn't win the contest and was VERY disappointed! But I did have fun putting this together and thought I'd share it with all of you. It is not a calligraphy project, but more of a graphic design piece.

___________________________________

The Story Behind the Story

My mother retired from her job in July, 2009. One afternoon, while at my house for tea, she wistfully recalled a conversation she’d had with my father when they were young. In it, they talked about traveling to Ireland after dad retired because he was Irish and had always wanted to see the country from where his father’s family had come. Sadly, they never had that chance, as Dad passed away at the age of 52.

Suddenly, I had the idea that perhaps I could take mom to Ireland in celebration of her retirement, and to fulfill my parents’ dream.

Later, when my husband Brad came home from work, I asked him what he thought about the idea. Brad is a very hard-working, Chicago-tradesman. He makes a decent wage, but because of the way their union contract is set up, he doesn’t get paid vacations. When he does take time off, we save enough money both for vacation and to pay ourselves for his time off.

This wasn’t a huge problem when I worked full-time. But, since unexpectedly becoming parents late in life (after 15 years of marriage), we made the decision that I would stay at home with our child. Now, vacations are a bit of a stretch. Rarely does my husband take off a full week. Consequently, going to Ireland with mom would take a huge chunk out of our vacation budget.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when Brad looked at me and said, “Yes. You need to do this, and do it nicely.” I immediately went online and planned a tour that would give my mom and I a nice “glimpse” of Ireland. The trip was simply breathtaking and mom was in heaven!

While I was in Ireland, though, I kept thinking about my favorite travel partner back home and how he graciously gave up a lot for me to be there. Before our son was born, Brad and I would travel all over the U.S. We mostly camped and stayed in modest B and Bs, but it didn’t matter because we were having adventures together. Now, having this great adventure without him just didn’t seem right.

Everywhere I went, I thought of how Brad and I would embrace these experiences if we were together...

You probably can't read the plaque in the bottom photo on the left page. It says "On this site in 1897, nothing happened."

A Baby Gift

2010-03-13T13:06:00.003-06:00

I made this today to give as a gift to a friend

who just had a baby. I had to whip it up quickly

because she came into town unexpectedly, so I

resorted to a familiar style. This was done with

a pointed brush, Dr. Martin's Bleedproof White,

and Prismacolor pencils on Arches Black Cover.

A Few More Pics from the Play Date

2010-03-10T22:11:00.003-06:00

A few images of Karen, Cathy and Rita at work.

More Pics from the Creative Play Date

2010-03-10T19:06:00.001-06:00

This is one of my designs. Before and after.

Creative Play Date - Crayon Batik!

2010-03-10T16:36:00.000-06:00

I see it has been a couple of weeks since I've posted. Life sometimes gets busy and the blog takes a back burner. But yesterday I had the opportunity to spend time with some creative friends for a play date. I found this interesting technique called "Crayon Batik", from "The Crafter's Recipe Book" by Jessica Wrobel. The book is filled with all kinds of fascinating ideas to transform paper and fabric. So we all got out our crayons and paper and began to play!

The materials are quite simple: crayons, paper (we experimented with all kinds, but text weight seemed to work best), an iron, acrylic paint, water, paintbrush, sponge, wax paper or newspaper, and some scrap paper.

I documented the process with my friend Karen's piece. (Thanks, Karen!) Here are the steps:

STEP 1: Draw a picture or design and color in the entire surface of the paper very densely so none of the paper shows through. (Although I did leave areas white and really liked the effect. Try both!)

STEP 2: To crack the surface, wad the paper into a tight ball, then unfurl it.

STEP 3: Brush a thinned coat of paint over the entire surface. Do not let paint dry.

STEP 4: Lay the piece on top of wax paper (or newspaper), and sponge the paint off the crayon. We laid our pieces out on newspaper and let them dry before proceeding to Step 5.

STEP 5: Place the design face down on a sheet of scrap paper. Stack another piece of scrap paper on top of that. Press with a warm iron, but do not use a sliding motion.

VOILA!

New Doodles

2010-02-24T00:41:00.000-06:00

Three doodles...just for fun!

Giveaway Winner's Piece

2010-02-23T23:56:00.002-06:00

Here's the finished piece for the winner
of the Good, True and Beautiful giveaway.
Lily chose black lettering on the white
background, with pink, blue and purple
colors in between.

CCC's Annual Juried Show at the Newberry LIbrary

2010-02-15T10:35:00.001-06:00

I wanted to give all my reader's a heads up about the next juried art show of the Chicago Calligraphy Collective. It will be up from March 15 through May 28 at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

The opening reception will be held on Saturday, March 27, from 11 am to 3 pm. There will be calligraphy demonstrations from 11:30 am to 1 pm. At 1:00, Rick Valicenti, from Thirst, will be our featured speaker. Rick was a speaker at Letters Mingle Souls, the 2008 calligraphy conference, and thoroughly delighted the crowd with his engaging style. He brings to the calligraphic community an interesting perspective from the world of graphic design and typography. It's a program you won't want to miss!

And, of course, after Rick's presentation, the winner of the 2010 Newberry Library Purchase Prize Award will be announced.

If you're in the area on March 27th, please drop by for a visit. The reception is free to the public and refreshments will be served.

Congratulations to the Giveaway Winner!

2010-02-15T10:15:00.001-06:00

The Good, True and Beautiful Giveaway is over. Thanks so much to all of you who visited and checked out my blog. I appreciate all the lovely comments you left about my son's (and my) artwork. You were very gracious.

Congratulations to Lily, the winner of the name art. I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Once I'm finished with Lily's piece, I'll post it here and let you see what she chose.

Welcome "Good, True and Beautiful" Readers!

2010-02-10T00:00:00.001-06:00

Hello and welcome to Wildman Designs! Thanks for coming over and taking a look around. And a big thank you to Sharon for hosting this giveaway. (Welcome to all my readers, too! If you want to get in on the giveaway, please head over to Good, True and Beautiful to find out what you have to do to win.)

I've been having fun with a new lettering style and thought it would be nice to feature it as the giveaway. If you win, you get to choose one favorite word or name done in the style shown here. You may choose the black on white version, or the white on black version. And you may give me some color choices to work with.

After the giveaway, I do hope you'll come back. I'm in the process of creating a website to launch my new graphic design, calligraphy and fine art business, and I'm hoping to have all sorts of interesting things to show you.

Thanks for looking and good luck!

A Heads-Up to All My Readers!

2010-02-08T12:11:00.007-06:00

February 2nd was the one year anniversary of my blog! I kind of missed the date and just realized this past week that I've been doing this for a year. Well, how appropriate then that I was just contacted by one of my blogging friends, Sharon, who has a wonderful site called "Good, True and Beautiful." (Click on the button below and check it out.) Sharon asked if I'd like to participate in a giveaway for her readers, so I gladly accepted.

Visit Sharon's site on Wednesday, Feb. 10 to see what the giveaway is all about. (Hint: you'll have to come over to my site in order to win!) :-)

Artist Trading Cards Event

2010-02-04T19:39:00.004-06:00

My local art supply store just hosted our quarterly trade tonight. I was so excited because my 7-year-old son came with me and traded 5 of his original art cards, two of which are seen below. Everyone was very gracious and welcoming, so he really got into it. Now he's hooked and wants to have a creative play date so we can make more ATCs!!! A mama's dream. :-)

Here are a couple of mine that I traded:

More Photos of the CCC at Skokie Library

2010-02-02T09:25:00.003-06:00

Check out some beautiful photos of the event at the Skokie Public Library's Flickr site here. These photos were taken by Ruth Sinker and are courtesy of the Skokie Public Library in Skokie, Illinois. Thank you, Ruth!

Chicago Calligraphy Collective's Public Event

2010-02-01T22:47:00.011-06:00

The CCC was invited to exhibit our All Members' Show at the Skokie Public Library for the month of January. And as a nice finale to the show, they also invited us to do some demonstrations for the public. Well, were we pleasantly surprised when close to 200 (!!!) people came through the doors wanting to learn about calligraphy!

What an amazing day! Skokie is home to a true melting pot of people. We had people from all over the world stopping by our stations. At one point, I had 5 middle school kids sitting at my table. One was Korean, one was a Muslim, an Assyrian, a French girl, and an Israeli. How cool is that?!

There were demonstrations on pointed pen, italic, and unusual tools, as well as CCC members teaching people to make artist trading cards and flexagon valentines.

Adults and children were equally involved and had a wonderful time learning all the new techniques and letterforms. We had people begging us to come back! We were demonstrating for over 3 hours and were so busy that none of us had a chance to eat or run to the bathroom!!!

Here are some pics from the event. I had my camera, but was unable to get away from my table to take pics, so these are from my friends Kathy and Karen. (Thanks, ladies!) Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of the unusual tools demos.

New member Yeohyun and her mother, who was visiting from South Korea, try their hand at western calligraphy.

Visitors learning pointed pen.

CCC member Lisa demonstrates italic for onlookers.

My Piece for Marie

2010-01-27T00:09:00.008-06:00

This is the piece I did for the trade with Marie. (See next post.)

Marie requested this Irish blessing quote, which I thought would go well with the brush lettering and vibrant colors that I've been using lately. I used a rainbow palette because light is made up of these colors.

This piece was done using sumi ink with a pointed brush and Dr. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Watercolors on Arches Text Wove.

Someone You Should Meet

2010-01-26T23:41:00.009-06:00

I can't believe it's almost been one year since I started this blog. Since that time, I have had the incredible opportunity to "meet" so many wonderfully talented people through the marvelous invention of the internet. How great is it that we get to chat and share creative ideas with people all over the world?!!!

One such person is my new friend, Marie Johansen. She is a very talented quilting artist who lives near Seattle (one of my most favorite places on earth!) Check out her beautiful work at www.zquilts.blogspot.com.

She and I decided to do a trade a while back. One of her pieces for one of mine. Well, I received this purse in the mail just before Christmas. Isn't it just gorgeous?! I love Marie's sense of color.

And here's another of her pieces from what she calls her "girl" series. This particular one is mine. I bought a bunch of these "postcards" for Christmas gifts and everyone I gave them to absolutely loved them! Please do check out her blog. You won't be sorry. :-)

Psalm 19:1 - The Heavens Declare...

2010-01-11T10:33:00.005-06:00

This is a favorite verse of mine and one I've always wanted to "illustrate" with words. After trying this white on black technique in Carl Rohrs' workshop last fall, I thought it would be appropriate for this piece. I also love adding color in between words and letters, and playing with the negative and positive spaces. These colors remind me of the aurora borealis.

The piece was done with Dr. Martin's Bleedproof White, pointed brush, Prismacolors pencils, and Canson Mi-Teintes black charcoal paper.

This verse reminds me that God has written love letters to us in the sky, as well as throughout all of creation. :-)

A Calligraphic Homage

2010-01-10T19:00:00.014-06:00

This week was spent in my studio (FINALLY!) making art. Well, and also trying to train a new puppy. :-) Let's just say that the art was way more fulfilling!!!

This first piece is called "A Calligraphic Homage". I was thinking this week about how many people have influenced my work and thought it might be a nice idea to do a piece in honor of them. The people you see represented here in letter form are either those with whom I've had the privilege to study, or those whose work I've admired from afar. My hope is that I've come close to each person's "style" while still retaining my own.

There is also a nod to my first experience with cursive writing in Mrs. Marthell's third grade class. I remember her because she encouraged me in my writing and lettering and often would give me the job of making posters for the class. :-)

It took a while to think about the people I wanted to represent; then to research their various lettering styles. Then I had to practice the styles I was interested in using, since not all of them come naturally to me. Once I felt comfortable with the letterforms I wanted to use, I then had to decide how to lay them all out on the page. That probably took the most time. When I finally came up with a rough layout, I scanned it into the computer, moved things around a bit, then printed out a full-size version. I used transfer paper to get the image lightly down on the page. I just made skeletal forms of the letters, then used the appropriate pens or brushes to actually letter right on the page. The piece was done with walnut ink and gold leaf. The paper is Bugra Archive.

I think the hardest part was writing the names in such small lettering. I can see I still need work on my small writing!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-24T11:18:00.007-06:00

This phrase "Love came down at Christmas" is from a carol written by the poet Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)

The letters in these greetings were done with my Adirondack Alphabet. Last winter, while on a hike in the Adirondacks, I found these little "messages" in the snow. I felt then, that if I just took note, perhaps some mystery would be revealed.

I was reminded that God has sent us a Message and has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus. He is always speaking to us, wanting to communicate with His creation.

That is why He came to earth.

To make Himself known to His children.

Because He loves us.

My prayer is that you would know His love and know the One who is Love this Christmas season and all the year through.

Holiday Card Workshop

2009-12-07T21:35:00.011-06:00

Last Thursday, I was invited to teach a small workshop for the "Crossroads" group at First Financial Bank in downtown Highland. This was the group that I did a demo for back in August. But this time, they wanted some basic instruction in calligraphy and then to apply it to a holiday card.

So, the first half was spent going through some of the basic strokes and rules of the italic hand. Then they wrote out a small phrase and applied it to a 4-panel, accordion-fold card.

Most in the class were beginners, so they were all amazed and delighted with what they accomplished in a 3-hour period. I think they did a fabulous job! Wouldn't you agree???

Card by Agnes

Card by Gerry

Card by Jill

Card by Liz

Card by Hannah

Card by Val

Card by Gloria

Card by Judy

Card by David

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T00:34:00.003-06:00

Wishing all my readers a truly wonderful Thanksgiving! May you be blessed today, as you share time with family and friends, and recall all the reasons to be thankful.

Here is a favorite quote I'd like to share with you. The author is Rebecca Harding Davis.

For, after all, put it as we may to ourselves, we are all of us, from birth to death, guests at a table which we did not spread. The sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath are parts of the banquet...Shall we think of the day as a chance to come nearer to our Host, and to find out something of Him who has fed us so long?

Job Completed!

2009-11-26T00:26:00.005-06:00

Woohoo! The Joliet Fire Dept. job was delivered today! Here are 2 of the 6 framed, final prints. They will be presented at a special retiree's dinner in a couple of weeks and will hang in a hallway in the main Joliet fire station.

CCC Study Group Today!

2009-11-15T18:06:00.010-06:00

The CCC's West Side Study Group met today.

Rita demonstrated a simple bookbinding

technique using Tyvek paper and acrylic paints.

She brought pre-cut strips of Tyvek, along

with pre-cut pages, which we sewed into signatures.

We painted the Tyvek and set it aside to dry.

Then we assembled the books, adding mat board

pieces as hard covers. We then covered the mat

board with the painted Tyvek. This photo shows

our finished products.

Thanks, Rita!!!

This is a close-up of my book opened.

The cover is tipped in and attached

with a thin strip of glue.

Then it was time for show and tell. Barb and Luce took a class in Ireland with Denis Brown and brought along some goodies to share with us. They learned a technique that involved throwing waterproof ink on watercolor paper; then covering it with a layer of PVA. Alkyds were used paint over the ink; and gouache was used to write over the alkyds. This process is repeated many times in order to create a layered piece. The two pieces at left (top and bottom) are Barb's. The two pieces at right are Luce's. Both are still in progress. You may see more of Luce's work on her blog.

Aren't these just gorgeous?!!!

Calligraphy and Design Project

2009-11-12T15:26:00.006-06:00

This is something I've been working on for a while now and is almost finished. The Joliet Fire Department hired me to design this project to honor their retirees from as far back as the early 1900s.

When we initially began talking about it, we realized that to do a hand-done masthead for each of the 7 sheets would bust their budget. So, I came up with the solution to design a masthead in Illustrator, include their historical logo, and typeset a special fireman quote on each of the 7 sheets. We decided that I would hand-letter the almost 400 names. (The names in ochre designate the rank of chief.) I chose a simple Uncial form for the letters. (Photo 3)

Each sheet was then printed as a 19" x 31" giclée print. There were designed with the lines for lettering printed in a 10% shade of gray, so they are very faint. We decided that it would be better to have those lines there (instead of erased) to minimize damage in the future. Because this is an ongoing project, there may be other calligraphers involved as more people retire. The less handling of the paper, the better.

There is also gilding on each one of the seven sheets. In the second photo, you see a close-up of the masthead. The stars that flank the word "Joliet", as well as the JFD logo are gilded with real gold leaf. You may not be able to see this in the first photo, but the stars that flank "List of Retirees" are also gilded.

Each one will be double-matted (soft white for the larger; gold for the inner thin mat), then framed in a very simple, classic black 24" x 36" frame. (I'll post some pics of the framed pieces some time this weekend.)

Adirondack Alphabet

2009-11-05T10:13:00.004-06:00

Last year, I posted some photos of some "letters" I found in the snow while on a hike in the Adirondacks. I never did post the whole alphabet because the photos were making the blog too slow when loading.

Well, now that I've discovered Flickr I can share the whole alphabet with you. If you'd like to see it, go to my Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19685473@N06/sets/72157622615091911/

Just in time for winter! Yayyy!!!

Artist Trading Cards Trade on Thursday!

2009-11-04T14:22:00.003-06:00

If any of my readers are in

the Highland, Indiana area

tomorrow, come on out for

an ATC trading night!

Our local art supply store,

Hoosier Highlander, is

hosting the trade from 5 - 7pm

Thursday night. Refreshments

will be served.

(This is one of my older ATCs.)

Inspired by the Workshop

2009-11-04T14:17:00.001-06:00

Here's a little piece I did for my friend's daughter's birthday card. I used the technique that I did in Carl's workshop.

A Commission!

2009-11-04T14:14:00.003-06:00

I'm so excited to share this with all of you.

I asked Carl Rohrs to make a piece for me,

using our last name, with our first names

at the bottom. Here's what I received

this week!!!!

Another Piece from Carl's Workshop

2009-10-29T23:21:00.003-05:00

This one was done by my friend Cathy,

for her daughter's 16th birthday.

(Happy Birthday, Kelley!) I love her

choice of colors. Cathy also did the

prismatic "K" down below.

See more of Cathy's great work here and here.

Carl Rohrs Chicago Workshop - Part 10

2009-10-28T11:59:00.002-05:00

Practicing pointed brush with Dr. Martin's Bleedproof White on Black Canson Mi-Tientes Pastel paper. This was written while looking at one of Carl's logos in his handout.

Carl Rohrs Chicago Workshop - Part 9

2009-10-28T11:46:00.007-05:00

Here is one of my samples from the class. This was done with the 3/8" Horizon folded pen and walnut ink. Carl suggested the Horizon pen for our broad-edged lettering. The word "Types" here shows quite a few of the techniques Carl taught--the little "flick" on the top right portion of the "y" and "p", as well as the bottom right of the "e"; the pushing strokes at the bottom of the "y", "p" and "s". This word also demonstrates the splitting up of the ducti--a bit more dynamic treatment of the letterforms.

See my Flickr page for more lettering samples here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19685473@N06/sets/72157622547840103/

Carl Rohrs Chicago Workshop - Part 8

2009-10-27T20:57:00.001-05:00

Some of Carl's beautiful work. These were some of the letter styles he demonstrated. I love the way they bounce--adds so much life to the piece!

Carl Rohrs Chicago Workshop - Part 7

2009-10-27T13:14:00.004-05:00

I just realized this morning that I haven't given a description of the class yet. Carl split the 4-day workshop into two sessions, which sort of overlapped. The whole workshop was titled "Ghosts of Calligraphy". However, the first 2 days were titled "Modern Moves from 20th Century Masters", where we looked at lettering techniques developed by well-known calligraphers, some alive, some dead.

Carl's vast knowledge of calligraphic history was fascinating as well as applicable to what we were doing. He showed us certain "master's" techniques by breaking down the strokes of each letter and then spending time with each student showing them how to make the marks.

The second half of the 4-day workshop was titled "Pen, Brush, Stiletto". Here we focused on brush lettering, as well as some pen, and also got into the exciting stuff like the cut paper and prismatic letter techniques you've already seen.

Can you tell from my excitement that EVERYONE should take this class if you have the chance?! You won't be disappointed!

Carl Rohrs Chicago Workshop - Part 6

2009-10-27T12:02:00.003-05:00

As promised, more goodies! This piece was done by Linda, whose other amazing work you can see at her website here. Again, the original sketch was done with pointed brush, then laid out to get the design just right; then cut with an Exacto knife out of black paper and placed over the red.

Carl Rohrs Chicago Workshop - Part 5

2009-10-27T01:40:00.005-05:00

Some of Carl's samples! The first one was created by lettering with a brush and using that as a template to cut the finished piece out of black paper. The lettering here is all one piece.

A very cool "prismatic letter"!

And the third piece, "Lettering", was created with a flat brush and is just simply beautiful, isn't it?!

Carl Rohrs Chicago Workshop - Part 4

2009-10-27T01:02:00.002-05:00

Here are two of my finished pieces from the workshop. Both were done on black Canson Mi-Tientes pastel paper, with Dr. Martin's Bleedproof White, Prismacolor pencils, and a white Sharpie Poster Paint marker for the lines in "Create". The first piece was done with a pointed brush. The second with a cheap, child's stubby paintbrush.

By the way. "Create" is a nod to my blogging friend, Kathy McCreedy, (see her blog here), who signs off all her posts with "Now go make something!". Thanks for the inspiration, Kathy!

Carl Rohrs Chicago Workshop - Part 3

2009-10-27T00:56:00.004-05:00

The master at work!

Carl Rohrs Chicago Workshop - Part 2

2009-10-27T00:36:00.008-05:00

We had some really talented people in this workshop. The piece you see here at left was done by one of my best friends, Cathy. Check out her blog here and her website here.

This letter was done with one of the cut-paper techniques Carl shared with us. It's called a "prismatic letter". Carl teaches the technique with paper, as you'll see in some other examples. However, the idea of using translucent vellum was thought of by one of Carl's very talented students in Japan. Her name is Sayaka. Bravo, Sayaka!

Cathy made this one with 6-7 layers of Yupo, a synthetic translucent paper. The effect is similar to that of a letter carved in stone.

I've put more student work on my Flickr site, so please check it out at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19685473@N06/?saved=1

You won't be disappointed!

I'll be adding more as the week goes on, so check back often to see what other goodies were created.

Carl Rohrs Chicago Workshop

2009-10-27T00:19:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone!

Whew! It's been a crazy-busy month for me, so not much has happened blog-wise. I've had quite a few jobs to work on, and construction being done on my house, so the blog has taken a back seat once again.

But I just had the opportunity to spend 4 whole days taking a workshop with Carl Rohrs here in Chicago. What a privilege! Carl is an amazingly talented and knowledgeable man; an incredible teacher; and an all-around nice guy. His generous encouragement and enthusiasm gave us the perfect atmosphere for learning and discovering new techniques. I just can't believe how much we covered in those 4 days.

I'm going to share a lot of photos with you, but only a few will be here on the blog. I've noticed that it's beginning to load very slowly, and I'm thinking it's because I have too many photos on it. So, I'm going to try something new. If you're interested in seeing all the photos of Carl's techniques, student work and some of my practice sheets, I'll be posting them on Flickr and will provide the link in each specific post.

Stay tuned for some "knock-your-socks-off" stuff!

Ireland - Mom and Me

2009-09-24T10:47:00.002-05:00

OK. I have to include one "touristy-people shot"! Here's one of mom and me just before our scrumptious five-course meal at Ballynahinch Castle in Connemara.

Check out that view from our window! This dining experience has now been put on my list

of all-time favorites. That list includes places with gorgeous views and fabulous food.