A Taste of Calligraphy

Space is still available in the next session of A Taste of Calligraphy at the Worcester Art Museum. Learn something new, or continue studying your craft.

A Taste of Calligraphy
10/22/2014 - 11/19/2014
Wednesday, 6 PM -9 PM, 5 sessions

Last Face of The 29 Faces Challenge

We've come to the end of the month and the last face of the challenge.  Face 29.  Knight from the Westminster Psalter

Deanmon - Face 28

Dean from Supernatural. Sharpie pen, colored pencil

Twigs - Face 27

A cartoon face on a cartoony background. From the animated series Tree Fu Tom, Twigs (voiced by David Tennant)

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I'm a one trial learner when it comes to driving some place. Find a way to go and that's it. Sunday, I had a meeting at the Nu Cafe in the city. Happily toodling my way when I run into a lot of traffic. I forgot that an art festival called StART on the Street was happening. The police had blocked off the major road I needed to turn down. Panic, panic, panic. I did find my way with the help of Mag,( short for Magellan), the GPS. Whew!

2. The decorative, pillow slip covers I found online to match the new duvet arrived.  The duvet is navy with white interlocking rings. the slip covers are navy with white interlocking squares. Sort of matches.

3. Matching valences for the windows arrived a day or so later.

4. Red had DVR'd the Outlander wedding. She was going to play it while Skyping, but the picture was over exposed so I couldn't see much. Oh well, it was a good try, and we still had a nice virtual tea together.

5. Working on a couple of new lessons for class.

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday, Face 26

A page with faces printed on it gave me the idea for Face nbr. 14. I drew the center face and added details to the faces on either side. Sharpie pen, acrylic, watercolor pencil.

I attended a parochial elementary school. Most of my school memories are from being in church rather than the classroom. We were always going to Mass, holy days of obligation, patron saint feast days, first Fridays, Stations of the Cross, helping Sister with the altar linens and decorating the altar with flowers...

In those olden days, women and girls were required to have their heads covered. Either you wore some sort of a hat or a lace mantilla. If you forgot your hat, Sister would give you a clean, facial tissue held in place with a bobby pin to wear to Mass. Oh the humiliation of sitting in church with piece of Kleenex on your head.

Wordless Wednesday - Face 25

Green Man - Sharpie pen, Inktense, watercolor pencils

Telephone - Face 23 & 24

Today's teens don't know the joys of being tethered to the wall while spending hours on the phone chatting with a best friend. Of being interrupted by the rude and forceful click of some family member picking up the extension because they wanted to use the phone. Or the dulcet tones of your dad yelling, "But you saw her all day, what the hell do you need to talk to her for now?"

Rose - Face 22

The Tenth Doctor's companion, Rose. Sharpie pen, acrylic, and watercolor pencil

Ten - Face 21

Proportions are off. I shouldn't draw and watch tv at the same time.

Outlander - Faces 19 & 20

Last night, Himself was flipping through channels and found Starz was running a free preview. If that wasn't good news enough, Outlander based on Diana Gabaldon's series had the first 6 episodes.

In 1945, Claire Beauchamp Randall is on her second honeymoon in Scotland. Claire's husband, Frank, is involved in a genealogy search about a relative, Black Jack Randall, a British army captain in Scotland around the time of the Uprising.

Bored, Claire goes to a standing stone ring called Craigh Na Dun to collect herbs and wildflowers. A storm breaks suddenly, Claire braces her hand on one of the stones while the world turns upside down. When she comes to, Claire finds herself back in time in the year 1743 where she meets Jamie Fraser, a young highlander.

The book series is riveting (there are 9 books so far) and the Starz dramatization doesn't disappoint. I also found out you can watch online at Starz

The Friday Five Good Things, Faces 17 & 18

Five good things that happened this week

1. I found the best way to trace my family's heritage is through food. I taught the Eldest to make gravy (what the rest of the world calls pasta sauce) and eggplant Parmigiana following Ma's recipe.

2. I received a cool envelope from Finnbadger.

3. The house down the road had harvest decorations up. The scarecrow couple made me smile as I toodled by.

4. Weekly Skype with A and Red.

5. New nibs, white ink, and a couple of new brushes arrived sooner than I expected. Love new toys!

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday, Face 16

Ma came from a time when women wore hats. She loved hats. There were hats to wear while running errands and fancy hats to wear to church, visiting, or special occasions. Every year, there would be a new ensemble for Easter. Coat, shoes, handbag, and hat. One year, in the late 1960s, Ma found a spring green coat, a straw handbag (though it looked more like a steamer trunk), and a yellow hat. The hat was a giant pillbox affair (not the petite style Jackie Kennedy wore). It was covered in yellow, fabric flowers. The blossoms would flutter in the breeze. I thought the hat looked more like a beehive.

When I was a kid, I hated wearing the frilly hats. Hated the elastic band under the chin that choked you or the pinchy, vice grip things inside that pressed into your brain to hold the hat on your head.

Are you a hat fancier?

Wordless Wednesday, Face 15

Benedict Cumberbatch - traced on vellum from an envelope sent by Finnbadger of Envelope 100

Sister Mary Impatience, Face 14

Sound asleep. Or so I thought. I must have been thinking what face was I going to draw next, and I got a flash of a nun, shades of my childhood.

Nevermore, Face 13

The page with the graphic of a crow just begged to have a sketch of Edgar Allan Poe next to it.

Sharpie pen, watercolor pencil

Vision, Face 12

"Boy, I got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals." - Butch Cassisdy from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Sharpie pen on printed vision page

Sugar Skull, Face 11

The 29 Faces book had a graphic image of half of a face. I finished it by turning it into a sugar skull. The sugar skull is a decoration used in the Day of the Dead celebrations to remember those who have crossed over.

Sharpie pen, acrylic, watercolor pencil

The Friday Five Good Things, Face 10

Just love the Modigliani style

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Himself doesn't like the morning news programs. He's been watching The Doctor before he leaves for work. No complaints from me.

2. This semester, Himself has a later start time for classes on Monday morning. I get to sleep in until 7 AM instead of waking up at half past stupid early in the morning.

3. Had virtual tea with Red. She gave me a virtual tour of her new house in New Mexico.

4. Had a virtual art date with A. This might become a weekly meeting.

5. The Eldest has taken an interest in cooking has been cooking dinner.

Throwback Thursday, Face 9

When Himself was a little fella, his favorite lovey was a chimpanzee named Zippy. Zippy had a rubber face with glass eyes, white baby shoes, and elastic suspenders. Himself liked to put his arms through the suspenders and carry Zippy on his back like a backpack. We all liked to do that.

Several years ago I found Zippy in the Cracker Barrel store. In a fit of nostalgia, I  bought him. He's not quite the same. Himself's Zippy had an ugly not very attractive face. The Cracker Barrel monkey had plastic hands and one of them was holding a banana. Himself's Zippy had plastic hands. He thought the banana was removable, but had gotten lost.

While browsing through an antique store, we found an 8 mm movie reel starring a (live) chimpanzee named Zippy. Apparently, Zippy was discovered by Buffalo Bob Smith, creator and host of the 1950's television show, Howdy Doody. Zippy also appeared on a lot of variety shows of the time like The Ed Sullivan Show. Soon there was a stuff doll dressed in overalls with a tee shirt with Zip across the front, and later other dolls, members of Zip's family.

Himself's Zippy didn't have a personalized shirt. In doing some research, we found another chimpanzee. Apparently, some other company tried to cash in on Zip's popularity and created another chimpanzee named Mr. Bim. No matter that Zippy was a look-alike. He'll always be Zippy to us.

Wordless Wednesday, Face 8

Lorgnette, Face 7

One of the pages in the 29 Faces book had a graphic of a scooter. Wasn't sure what kind of a face would go on the page. When I turned the image upside down, the scooter reminded me of a pair of opera glasses.

Sharpie pen, watercolor pencils, rhinestones.

He Loves Me, Face 6

This page had a graphic of an old-fashioned faucet handle. It looked like a flower. I photocopied the image, traced it onto two bits of scrapbook paper, and cut them out. Instant posey.

Sharpie pen, watercolor pencils

Coming Attractions

First tree getting ready for the change of season. I'm so not ready for Fall. What does it look like out your back door?

Baby Dream, Face 5

Dream Baby

Wallowing in bed Sunday morning, I fell back asleep and had a funny dream. In the dream, I was walking across a park and carrying a red toolbox. I passed a mother sitting with her toddler. The toolbox must have been old and it broke. I was trying to hold the box together, but a couple of pieces fell near the baby.

"Damnit," I said.

"Damnit," the toddler crowed happily.

The baby's mother gave me the evil eye.

"Could have been worse," I told her.

Then I woke up.

The book I'm using for 29 Faces had a vellum page with dash line concentric circles. I thought this was the perfect page to illustrate the baby from the dream. Sharpie pen, watercolor pencils

The Friday Five Good Things, Face 4

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I saw two young deer nibbling my neighbor, Prissy's, shrubberies.

2. The wall around an outlet in the living room was hot. A call to the fire department brought out volunteer force quickly.  They punched a couple of small holes in the living room. The Chief couldn't find anything wrong with the wiring. The power was turned off and we were told to check with an electrician and the heating guy because heat seemed to be coming from the vents even though the furnace wasn't running.

3. Hazy, hot, humid weather returned. My kind of weather.

4. The electrician came to check the wiring. Everything was in good order. He said it was a flow check valve with the heat as he had seen the problem before. He didn't charge us.

5. The heating guy said the electrician was correct. He said there was probably rust or sediment from the well that clogged the check valve. He thought several raps with his large "Persuader" would release the blockage, otherwise, the check valves would have to be replaced. So far, the "persuasion" seems to be working.

How was your week?

Dee face, Sharpie pen, watercolor pencil

Throwback Thursday, Face 3

Me age 6, 1961

The cup image in the design book, reminded me of first grade. The nuns had us line up in two lines. Boys and then girls. We were then marched to the cafeteria where we were told we were going to get a drink. Visiting nurses were on hand with small paper cups of the polio vaccine. I remember the mouthful of liquid was a pale green. I don't recall that it tasted horrible, but it didn't taste like Kool-Aid, either.

Did you get the polio vaccine at school?

Sharpie pen, watercolor pencil

Wordless Wednesday, Face 2

Self portrait a la Mogdigliani

29 Faces in September, Face 1

Third Eye

The 29 Faces in September Challenge has begun. The idea is to make 29 faces through the month of September. Any style. Any medium. Any way you want. Just make 29 faces and have fun. So, I'm going to play along. You can jump in any time and play along, too. You can find the links of all artists who are participating here

Lambie had given me a box of papers and sketchbooks. In the pile was a  5 in. x 7 in. Design book from Hallmark. It's the perfect size and has just the right number of pages to keep all the faces in one place.

Sharpie pen, watercolor pencil on vellum

Worcester Art Museum Open House

It's back to school time. Back to adult classes at the Worcester Art Museum, too. Drop in Thursday, 4. September 2014 from 5:30 PM - 7 PM for the Open House. Meet the faculty. Watch demonstrations. Enjoy light refreshments. Sign up for classes. There are lots to choose from.

Can't make it to the Open House? No worries. Visit the Worcester Art Museum Education page. You can download the class brochure and register for a class.

I'll be teaching two 5 week sessions of A Taste of Calligraphy. Take one, or both and continue your study.

Session I   Wednesdays, 17. September 2014 - October 15, 2014, 6 PM - 9 PM
Session II  Wednesdays, 22. October 2014 - 19. November 2014, 6 PM - 9 PM