T Stands for Valentine's Day Surprises

In the mail, a Valentine from my tablemate, L from the year long, 26 Seeds class we did with Reggie Ezell in 2017.

This festive, sweater design package from Nan arrived a day after L's valentine. What could be in it?

Holiday socks! Meowy Christmas socks, Llama Valentine socks, and Top O'The Meowning St. Patrick Day socks. And a cute notecard. In the note, Nan said she  was having 

 fun with these Vincent van Gogh die cuts

Not just any Vincent van Gogh die cuts, but images from the Doctor Who episode, "Vincent and the Doctor" The middle card is the Doctor's TARDIS painted in the style of van Gogh.

Nan also included my ticket to the tea party, this image of a bottle of water and a pretty glass.

Saturday, the Eldest sent chocolate covered strawberries.

And this sweet Valentine arrived from MB in California. Sadly, I didn't quite capture the shine of the iridescent paint she used.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s blog to find out what the rest of the T gang is up to. If you want to play, include a beverage or beverage container in your post. Don’t forget to link your blog from Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s page.

Valentine's Day Happy Mail

 

From my tablemate in the year long Reggie class, a delightful Valentine with one of L's adorable lambies.

From the Eldest. What's in the fancy box?

Chocolate dipped strawberries!

For the Eldest, I sent a pyramid box with some jelly beans and a hair scrunchie. I found a cute vase and because I don't know her work schedule and didn't want real flowers to freeze, I included a bunch of paper roses. Pyramid box and paper rose patterns courtesy of Scan n Cut Canvas Workshop. The paper rose didn't have a calyx so the Young One showed me how she folded and cut the paper to make the calyx. 

The Valentine I made the girlies. The Eldest's in pink and The Young One's in red, their favorite colors.

Inside a pop-out Who Loves You? When the girlies were little and learning how to talk, I used to hold their hands and in a sing-song voice ask Who Loves You? and then I'd say Mama. To this day they will answer Mama to the question Who loves you?

Happy Mail

A real surprise in the mail, a Valentine from my Table Mate from 26 Seeds , Reggie Ezzell's year long class. My class in 2017 was called Reggiment. Lee's art always has sheep in it. I like her return address label, too.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Getting real chilly at night in the sun room. Found the two space heaters didn't blow the fuse. Trying to hang on out there a little longer

2. Reggie Ezell used my homework piece from his year long class, 26 Seeds, (with permission) for an article on spacing published in Letter Arts Review. Ben Dover got a full page!

3. Heard from an old friend from Australia

4. I didn't feel like cooking dinner so we went out to eat and then to a movie. Saw First Man.

5. Made plans with Nan to attend the Masscribes Not In My House You Don't event on 8. Dec.

How was your week?

Happy Mail

My tablemate from Reggie's class sent me a Valentine. Her signature is sheep. Looks like someone has been practicing. Well done, L.

The Friday Five Good Things

Me 1967

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Saturday morning was chilly so the ride to the last Reggie class was made pleasant by heated car seats.

2.  With my Reggie year done, I'm so fortunate to have been able to study with him.

3. My 45th high school class reunion is on the horizon. While reading posts from the class Facebook page, I saw a familiar name. A girl that was in the same Cadet and Senior Girl Scout troop. Made contact and had a lunch date.

4. Finished the Christmas shopping.

5.Decorated the wreath for the front door.

How was your week?

T Stands for Tee Shirt

This weekend was the last weekend for the year long class, 26 Seeds. It's hard to believe the year has gone by so quickly, and yet not really a surprise. The class was fast paced and intense. So much to learn and process.

Pictured is my work station. This last class focused on Blackletter. On my table is the sample sheet we would be creating. There are spaces on the Nidegan paper (tan) to letter a basic Blackletter and a bunch of variations. My lunch for the day was a cup of soup and the white paper cup was to hold M&Ms, nuts, and raisins so I could snack while working or listening to Reggie. My travel mug of tea is just out of frame.

During lunch we would watch a slide presentation of works by some of Reggie's other students or a video about how powdered pigments are turned into paint, or how gold is beaten into sheets of gold leaf for gilding.

Traditionally, each class created a tee shirt to be presented to Reggie at the last class. Early on one of the co-coordinators coined the phrase Boston Reggiement as the title for our class. During the afternoon break, we were presented with our shirts. Each member of the class received a shirt. Each shirt was rolled and had a tag with our name. Isn't the shirt a pretty color?

For our class shirt, we decided we would letter phrases Reggie repeated to us all year. He would wrangle all us little ducks into line by reminding us to keep Time on Task. If we asked questions before he got to that point in a lesson he would say You're not old enough That was the phrase I chose to letter.

My tablemate lettered In class, fast is better than good. Something I had to remind myself constantly. As a Southpaw and a (proud) hooker,  I usually have to wait a bit for the ink to dry or I'll smear my writing as I write over the line and not away from the line as a right-handed person. No time to worry about that. The technique was more important than neatness. Other Reggieisms included:

Time for a gum arabic rub down Gum arabic, sap from the acacia tree is used to clean a nib of oils and residue before lettering

Up for shape and down for weight A reminder to thicken down-strokes slightly to give them a little more weight for balance

Snap shake and microdrag The technique for loading a pen with a brush

Keep calm and grind on To remind us to enjoy the zen of grinding stick ink

Cease and desist when we got to chatty and loud

We're fixing to get ready a prompt for the next lesson

Pressure release pressure a technique to give a waisted appearance to a down-stroke

Besides giving us his knowledge and experience, Reggie also presented each of us with a gift. He gave us a packet of Magic Seeds (morning glories) and inside the folder, a beautiful quote and a personal story as to how the seeds came to be a part of his teaching.

Now that the class is over, time to  process everything and to let the 26 seeds grow. I'm old enough now. Reggie told me so.  In the Spring, I'll look forward to planting the morning glory seeds. They will be a reminder of time spent with an amazing teacher and group of artists.

Reggie will no longer be teaching the year long 26 Seeds class. Boston 2017 was one of the last cities for this intensive class. Reggie will still be teaching at conferences and workshops in Chicago. If you get a chance to take a class from Reggie Ezell, don't hesitate.

 Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Reggie weekend and we played with mixing powdered pigment to make gouache paint. While passing around the powdered pigments to see what they were like, I coveted the ultramarine. When Reggie assigned the pigment we would mix and test, he gave me the ultramarine. Color me ultramarine with giddiness.

2. Reggie weekend while ruling up our paper with the Ames ruling guide, the measurements were off. I suggested another way to use the guide to get the correct measurements.

3. The morning glories looked spectacular this week

4. Someone must have donated some calligraphy books to the education department at WAM. The Studio Program Coordinator put the books in my studio. I drew names and my students picked out a book they wanted. A fun way to end the last class.

5. Got my haircut with the stylist I wanted.

How was your week?

Reggie Homework and Snack

During our last class we were working on the Carolingian hand. During his reign, 768 -814 CE, Charlemagne (Karl der Grosser, Charles the Great), engaged English scholar, Alcuin of York to create a bookhand that could be used across the empire and provide continuity. The hand Alcuin came up with was a miniscule Roman hand. Modern readers and writers would recognize these letters as lower-case.

Time got away from me so I didn't do the exact assignments, but at least I have something to show during confession the show and share portion of class.

A traditional Scottish prayer: From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties And things that go bump in the night Good Lord deliver us. The spider wearing red Connies, is descending from his web. The white gel pen didn't show up very well.

A self-portrait piece to celebrate the Halloween season. When I got done the broomstick looked more like a paintbrush so that's how it was colored. This will eventually change into an avatar with me riding a dip pen.

You're not old enough is a phrase that Reggie says a lot during class. If he's in the middle of a lecture or demo and someone asks a question, but he hasn't gotten to the point in the lecture, he will say, "You're not old enough."

Besides all the supplies we need for class, we're also asked to bring in a snack to share. Some of you were wondering what I was going to use the cinnamon chips I found a couple of weeks ago. They are part of the snack I bring. I like a snack I can nibble while at my workstation. It comes from the days of being a computer programmer when we didn't have time to leave to get something to eat. The snack needs to be portable and relatively neat. My snack is a pseudo- trail mix. I use an apple cinnamon cereal, rice cereal, dried cranberries, and some animal crackers. (When I first made the snack, everything was gluten free. With 24 classmates, I thought it would be best to be safe. gluten free, nut free. So I found these gluten-free animal cookies. They have a very nice, vanilla flavor and not too sweet. After seeing what others brought in for snacks, gluten-free didn't seem to be an issue, but I really like these cookies.) During the last class, when I wasn't able to find the cinnamon chips, I made something else, and my tablemate was disappointed. So I'm happy I found the cinnamon chips. I also found some dried apple to add to the mix. If the mix is too sweet, I have some candy ginger pieces that can be thrown in. I don't measure just dump a bit of this and that into a 2-gallon ziplock bag. The mix can be scooped into paper cups and kept close at hand while working. Sometimes official class breaks are sometimes few and far between so a cup of this mixture prevents me from gnawing my pen. 😋

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Spent the weekend with Reggie learning the Carolingian hand. Halfway through the course.

2. The Young One's prescription was changed from a powder mixed in food which she hated to pills. No more fussing!

3. Had a Skype session with Nan.

4.  Dinner at Five Guys

5. A car slammed into a tree across the street at the New Girl's. Thankfully, no serious injuries.

How was your week?

Monogram

One of the assignments for the 26 Seeds class was to do a gilding project, a design, initials or a quote as a finished project. One initial had to be a Roman Cap variation.

I decided to do a monogram. I got the idea to "frame" it in the center of a saucer that was missing its tea cup. The monogram was done on a 2 inch round of Diploma parchment. The "K" was gilded with 23 karat gold over a base of Robersons Water Gold Size. It's more forgiving and less fussy than the Instacoll used in class. The "C" and the "R" were painted with shell gold for contrast and then tooled with some designs.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. We had breakfast at Friendly's and then Himself decided my car needed a wash so we took a ride through the car wash.

2. After his MRI, we went to dinner at Longhorn Steak House.

3.  The great thing about going out to dinner, besides not having to cook, is having an awesome lunch of leftovers the day after.

4. Red came over to see the mini-split and to have tea

5. While packing my bag for Reggie weekend, I couldn't find my fingerless gloves. I wear fingerless gloves while working to keep the oils from my hands from seeping into the paper. After running in circles for a little bit. I found my gloves.

How was your week?

Reggie Homework Warts and All

This is the third Reggie weekend. My teaching schedule and commission work made it difficult to fit time to do the homework. Again, I marched to my own homework drummer as there were things I needed to work on. After all, that's the purpose of homework to reinforce skills. The homework this time around focused on pressurized Romans and again working with gouache.

Since time was growing short, I opted to skip working with gouache. I tried, but too many other variables to worry about mixing gouache went very low on my totem pole. That and I realized I don't like writing with gouache. I also had lots of difficulty with the pressurized caps. I still wasn't confident with a plain Roman so that was my first assignment. A stream of consciousness calligram. Done on Arches Watercolor paper, Winsor Newton Ink and a Brause 2 mm.

We were to make an exemplar of pressurized caps with serifs. 1 inch tall with a Mitchell  #2 . We also were to do a short quote. I combined the two assignments. I had a flash on inspiration instead of writing out the entire alphabet, I'd pick letters that represented all the shapes. Straight, angle, curve, circle. This fit with the quote ANCORA IMPARO. Translated as I am still learning and may or may not be attributed to Michelangelo. Pressurized caps require a very light touch. I'm ham-fisted. Since I was having some problems making delicate serifs, I opted to skip the wasp-waisted letters for a more plus size letter with serifs. I also had problems working so large so decided to work at 1/2 inch. Scribes don't have a patron saint. We have a patron demon named Titivillus. Titivillus happily waits for the scribe to make an error, and then he scoops the mistake into his bag. When Judgement Day arrives for the scribe, the errors in Titivillus' sack are weighed against the good deeds the scribe did. The scale would determine whether the good outweighed the bad, and the scribe could be admitted to Heaven. ANCORA IMPARO - I am still learning.

We had to make another exemplar of pencil drawn caps with serifs, 1 inch tall on grid paper. then we were to cut and paste these letters to make a layout and do a short quote. The layout was to be transferred to black paper, underpainted with white, and then painted or gilded the letters. Another assignment involved mixing 5 values of intermediate colors of gouache. We were to paint the quote with a color from the mixing assignment that appealed to us. Again, mixing colors very low priority for me, and as I'm partial to blue that was the color I opted to work with.

Translation of the quote was gilded along with the dots. The lines in the illuminated "I" were painted with shell gold. The gold was burnished using a Letraset (shoe) burnisher and glassine.

Lots of things I need to work on. Spelling for one. At least, I have pieces to turn in for confession show and tell to prove I wasn't a total slug. ANCORA IMPARO Titivillus will have a field day with this one. I am still learning.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Ben Dover doing the languidly homework was featured as Reggie's Pick of the Week. Too funny.

2. Himself is now the same age as me.

3. Enjoyed perfect sunroom weather. Planted the milkweed Red gave me. Milkweeds attract monarch butterflies.

4. Had a free energy audit done. We're thinking about putting in mini-split, ductless air conditioning, and heating units. MassSave offers a no interest loan, but to qualify, you have to have the energy audit done. The auditors also installed a new, programmable thermostat in the basement, and exchanged incandescent bulbs for new LEDs.

5. Art supplies from Dick Blick arrived a day early.


How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

Photo taken from a bird site on the Internet

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Spotted two new birds at the feeder. Red-breasted Grossbeak

2. Found a quarter while walking through a parking lot

3. Went out to breakfast with Himself.

4. Binge watched Emerald City

5. Got a flash of inspiration for layout for one of the homework assignments.

How was your week?

Pen/Brush Rest

One of my 26 Seeds classmates had the cutest pen/brush rest. It was a little, porcelain dachshund. Just adorable. She said it was actually a chopstick rest and a gift from a friend.

I've been thinking about the pen rest all week. Looking at pictures of them online. A good way to put off homework. Saw some cute ones. A roly-poly panda lying on his back and you rest the utensil on his belly, a whale where the rest was on the tail, a porcelain crane made to look like an origami crane, and cats lots of cats. Just what a crazy, cat lady would love.

Eventually trolling the Interwebs gave way to homework, but I was still thinking about the kitty pen rest. I still had a bag of black Crayola Model Magic. So, after I made a fairly decent attempt at a pressurized letter, "I", I rewarded myself with a bit of procraftination. I made a black cat pen rest (what else would I make? 😼 ) Sometimes Ink would lie down with his front legs completely tucked under him. You couldn't tell he had front legs. He looked more like a loaf of bread. That position cracked me up so that's the position I sculpted the pen rest. So, if I can't make decent pressurized Romans, at least I'll have a cute pen rest.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Saturday after Reggie's class was a social hour. We chipped in and the coordinator sent out for Middle Eastern food. First time I ever had Middle Eastern food, it was quite good.

2. I didn't miss the turn on the way to class.

3. At Staples, I found the inks I needed for the printer so didn't need to order them online

4. My debit card with security chip wouldn't work at a couple of places. At CVS, the clerk showed me a trick to get it to work. You rub the front of the chip. She said apparently, it gets dirty. Don't know if that was true, but it worked.

5. Traffic wasn't so bad on the commute home. Surprisingly, people were polite when trying to merge onto the expressway. I must have been an alternate universe

How was your week?

My Precious

So much fun in Sunday's Reggie class. We played with gold. 23 karat gold. Reggie had a sheet of symbols, and we got to choose a simple symbol to gild. This was mainly due to time constraints as we started gilding mid-afternoon.

We traced our design onto Arches 90 lb. watercolor paper using Saral transfer paper. Reggie gave us Instacoll (gilding base) and patent gold (4 inch sq of gold leaf).

If you're new to gilding, it's scary and exciting. Mainly, because you don't know what to expect and not sure how to work with the materials. Intstacoll is an easier base for beginner's to work with compared to traditional gesso. There's some wait time for the base to dry and a small window of opportunity to be able to lay the gold, but the results were impressive. After all the steps were complete, (transferring the design, applying the Instacoll with a brush, sharpening edges with a fine nib, waiting for the Instacoll to dry, laying the gold, adding a second layer of gold, removing excess gold with silk, and burnishing the gold) we passed our papers around and oohed and aahed over everyone's efforts. Even though some of us chose the same design, they were all a little different.

Reggimented Sunday

Another assignment was to "make an alphabet of 'Plain Romans', broad-edge, 1 inch tall, black gouache on grid, touch-up, paste-up reproduce to make an exemplar. Use a Speedball C-2 nib"

This assignment caused me much anxiety, and I ended up procrastinating until I ran out of time. I didn't quite get to the touch-up, and paste-up part. And of course, CJ didn't read the assignment thoroughly so instead of black gouache, I used blue.

I wrote out a few of each letter on a grid pad. Then I chose the best letter, cut it out and arranged it on a waxed grid.

Instead of arranging the letters in A to Z order, I arranged them in the sequence Reggie suggested for practice.  I pulled the C from the G line and the J from the U line to sign my work.

From Reggie: "Always start at a point where you can give yourself the opportunity for the most success and encouragement. Do not start with the hardest first and defeat yourself. We all need as many confidence builders as possible when attempting anything new. Roman Capitals are the most humbling letterforms you will every try. Be patient and give yourself opportunities to succeed."

I should have read that statement a dozen times instead of giving in to the negative whispers of the inner critic. I should have just done the work instead of worrying what my Roman looked like. I shouldn't have been comparing my fledgling efforts to others in the class, especially classmates who have taken this course before.

I was pleased and relieved when I finished the assignment. There's still a lot of room for improvement, but some of the letters aren't half bad. After all, if I could do these letterforms in my sleep, what would be the point of taking this class?

Reggimented Saturday

Studiomate, Ben Dover, tries his hand at the assignment

This weekend is another Reggie weekend so I will be up to my elbows in gouache, ink, and gold.

One of our homework assignments had to do with spacing. Spacing can effect mood. During class, we cut out letters from Hermann Zapf's typeface, Palatino. We had our choice of two words. Calligraphy or Languidly. I chose languidly. Our assignment was to create an image with tight spacing and then with wide spacing on an interesting background.

I chose languidly because I have a picture of Ink taking a nap on our old chair in the sunroom. It was hot that day, and Ink had just melted into the cushion. I thought this was the perfect definition of languidly and used tight spacing.

For wide spacing, I thought languidly on an ocean background would work. While trolling images, I found one of a string of seagulls dipping and swooping over the ocean. Through the magic of Paint Shop Pro, I replaced the seagulls with the letters to spell languidly. I tipped the L and added a dot to represent a person just floating languidly in the ocean. Using the clone tool, I added water splashing over the letters and a drop shadow so the letters would look like they were in the picture and not just on the surface. The shadow effect looked better in my head, but the gist is there.

I liked this assignment. It was one of the few assignments I approached with confidence. I enjoy playing around with images in Paint Shop Pro so I could have some fun and enjoyment with this assignment.