Second on the Second - Work in Progress

From 2. March 2010. This post describes part of the process for preparing a piece. The quote chosen was "If you can't stand the heat, don't tickle the dragon" and was to be my entry for the WAM faculty art show.

Now that I have my quote, I need to decide what it will look like and where/how it will be used. Since I will be given a space to hang my artwork, this piece will be a framed work instead of making a small book, box or some other 3D piece.

I draw quick and dirty thumbnails of various ways to write out the quote. I don't need to write the quote out. Just a few lines and squiggles to indicate where things will go. This gives me an idea of what it will look like before going through the trouble of writing it out in pen and ink with the illustration. Thumbnails are a big time-saver. If I hate the layout at 2 inches big, I'm not going to love it any better when it's 10 inches big.

I can write the quote in a circle with the illustration in the center. Write the quote in a straight line or lines with the illustration above. Write the qoute in a curve above the illustration. Write the quote in a curve below the illustration. I can divide the quote into four sections and write each section along an edge of the paper with the illustration in the center. I can go on and on with possible layouts by tossing in how I will hold the paper: portrait or landscape.

The previous layout of this quote was done in a circle with the illustration in the center of the circle.

This is the layout I like best and the one I'll use.

How do you go about planning your work?

Follow the link to see the finished piece Don't Tickle the Dragon 

It's your turn to play. From Elizabeth: Now it's time to share your Second on the 2nd.  The rules are quite simple and everyone is welcome to join the fun look back.  All you have to do is bring back a post that you are especially proud of, or perhaps one you shared before anyone knew your blog existed.  Any post, any genre, any artistic endeavor is acceptable.  Join hosts Bleubeard and Elizabeth to see what else is being served up the Second Time Around.

The Prayer of St Francis

Monday morning, after Mass and having our hands blessed, we began the preparation to letter the Prayer of St. Francis. Kathy Milici, the instructor, had done a layout that we would follow.  We traced the versals (the large capital letters) and the poppy design. We also ruled the paper, Canson Moulin du Roy, following her guidelines.

Kathy chose an upright, bouncy, Italic variation for this prayer. I knew the prayer as a hymn, so the bouncy letters reminded me of musical notes, and the uneven lines reminded me of the melody. The lettering was to be done with a size C-4 Speedball nib. As I am a Southpaw, I wasn't sure how many lefthanded nibs would be available so I brought my own. I don't use the Speedball nibs beyond teaching with the C-1. I use a Brause nib and worked out the size to be close to the Brause 1.5 mm.

We spent all day Monday practicing Kathy's Italic variation on layout bond paper. In the afternoon, we lettered on a scrap of the Moulin du Roy to get a feel for writing on the good paper

On Tuesday, we lettered the entire text on our good paper. I honestly didn't think I would be able to letter the entire piece. I'm a hooker (and proud of it 😉) That is I approach the writing line from above instead of below. As a Southpaw, I also write directly over my writing line where a right handed person writes away from the writing line. For me, this means if I am not slow and careful, I will put my paw in wet ink and smear it. So my routine is to write 4 or 5 letters, maybe a word or two and then I have to sit and give the ink a couple of minutes to dry.

I had told Kathy I am not able to keep up with right handed classmates. And that's okay. If I wasn't able to finish lettering the piece, I could always work on it at home. I really wanted to learn Kathy's technique for painting poppies.

Kathy was very laid back and encouraging with all of us. And as it turned out, I finished lettering my piece in the same time frame as the other students.

Happy Mail

I participated in Tiggy's June Mail Exchange.

From my partner, Sue, a fun envelope with fashionable ladies.

A wonderful quote with a striking layout. "Men talk of killing time while time quietly kills them." Dion Boucicault

A lovely note with a pretty butterfly

A floral mixed media, dry emboss, heat emboss on marbled paper

A floral stamped bookmark

Thank you, Sue for the lovely treasures. They are hanging up in my studio and making me smile.

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.

T Stands For On the Drawing Board

On the drawing board with a trusty cup of tea at my side, is a layout and design for an art show I'm entering. Deadline is 15. March 2017 and the theme is A Sense of Place.

I've chosen the Bible quote for Ruth 1:16, And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. The quote is from the King James version of the Bible which is the only version of the Bible that is in the public domain.

I've laid the quote out on graph paper 11 inches by 14 inches. I toyed with the idea of going smaller but decided that was going to be too much of a strain on my poor, old eyes. Framing will be expensive so decided to stick with a standard size.

Scatter on the table are some books to look through for inspiration.

 An illuminated, initial A with a traditional vine are planned. The shape of a capital "A" reminds me of a bird house which will be in the enclosed square with the vine trailing down the left side and across the bottom.  Red, green, and blue, traditional colors, will be used as well as 24 karat gold leaf.
Thinking of two birds, most likely in red, one on or in the bird house and one at the bottom of the vine are planned.

While flipping through a catalog, I found enameled, birdhouse boxes which was the image I had in my head. Serendipitous!

What are you working on today?

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang are 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.

Three To Get Ready...

With the design for the illuminated letter decided, time to lay out the quote on graph paper. The quote would fit in an 8 inch by 10 inch mat with a writing area of approximately 5 inch by 7 inch. I decided on using the Italic hand. x-height of the letters would be 1/8 inch with a size 1 mm Brause nib.

Since the quote was woodsy, I decided to use walnut ink for the lettering. 

The design was transferred with pencil to the diploma parchment. I decided the corners around the initial would be gilded and the counterspace, the inside of the letter, would be painted with shell gold. The two golds would be a nice contrast.

Two For The Show...

With the quote picked out, the next step was to think about the layout and design. Since I wanted to start the quote with an illuminated initial, I turned to some books and notes for inspiration.

I liked the B with the bird. Not too crazy about the vine, but decided to try it out. Meh.

From the Manuscript Illumination and Gilding notes from the classes I took with Valerie Weilmuenster, I decided I liked the shape of the vine and box from one of her Ws. So I drew a boxed U and added birds to the vine. There's my letter.

One For The Money...

So, the reason I didn't complete my self imposed doodle challenge was the need to create a piece for the Worcester Art Museum faculty art show. I thought at the faculty meeting held in September, the faculty art show would be held in the Spring. It's always been held during the Spring in the past. Plenty of time to work on something.

A call for artwork and insurance release form arrived in the mail. Artwork was to be brought to the museum the week of Halloween. Say what? Last day to submit a piece for the show was Monday, The show would run from mid-November through February. Longer than the Spring show and hopefully, would be good advertisement for prospective students for the classes that are offered.

First thing to think aboout is a quote or poem. There was a poem I had in an old cross-stitch magazine. It was about telling a family's history through buttons. Picked buttons from the button box and started laying out the poem. Realized this poem was probably too ambitious at this time. I'd never be able to get it framed in time. Lots of problems to work out such as how to adhere shank buttons. Could buttons be sewn on.  Save this piece for another time.

Pick another quote. Flipped through the my quote book. Decided on:

"Use what talent you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." Henry van Dyke

I had an old 8 inch by 10 inch picture frame. All I'd need to do was cut a backing board for it and add picture hanging hardware. I could do that.

I like working on a paper called Diploma Parchment. It's a lovely, creamy paper. Not the crappy mottled stuff you find in hobby or art stores. This paper takes both ink, paint, and gold well. I wanted to gild an illuminated initial on this piece. Took a sample of paper with me and ran to Michael's to find a pre-cut mat that would closely match the color of the paper. I was good to go.

Writing on the Wall - Preparation

The wall project has begun. Under the watchful eye of Oola, the cat, with an occasional peek from Boots, the dog, I took measurements and ruled chalk lines on the wall. I used a level.

I wasn't able to plan the layout of the quotations ahead of time. I had to make note of wall outlets and furniture. A bookcase will be going against the long wall (to the left of this photo). That picture came out blurry. Lines were wrapped around so quotes on that wall will line up.

I wrote out the long quote by the window with chalk. This will give me an idea of spacing, and if necessary, "holes" can be filled with suitable decoration. There's an outlet at the bottom of the wall, and because of it's placement, I wasn't able to fit the entire quote,  I have made notations and lines to begin the quote higher up.

Time to complete this part of the project. 4 hours.

Shape of the Dragon

Underpainted dragon takes shape on the canvas. No, that's not a softball in its hand. That's a pearl of wisdom. Acrylic on canvas.

Graceful Envelope from Start to Finish - Part 1

A lot of thought and planning is the first step to any creative venture. With The Graceful Envelope Contest, the first step is to thoroughly read the rules. You can spend time designing a gorgeous entry, but will instantly be disqualified if your envelope is too big, too small, or doesn't fit the theme.
Judging is based on the interpretation of the theme including the stamp(s) used.

The theme for 2013 is Change. Since the stamp will be an important design element, the next stop is USPS.com You can browse all the stamps, but pay attention to the issue date. Not all stamps will be available for use. It also helps to make friends with the counter clerks at your local post office. The clerks can tell you when new stamps will be coming in. Be kind and schedule your visit when your post office isn't busy.

I decided to use the Rosa Parks stamp. In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. She disobeyed the separatist law at the time and was arrested. Her arrest sparked a boycott of the bus system. A year later,  the U.S. Supreme court agreed that segregating buses was unconstitutional. Her quiet act of defiance changed history.

I like to use the largest size envelope allowed for my canvas which is a booklet envelope measuring 6" x 9". Postage is determined by size and weight. If the envelope is large, an odd size (square), or too thick to fit through a postal slot, it will require extra postage. It used to be something like 11 cents more, but with the latest postal increase, I'm sure the extra postage amount has gone up, too. Your friendly, counter clerk will be able to tell you the exact amount. I don't worry about the nickels and dimes and just plan on using a second first class stamp on my envelope. The new freedom, liberty, equality flag stamp would be the perfect complement to the Rosa Parks stamp.

With the stamps picked out, a stream of consciousness approached helped me to visualize the envelope design. Besides Miss Rosa, bus was first image I thought of. Then school bus. Then kids on the bus singing The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round with a made up verse: The people on the bus can sit where they want, thanks to Rosa Parks.

Old Tool, New Use

How do you make a template to address navy blue envelopes?  The envelope paper will be dark so you won't be able to use a light box. Each envelope will have to be hand lined. How do you make a template so the process will be a little bit faster?

I was pondering this problem while I was eating a piece of Himself's birthday cake. As I was enjoying the chocolately goodness of the Devil's Food cake, I happened to catch sight of the cooling rack on the table. Light bulb!

Since the bride wants her envelopes addressed in Copperplate, the width of the rack would be perfect as baselines. A quick wash and dry of the rack and down to the drafting table. I found a black piece of scrap paper  to use as a test. The paper was positioned under the rack and lines were drawn using a slate pencil. The slate pencil lines were easily erased and didn't leave too much of a residue on the paper.

You can bet I'm insufferably pleased with myself. Hopefully, this application will work on the real envelopes. I haven't seen them yet. Don't know if the paper has a matte finish or is slick. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Have you ever used a tool for a different application than it was meant to be used?

Work In Progress

A sheet of Diploma parchment, at least I think it's Diploma parchment, it feels like Diploma parchment and looks like it too, was cut down to 10 inch. square. The guide lines were laid out. The text lightly penciled in. The piece is ready to be inked.

I can see some raised eyebrows, hear a tisk of the tongue at lightly penciling in the text. Being lefthanded, I write over my own writing. Fact of life. So I must letter a few letters or words, be very patient, and let the ink dry thoroughly or I'll end up putting my hand in the wet ink and smearing the writing. Not a happy picture. Because of having to start and stop frequently, I can lose the rhythm. The pencil text helps me keep the rhythm so the piece looks like it was done in one sitting instead of piece meal.

I haven't penciled in the dragon illustration in the center of the circle. This in case I make a mistake while lettering the text. Rule of thumb, letter first and artwork last. It's easier to fudge a mistake in the artwork, but sometimes one mistake in the lettering and the entire piece will have to be done over. And that mistake always seems to happen on the last letter of the last line.

Oh, the Diploma parchment isn't that parchment paper you might find in craft stores. That stuff is nasty. Ink will just bead up on that paper. This is a beautiful weight paper with a creamy color. It takes both ink and gouache well. The paper got it's name because this was the paper diplomas were printed on a long time ago. At least that's the story I heard. I have no clue who the paper mill is. Just hope they don't discontinue this paper or change the formula.

How's your work in progress coming along? How do you keep the rhythm in what you're working on?

Work In Progress

Now that I've decided on a layout, I need to determine how big this piece will be. Since the cost of framing can be quite expensive, I try to work in standard sizes ( 8" x 10", 11" x 14", 16" x 20") Since I'm going with a round layout, the frame will end up being custom made. A square frame with a mat with a round hole in the middle.


Another factor to determine the size will be the hand or script used. I'm familiar with four classic, broad-edge hands. Italic. Standard go to hand. Easily read. (Look at Lucida Calligraphy in your computer fonts). Uncial (Un-shell (USA) or Un-see-ell (GB)) also called Celtic. Nice rounded shapes. Blackletter. Think Gothic. Closely spaced, angular letters. Would give a nice, medieval feel to the piece, but sometimes difficult for modern readers. Carolingian. What eventually became our lower-case letters. Copperplate which uses a pointed pen and what most people would recognize as cursive penmanship. There are also variations of hands and variations using different tools.



Since I want to write the quote in a circle, I think I would like the very rounded Uncial shapes. Uncial is generally written at 3 nib widths in height. Think of a screwdriver blade as a nib. If you have a large screwdriver, you'll end up with a large letter. And a tiny, jeweler's screwdriver will give you an itty bitty letter. Looking at my pens, I'm going to use a 2.5 mm Brause nib. At 3 nib widths high, this will give me a letter approximately 1/4 inch tall.



To figure out how big a circle I will need, need to write my quote out. I'll rule up a piece of scrap paper, pencil in the quote and then using pen and ink will write over the pencil lines. The pencil lines are a bit of a guide for me. One of the drawbacks about being lefthanded is writing across the writing line. If I'm not patient, I will put my hand in wet ink and smear the writing. So I have to write a few letters and wait for the ink to throughly dry. What happens is when I come back to writing, I have lost the rhythm that righthanders have because they write away from their writing.

With my quote written out, I'll measure the line. This will give me the circumference of the circle I will need. The length is 15 inches. This number divided by pi (3.14) will give me the diameter. Because I spent most of my time in math classes practicing my penmanship, I'll divide the line length by 3 to make the math easier. I will need a circle with a diamter of 5 inches. This is actually a tad larger than using pi, but the extra room will give me some wiggle room I may need. Add an extra 1/4" for the size of the writing.

With a 5 1/4 inch diameter circle, I'll want enough room outside the circle to leave enough space to mat the piece. Just to be safe, I'll work on a 10" square piece of paper. The piece can always be double matted if there is too much "air" between the outer edge and the mat. Any artists or framers out there with suggestions?

All this work, and I've yet to put pen to paper. How much preparation do you?

Work In Progress

Now that I have my quote, I need to decide what it will look like and where/how it will be used. Since I will be given a space to hang my artwork, this piece will be a framed work instead of making a small book, box or some other 3D piece.

I draw quick and dirty thumbnails of various ways to write out the quote. I don't need to write the quote out. Just a few lines and squiggles to indicate where things will go. This gives me an idea of what it will look like before going through the trouble of writing it out in pen and ink with the illustration. Thumbnails are a big time-saver. If I hate the layout at 2 inches big, I'm not going to love it any better when it's 10 inches big.

I can write the quote in a circle with the illustration in the center. Write the quote in a straight line or lines with the illustration above. Write the qoute in a curve above the illustration. Write the quote in a curve below the illustration. I can divide the quote into four sections and write each section along an edge of the paper with the illustration in the center. I can go on and on with possible layouts by tossing in how I will hold the paper: portrait or landscape.

The previous layout of this quote was done in a circle with the illustration in the center of the circle. This is the layout I like best and the one I'll use.

How do you go about planning your work?

Roughs

My friend, Erica, an author and I have had several conversations comparing writing a novel to calligraphy and art. The latest conversation had to do with preparation. Many people are under the delusion that it doesn't take much planning to write a book. One just sits down and belts it out. That misconception certainly applies to calligraphy. Nothing to it. Just take your pen out and voilá.

Visit Erica at On the Write Path and read Confessions of a Reformed Writer to see what she does to bring her stories to life.

Planning, plotting, writing, editing, tweaking, fine tuning...writing a novel or creating art, the process is surprisingly similar.

I've received a commission for a tattoo design. So with Frauee's kind permission, I'll go through some of the steps I've gone through with her design.

First, there was a conversation about what she had in mind. She wanted "hope". I told her the traditional symbol for hope was an anchor and the color is green. Nope, didn't care for that concept. Frauee did a search and came up with "hope" found at Zibu Angelic Symbol It's a nice design and would lend itself to a flourish and the artist, Debbie Z. Almstedt graciously allows people to use her designs.

Next, how big? She thought 1" x 2" would be a good size.

Then Frauee decided since German is such a large part of her life, "hope" should be in German. Ok, what's the word? "Hoffnung" Yup, nice short word to fit into a 1" x 2" space. (-; She thought maybe there was an abbreviation for the word, but there wasn't one. Keine probleme. No problem.

I began thinking about the flourish and some things I could do with it. I sketched out some ideas and the Young One gave me some other symbols of hope: a candle, a shooting star, a butterfly, and an acorn. Thank you, Young One for bouncing ideas around. Your concepts were clever and amazing. I made a list of the things we talked about so I wouldn't forget.

Today, I worked on layout and design. Did a bunch of roughs to size. First, doing pencil sketches and then inking over. I added color to a couple of them just for an idea though color will be up to Frauee and the tattoo artist.

Some people view what I do as "just playing" meaning not real work. Though I sometimes refer to what I do as play because I enjoy my work, it's still work, and it takes time, a very valuable commodity. So far, I've spent a total of 6 hours on the project, and I don't have a finished piece yet. (Seven hours if you count blogging about it (-; )

I'm painfully out of practice with my Blackletter, but other than that, I'm pleased with the results. I love my job especially when working on an interesting project and working for a delightful patron.

Frauee, watch your snail mail for a hard copy of the designs. Let me know what you decide and then I'll work up a finished piece to bring to the tattoo artist.