Abstract Art with Jane Davies

A couple weeks ago, a group of art friends got together and made abstract landscapes Jane Davies-style.  I love the collaged texture of my graffiti wall and layers of paint and paper.  I've followed Jane's blog "Collage Journeys" for several years.  She owns and operates the post office in Rupert VT.  She wants to keep her small town post office open and sent out a request for post cards mailed to her to increase her mail volume.  She's received over eight hundred postcards to date and you can check them out HERE.

I created several postcards like the one above for an art group swap.

The one I sent to Jane included ink lines.  It makes it look more like a map.

The first two hundred who mailed her a postcard received one in return.  Thank you, Jane, for this gorgeous red postcard.

I've had her book, Collage Journeys,  for some time.  I got it out the other day and reread it.  It's chock full of ideas to personalize artwork with painted papers, layers of ephemera, decorated paper and paint.  The chapter on 'meaning and personal expression' speaks to me and makes me want to become aware of and create my own personal iconography.

You can mail a postcard to Jane Davies, PO Box 45, Rupert VT 05768.   I'm sure she'd appreciate it.  This summer, I'll be taking a workshop from her at the Pacific NW Art School on Whidbey Island and can't wait to meet her and learn more about her abstract painting techniques.

The Anticipation of Learning

Today, we start writing with fountain pens in my Italic handwriting calligraphy class.  I've always wanted to write with one.  A friend gave me several used ones last year but I could only get one to work after it was cleaned and loaded with ink.  I want to learn how to write fast, create legible marks with fabulous negative spaces and counters, rhythm and crisp joins.  Will writing with a fountain pen encourage me to write more?  Will the beauty of the letter forms lead to a writing practice?  I can hardly wait until this afternoon when we receive our new Manuscript Classic Calligraphy Set with five nibs.  Oh, the anticipation of learning something new.

Repurposed Artwork for New Journal

At an art retreat in 2010, I made this accordion face book after being inspired by one that Judy Wise made and showed me. The blog post about the art retreat demonstrates how I created the pages with collage, tracing paper faces and painted backgrounds.

I decided to use these faces in a journal I'm making.  I scanned each face and made a montage of the faces in Photo Shop.  One for the front cover and another for the back cover.

I re-sized the photo montage and added a scanned background.  Then I took the front and back cover papers to FedEx to make color copies.  The laser copies last longer than the ink jet copies.

I'd already purchased a  hard bound book at the Dollar Store, cut out the text block with an X-acto knife.

The Xyron machine adds a permanent adhesive to the back and makes it easy to glue to the book cover.

Here both the front and back covers are glued to the hardback cover.

I cut a strip of black suede paper to cover the spine of the book and ran it through the Xyron machine, too.

For inside the book cover, I glued the background paper using the same method.  The bone folder helps to seal the adhesive.

The book cover is now ready for its paper signatures.  First, I have to decide how the book is to be used.  If water media will be used, the signature pages need to be a paper that takes water well, watercolor paper for example.  If I plan to draw and sketch in the book without water media, I'll make the signatures out of drawing paper. 

I'll bind the signatures into the journal like I did for my Oaxaca, Mexico travel journal seen HERE.  The same method was used to make this travel journal.  I used fabric vs. paper for the book cover.

Italic Handwriting Class Portfolio

Monday, I started an italic handwriting class at Multnomah Arts Center.  We'll be writing lots of text about creativity to practice with the adage- increased quantity leads to better quality.  I wanted to make a portfolio to hold my text writings.

The cover is painted muslin fabric using acrylics and stencils.

I glued the muslin to cut foam core with matte medium.

This is what the back looked like when I finished gluing.

The inside covers are covered with some paper from Korea.  Red duck tape connects the front and back.

On the cover, I used a C-O nib and white Windsor & Newton calligraphic ink to write the word 'Creativity' in large letters.

The other words I wrote in a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen for 'Winter 2013' and a C-4 nib with the white ink for 'italic handwriting'.

Now, I'm off to practice, practice, practice.

Prayer Flags for Sandy Hook

Yesterday, a group of art friends got together and created fifty prayer flags for Sandy Hook school children in Newtown CT.  Lieghanna Light started The Hope Flag Project.  You can check out her Facebook page about the project HERE.

It's a little something that we can do to offer hope and best wishes to this community in need.  There's still time to make some hope flags and send them to Lieghanna by January 2nd.

Happy Winter Solstice

Today, we welcome the Winter Solstice and the light.  My calligraphy class exchanged weather grams this week.  The rain stopped and we got a chance to hang them in the tree outside my studio

I like the act of writing a saying for the weather gram, putting pen to paper and sharing thoughts of the season.  This is the one that I created-

Here are the rest of the class weather grams-

Hope you're enjoying the holiday season with family and friends, too.

Bookhand and Gift Wrap

All year, I've studied and practiced calligraphy with my classes at the Multnomah Arts Center.  Our instructor suggested that we use our practice sheets as gift wrap.  I love this idea and everyone who receives a gift wrapped in this paper seems to really appreciate it.

Fall term, I took Humanist Bookhand.  For the final project, I made a card and some bookmarks with this French Proverb-

We also started to learn the Roman Capitals.  Oh how, I need to practice these letters!  I understand that it takes years to master the Imperial Latin alphabet.  I'll have lots more practice sheets for gift wrap.

I decided to practice the Uncial hand to create some Christmas gift wrap.  Here's a look at one practice sheet.

I'm exploring other ways to use my calligraphic skills and have started pinning images on my Pinterest boards.  Do you have any ideas?  All are welcome and thanks for sharing.