Redwork Design

Just finished this redwork piece. I really enjoyed breaking out the red gouache for this design. I added a touch of chinese stick ink in with the gouache. It helped with the hairlines. Great fun today!

Monday Morning Flourish

Trying to clear my desk this morning of work so I can work on my upcoming workshops. I will be teaching Spencerian Script at the Fieldcote Museum in Ancaster, November 1st and November 15th, Pointed Pen Artistry at the Odyssey Calligraphy Conference in Boston, July 2010 and The Artful Flourish , August 2010 in Orlando. This flourish is part of an order going to New Jersey. I have enjoyed doing these name flourishes this week. This little black piece was my favourite of the bunch.

More Pen Work from the Spencerian Saga

I didn't spend too much time flourishing so I don't have many to share with you. I did manage to write 76 pages of penmanship! This year, more than any other time at the Spencerian Saga I was able to sit and practice for hours on end. The name and flourish at the top of this post was executed by Michael. It is a real treasure to me.

The Spencerian Saga 2009

Last week I had the opportunity for the fourth time to spend a week with Master Penman Michael Sull at the beautiful Lakehouse Inn in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio. Studying with Michael has been a turning point in my life. He has instilled a love of ornamental penmanship, especially 19th Century American Penmanship. He teaches with passion and loves to tell stories of the Golden Age of American Penmanship. This year, he has been teaching Spencerian Penmanship for more years that Platt Rogers Spencer himself. We spent a wonderful week there. I am posting a few images of some flourishes I did on Friday. Most of the week was spent practicing lettering, signature writing, capitals, cross drills and the capital stem. I was overwhelmed at the end of the Saga when Michael presented me with The Spencerian Heritage Award. I suspect I will spend the rest of my life trying to live up to to words he inscribed on the award.

Illuminated Initial

Just completed one of the illuminations I needed to get done before the Spencerian Saga. The customer wanted it to be based on the L that I have on my website. It was fun to sit and paint for a few hours.

Flourish Request

For some reason, this little quote is one of my most requested items. I finished this flourish this morning. Starting to think about packing up for the Spencerian Saga in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio. Can't wait to spend a week of dedicated pen time and I am already dreaming about Gingerbread pancakes!

Flourish for Meg

Trying to complete some flourishes before the Spencerian Saga. Hope to get in lots of practice while I am there. Today's flourish is done on card stock with gouache, acrylic, and coloured pencils.

Today's flourish

Just a little basic Spencerian embellished with some offhand flourishing. I am enjoying working on this diploma parchment with the soft pastel colours.

Year Long Guild Project Done!!!!!!

Finally finished this year long project. Each of these little pages are 4x4 1/2 inches and will be put into little presentation books. It is a collaborative project with each participant choosing a month of the year and embellish a suitable word or quote for that month. I chose December. Each page is done with best bottle ink on diploma parchment. The flourishing is Bickham style, expanding on techniques from the Masterpiece Flourishing Workshop. These were a lot of fun. Looking forward to seeing the final result.

Friday's Flourishes

Feeling very Victorian today.

Watercolour flourish

Spent some time today with using watercolour in the pointed pen. My new favourite Winsor Newton colour is Perylene green and I added a hit of opera rose for the rose buds.

Thursday morning flourish

Experimenting with the Derwent Colorsoft pencils on Canson Mi-Tientes paper.

Autumn Morning Flourishing

Finally caught up on all my correspondence this morning and was inspired to do a little oak leaf flourish. It is warming up nicely this afternoon but sure felt like autumn this morning. Off for a little stroll to the post office. I will see if any leaves have started turning yet.

Angel in the Vines

I worked on this little miniature this morning. It is from a Renaissance Italian manuscript. If you look in the margins of the illuminated manuscripts you often find little cherubs climbing the vines. The size of this miniature illumination is 3"x3.3".

Working on Odyssey 2010 class

Getting some flourishes ready for the Odyssey 2010 calligraphy conference. If the class fills I will be teaching contemporary offhand flourishing techniques. This is a sneak peek at one of the designs for my notes.

Illumination Class Day 5

Here is my final illumination of the weeklong class. I finished him when I got home. This miniature is based on a 15th century Hebrew manuscript. It was a great week. Sadly putting my paints aside for now.

Illumination Class Retrospective

Always sad to finish a week of instruction and come home to the daunting task of unpacking. After 30 hours of painting time this week, I was hoping to have more to show. I have two miniatures I would like to complete before morning and then back into my regular routine of pointed pen work. It was a great little diversion this week. I love the world of colour but the brush seems less responsive to me than the pointed pen. I hope to be able to keep practicing these illumination techniques before our next class date in October.

Illumination Class Day Four

This is my tribute to the artistry of Walter Crane. This miniature is larger than I normally like to work. He is nearly 5 inches tall but he was a joy to paint today.

Day Three Illumination Class

Today we worked on high realism illumination techniques. The images are painted on top of gold gouache rather than having gold leaf applied to the background. Shadow effects are added with burnt sienna and burnt umber. Loved today's techniques. Not sure this viola or little butterfly are actually realistic, but the painting techniques were fun!

Illumination Class: Day One

This week I will be studying illumination techniques with Debbie Thompson Wilson. Today we worked on Romanesque illumination. This style uses a limited, bright palette. We did some painting experiments to get the gradation effects of the bright colours and then worked on this small dragon eating a cluster of fruit. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Only Believe

Had a fun flourishing day today. This piece is done on diploma parchment with best bottle ink. Just experimenting with the ink to see what it is capable of.

Flourish for my Father in Law

Sending a flourish in the mail today hoping it will cheer up my Father in law.

Illuminated Name

Watercolour on Arches Hot Press.

Oops!!!!!!! July 20th, 2009

Trying to catch up on correspondence and spotted a long overdue reply to a letter!

Three Envelopes, Sat July 18th, 2009

Saturday July 18th pen workout

I had to catch up on some correspondence this morning. This piece was done with bleedproof white, spectralite and coloursoft pencils.

Nursery Flourish

This little baby name flourish is for a nursery that is decorated in rosy pink, spring green and black. It was a fun little flourish.

Three Wedding Flourishes

Early Morning Pen workout

I bought this paper because of the name "cucumber mint. It sounded so summery. This piece is expanding on the Masterpiece flourishing style taught at Mike Sull's last workshop. Love the Bickham style.

Peace flourish

Expanding more of the Masterpiece Flourishing techniques. This piece is one of 12 for a hand bound year long collaborative book project. This piece was done with Spectralite, Best bottle ink and watercolours.

Ames' style title flourish

Expanding on techniques from Michael Sull's Masterpiece flourishing class.

Video clip edited by Holly

Renaissance Lady

I had a chance in April to study with Debbie Thompson Wilson. The class was called Medieval Faces. Lots of fun. If only there were more hours in the day!

Flourish for Lily

Gouache, spectralite gold, prismacolor and hot foil.

Heart Flourish

Name flourish

It's been a long time since I posted, but here is one of my recent flourishes.

Merry Christmas Flourish

Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas. I hope to spend more time on the blog in the new year.

October Greetings!

Acrylic inks on black cardstock. I will post more images after the Spencerian Saga.

More from Class

These were fun projects.

Celtic Illuminations

Not my favourite period, but here is some work from the class.

Gothic Period Illuminations

More from Debbie's class.

Illumination class

Here are my renaissance illuminations from a wonderful week spent with Illuminator Debbie Thompson Wilson from Guelph, Ontario.

Illuminated Letter T

Having fun with an Owen Jones initial. I am off to an illumination class in two weeks. I can hardly wait. This initial is done with Brian Walker's gesso recipe.

Missing Iampeth this year!

Just created this flourish for my Iampeth friends who are enjoying the conference.