Flourish Friday and a Calligraphy Contest!

Please read to the end about a special calligraphy contest!

My baby turned 18 on Monday!!

I'm posting early this week, because I won't be able to post on Friday. 

(I've tried to use Blogger's "scheduled" post feature, but I haven't had any success with it. 

If you have, please let me know the secret!)

Above is a fragment from the front of Matthew's 18th birthday card.  

It is watercolor on a Strathmore card.

I got the idea for his card from a program my guild had this past year.

At the program meeting, the very talented Erika Woods demonstrated how to make these decorated letters.  Erika had taken Nancy Culmone's "Contemporary Decorated Capitals" class at the Letters Mingle Souls calligraphy conference.  I really enjoyed Erika's demonstration.  For me, the process is similar to Zentangling.  I made the above "G" for a friend's baby boy. (More about the friend below.)

The second part of the exercise was to decorate the negative space.  As you can see, I started out strong in the center...but then the wheels on my motivation wagon fell off!

To visit my guild's website click here.

To visit Erika Woods website click here.

To learn more about Nancy Culmone click here.

My friend with the baby boy is a terrific calligrapher from France. His name is Emmanuel Spaeth. He is currently hosting a special calligraphy contest.  In 2009, the European Haiku Society held a contest and the winners were selected.  Now, calligraphers from around the world have until May 1st to create an original calligraphic composition of one of the six winning haikus. Emmanuel would love to receive your entry!  For more information and official rules, please visit the French "Encre-Et-Lumiere" site by clicking here.  Once at the site, there is a button for the English translation. 

To visit Emmanuel's website click here.

Enjoy your weekend -

Go Forth and Flourish!