Wednesday, April 7, 2010

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!


14 comments:

  1. happy birthday to your 18-year-old matthew!!! i think that he'll love his card.....i know i sure do!!! i wish i were close enough to attend your guild meetings.....sigh.....you guys always have great programs!! these decorated letters are fabulous, jane, and they look like they're tons of fun to do!! thanks for sharing them with us! xox, :))

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  2. Wishing your son a Happy Birthday 18th birthday!!

    Beautiful card!!!

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  3. What kid would not want this card? It is gorgeous. And, I just finished a class about painting the negative spaces around letters, great minds! Mine are acrylic on canvas, not as delicate as this but fun fun fun.
    Have a happy day.

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  4. Gorgeous! Happy Birthday to Matthew and I will look forward to checking the links.

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  5. Happy birthday to Matthew!! What a wonderful 18 and the G is very cool too. I wish we had a guild. We used to but it dissolved, unfortunately. So sad. Here is how to schedule a post:
    new post>post options>...put in date and time and click publish post and it will schedule.

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  6. Absolutely beautiful work Jane! So bright and vibrant. Wishing Matthew a very Happy Birthday!
    Heather

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  7. The 18 is wonderful, love the colors and liveliness. Baby is 18, my goodness. How are you doing?!

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  8. HI, Jane, love your 18 lettered card. Way back (way) in college I used to make numbered, painted cards for my friends. Thanks for bringing back that memory to me.

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  9. Hi, Jane.
    I just found your site and can't believe that our paths have not crossed before now. Thanks for the link to my blog. I added yours to mind as well.
    Your work is amazing and beautiful.
    Hope we get to meet in person some day,
    Roann

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  10. What great fun this looks like! I love how lively and colorful the letter and numbers are.
    Happy Birthday to your son!!
    Now...I am rushing over to check out these links.
    Have a great weekend!
    Dana

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  11. A belated happy birthday! What a beautiful, beautiful card! A true work of art which I'm sure will be a treasured keepsake.

    I had the pleasure of taking the same class with Nancy Culmone a number of years ago. It's fun to see how it has progressed and changed (just a bit) over the years.

    Your painted letters are so delicate and beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

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  12. These are lovely - my favourite is the 18, and I love the second G as well, the colours are fantastic.

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  13. Great cards, Jane! I love your colors and design.

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  14. Hi Jane

    I haven't visited for ages sorry. Did you work out how to delay posting? If not I can give you a few quick tips - its been brilliant for when I am travelling with other work etc.

    A gorgeous 18 I must say - inspires me to try something like it!
    Fiona

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