Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Photoshop Discovery

 This is one of the prints I made during my Gelli Arts Printing Plate bonanza a few weeks ago.  I liked it and decided to scan it, so I could print it on watercolor paper.

When I printed it on my Epson R2000, however, the colors were drab.  This is one of my frustrations with printers - the incessant fussing with printer settings. Media type. Print Mode. Color Mode. Color Profile. Paper selection. (Where's the "Make it look exactly like it is on the screen" button?) It reminds me of learning calligraphy and all the options between nibs, papers, holders, inks, and variations of alphabets.

I did some tweaking, and the second print (on far right) was much better.  I decided to go into Photoshop itself and change the hue. (Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation)

While doing this, I discovered moving the "Hue" slider bar from left to right yielded all sorts of wonderful variations to my original print.  The colors changed, and even areas unseen on the original print became evident.

When I think of applying this technique to all the backgrounds I have saved over the years...

...well, this could be a full-time job! :)

The stencil I used in making the original print on my Gelli Arts Printing Plate was given to me by Bill Lilly.  You can see it on the right.  He cut it by hand (of course!).  In addition to his tremendous pen skills, he also sports amazing skills with a pair of scissors.

I traced on the print using a pencil and an envelope template.

Trimmed with an Exacto knife.

Used a stylus to score the inside edge of the template window.
(Sorry for the blurry image.)

Folded using a bone folder. Then I opened the envelope flat to do the addressing.

I wanted to try this new ink I received from Kuretake UK.

I love the bold colors.

Here is another print I made, after playing with the hue on Photoshop.  The colors on my original Gelli Arts print are quite different.  Using Photoshop, I added some of my lettering. Fun!

Want to learn Photoshop for calligraphers?  You're in luck!
Harvest Crittenden is now accepting registrations for her online course: Photoshop for Calligraphers
She is also offering a separate, online course: Copperplate Calligraphy for Beginners

To learn more or to register, visit the Online Classes page of Harvest's website by CLICKING HERE.
Harvest is an excellent teacher, and her online courses are well worth the time and financial investment.

It's hard to believe this is the last day of November.
Wishing you a great weekend.
Go forth and flourish!
xo

Flourish Friday - IAMPETH Reflections: Free Your Hand with Pointed Pen with Barbara Calzolari

 My second day at IAMPETH was spent in Barbara Calzolari's "Free Your Hand with Pointed Pen" class.  It was another great day, as we once again filled pages and pages of practice lettering.

Beautiful Barbara teaching and sharing with the class. I think she is saying something cheeky about American fashion here. :)

 Barbara's work on screen. She is explaining how she releases the tines of the pen at the bottom of a stroke.  Barbara credits the amazing work of Mike Kecseg for inspiring her love of pointed pen variations.

Barbara's delicious work on screen.

Barbara sneaking in some pointed brush and explaining that much of what we are learning can also be accomplished with a pointed brush.

This magnificent "M" of Barbara's is right up my alley. I've enjoyed double stroking letters ever since - years ago - someone shared in a post on Cyberscribes about Martin Jackson's Six Techniques for Calligraphers. Double stroking a letter was one of the six techniques. (I just tried to find that post on Cyberscribes.  It was by Harvest Crittenden in 2005!!)

 Barbara told us a good exercise is to practice letters from very small to very large on lined paper. (Unfortunately, I brought the wrong paper to class, but it was still a good exercise on plain paper.)

 Above, I practiced "Freeing my Hand."

For "Love" I combined some of the double stroking on the "L" 

More in class practice - change of direction on the "G" descender.

I worked on a project this past week where the client had pretty much given me free reign on the design. (Love it when that happens!)  

I enjoyed including some of the things I learned in Barbara's class on the words: something's, about,  to, and take.  

 I also used the opportunity to practice on this past week's "thank you" notes to clients.

 I really enjoyed Barbara's class. We worked through the entire lower case alphabet before lunch and the entire upper case after lunch.  Barbara shared plenty of variations with her students.  Thank you, Barbara! I want to give a special shout-out of thanks to Kathryn Sanchez and Irene Martinez, for going to the office supply store and making copies of Barbara's in-class demonstration pages for their fellow classmates.

The best part of Barbara's class? Sitting next to the pretty, and pretty talented Jody Meese! Miss you, Jody!! (Sorry,  I probably didn't get this posted in time for your morning coffee. haha)

Thank you, all, for visiting.

Go forth and flourish!

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Christmas Tree, Spencerian and a Beast

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

This is a flourished Christmas tree I did in Heather Held's The Artful Flourish class at IAMPETH this past summer. Speaking of Heather, have you seen the logo she designed for the 2012 IAMPETH Convention? It is absolutely gorgeous!!! Go see it by clicking HERE.

Do you want to learn Spencerian without leaving the comfort of your home? Now, you can! Harvest Crittenden and Michael Sull are working together to offer a Spencerian Online Correspondence Course consisting of 12 lessons. Please visit the "Classes" page of Harvest's website to read all about it.  Harvest and Michael have given a clear outline of the information to be covered and how the course will operate. To visit Harvest's website and read a brief overview about the class, click HERE.

To read a more detailed outline of the class or to register, click HERE.

Registration is now open.

I've already signed up, and I hope to see you in class come January!

....and one more thing....

My printer arrived!  Fortunately, I am blessed with good neighbors, because the FedEx driver delivered it to the wrong house! Unfortunately, my poor elderly neighbor about put her back out dragging this beast up onto her porch and into her home. (She thought maybe her son had used her address for a surprise Christmas gift for one of her grandchildren.) I am going to have to do some rearranging to make room for it, but I can't wait to try it.  Thanks again for all your suggestions and advice about printers; it was a great help to me! 

Happy Flourish Friday!!

xo

Jane

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Awesome Photoshop

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

Wishing everyone in North America an awesome holiday weekend!

I just finished Harvest Crittenden's Photoshop for Calligraphers online course. I loved it. It is a good thing I rarely throw anything away - and I am talking about my digital housekeeping. (There are over 41,000 emails in my inbox!)  Using my new Photoshop skills, I put this word together from my old lettering which I had scanned and saved.

I am having too much fun!

Go 4ourth and flourish!!

Photoshop for Calligraphers - Flourish Friday

Image and permission for use provided by Harvest Crittenden

Next month Harvest Crittenden is launching an online class entitled Photoshop for Calligraphers. I have never taken an online class before, and I am really excited about it. You're tired of hearing me yap about my Photoshop frustrations aren't you?  Although I did learn a great deal in the Photoshop Elements class I took in 2010 at the Indianapolis Art Center, the class was full of people interested in working with....photos! (Imagine that!)  Now, there's a Photoshop class created especially for calligraphers. Yippee! 

The class will consist of 12 parts using video lessons. A great thing is that you can view the videos at a time that works best for you.  Harvest has priced the workshop very reasonably.  If you sign up by May 15th the price is $65.  On May 16th, the price goes up to $75.

What are you waiting for?!  Go check out the course description and sign up by clicking this link to Harvest's Acorn Arts Website:  CLICK HERE

Thank you Harvest for understanding the need and developing a class specifically for calligraphers!

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

Here is a little Mother's Day flourish for you. Matt finishes his freshman year at Purdue tomorrow. I cannot wait to have kids in the house again! Rachel has been studying abroad this semester. I miss her so much. Although she won't be here for Mother's Day, she is coming home on the 14th (for a few weeks anyway).  I'm thinking I can stretch Mother's Day into a week long celebration! :)

Happy Flourish Friday!
Enjoy your weekend!!

Calligraphy Flourish Friday- The Antique Page with Harvest Crittenden

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

The Calligraphy Guild of Indiana was fortunate to have Harvest Crittenden in town this past weekend for Harvest's "The Antique Page" workshop.  This piece above is a work in progress.   

When I am done, it is going to look like......

©Harvest Crittenden  - Acorn Arts

This!! 

(Well....maybe....with any luck, it will sort of look like this.) 

This is Harvest's sample piece. It is even more gorgeous in person.

©Harvest Crittenden  - Acorn Arts

Speaking of gorgeous in person, this is Harvest. She is an amazing artist, calligrapher, engrosser and Master Penman.  She was inducted as a Master Penman at the 2010 International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting (IAMPETH) convention in Orlando. Including Harvest, there are only 10 Master Penmen within the IAMPETH membership. 

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

In the photo above, Harvest is showing us beautiful examples of her antiqued papers and is explaining how she accomplished each of them.  We can't wait to get started!

Illuminated "J" by Harvest Crittenden

As an added bonus, Harvest demonstrated how to gild with Instacoll and patent gold. The paper was "antiqued" with a coffee stain.

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

Here are a few of my antiqued papers. We tried a variety of Harvest's secret recipes, each resulting in a different look.  This page was done with a combination of the raspberry, peach and walnut stains.

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

This page was done with the green stain, a bit of coffee staining and some tissue napkin collage.

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

The workshop was a blast! A giant, messy play date!  I look forward to aging these pages even further by adding some lettering and photo transfers.

Harvest Crittenden and Jane Farr

Harvest is a great instructor. She is very well prepared and thorough. Visit her website to see all her spectacular work and to see the other workshops she teaches. (Click here) She will be doing workshops for guilds in Los Angeles and Minneapolis in the very near future.  Harvest will be co-teaching the Spencerian Saga with Michael Sull this year.  She will also be teaching at the 2011 IAMPETH convention this summer in Phoenix.  Registration for the IAMPETH convention is now open for members. Have you registered?!  I have!!!  Registration will soon be open for non-members.  Spots are filling up. For more info, click here. Please let me know if you'll be there.  I'd love to meet you!

My Google Reader is bursting at the seams. I apologize for not being able to visit all my friends in blogland. Wedding season is in full swing for us calligraphers!  I hope to pay you a visit today and see what you've been up to lately.

Have a great and flourishy weekend!

It's March Madness!!!!!!

xo

Jane

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Moleskine, Ruling Pen, Congressional Chorus & Hebrews 12:2

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

Playing fast and loose in my Moleskine with a ruling pen, Moon Palace sumi, Japanese lace paper, and Derwent Inktense pencils.  Every now and again I simply enjoy slinging some ink and not worrying about the end result.

The Congressional Chorus Advertisement

Last fall I was contacted by an illustrator, Greg, requesting permission to use one of my marbled paper images on Flickr.  He had seen some prints I had made in a Diane Maurer-Mathison workshop.  Greg does the illustration for The Congressional Chorus in Washington D.C.  Didn't he create a terrific illustration for the campaign? (I wish I owned a pair of those shoes!)

Greg's other campaigns for The Congressional Chorus can be seen by clicking here and here.

Greg, thanks for sending me the finished results. I appreciate your thoughtfulness!

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

Above is my original paper. I think this is the image Greg used. He did such a great job making it pretty in pink that I'm not certain if it was this image or another one in my Flickr Photostream.

The Congressional Chorus Advertisement

If you will be in Washington D.C. March 25 -27, then put on your marbled dancin' shoes and join The Congressional Chorus at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.  It looks as though it will a swingin' good time! For ticket information, click here.

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

I had been curious about Dr. Martin's Pen White, so I bought a bottle.  I used it straight from the bottle - no diluting with water.  So far, I really like it. 

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

I love Gwen Weaver's pointed pen lettering which inspired the larger letters in this piece. (Sorry, it appears Gwen's website no longer exists.)  I used the Dr. Martin's Pen White and a Spencerian No.1 nib.

I hope you have a great weekend.

I know I will - I'm taking Harvest Crittenden's Antique Page workshop.

Woohoo!! :)