Calligraphy Valentine Cards - Flourish Friday

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

 Here are some images of flourished Valentines I did recently to list in my Etsy Shop...my exceedingly anemic Etsy shop.  If I actually produced every piece I think of creating to put in my shop, then I would have a very, robust shop! :)

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

 I don't have all the Valentine pieces listed yet, because I am the Queen of Procrastination.  Actually, I have been the Queen of the Land of Wedding Invitation Envelopes.  January use to be a slow time, when I could play and try new things, but I am happy to have the work.

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

 I used a Hunt 22 Nib and Schmincke Red Pearl gouache.

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

I enjoyed creating these and making each one a little different.

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

Unfortunately, you can't really tell how beautiful the Red Pearl gouache is from these images.

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

I have been practicing working very small. I've also been trying to lighten my touch in order to get super, thin hairlines.

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

For my practice, I used a Brause 515 and Dr. Martin's Bleedproof White.

Back to the lightboard!

Have a great and flourishy weekend everyone!

Flourish Friday - Calligraphy Christmas Tree

For today's Flourish Friday, I wanted to do something festive!

I saw this beautiful, calligraphic Christmas tree on page 105 of Bill Hildebrandt's book Calligraphic Flourishing: A New Approach to an Ancient Art. Isn't it a beautiful design? I used my graph paper transparency to assist in the layout. I then put my layout rough onto my light table, placed my good paper over the rough and did the flourishing.

I added some touches of color to give it a more festive feel.

After 25 years, I got hair cut short! I didn't realize how long my hair had grown until my stylist said, "I think you have enough for Locks of Love." Actually, at 9" it was an inch short for LOL, but my stylist knew of a place in Mississippi that takes any ponytails over 6". So, I pray my hair is being used by Pink Heart Funds to brighten some one's life. To learn more about Pink Heart Funds, or how to "Share Your Hair" click here.

Put some Flourish in your Friday - have a great weekend everyone!

Flourish Friday - September 18

As you may know, I love to make the circular designs that I learned in my guild's 2005 workshop with Pat Blair. I call them mandalas. I think I enjoy making them so much because the design possibilities are endless. I decided to keep a record of all the different elements I could incorporate into my mandalas. Keeping a record like this is something I learned from Barbara Close. I've taken two, separate workshops from her. Although the workshops were very different from one another, each time she had us keep a record of the techniques or variations we were learning. If only I would do this record keeping more often, because my memory is like Swiss cheese! I quickly filled the page with different ideas, and I could easily do more - and should!

I normally do mandalas that start in the center, and then I pull the strokes out toward the edge - like spokes on a wheel. These mandalas are different, and I think I will start calling them wreaths instead. I would like to do some very large. These are only 4 inch squares.

I have uploaded more mandalas and wreaths - and even some squares - over at Flickr. You can check them out here.

Go add some flourish to your Friday! :-)

Flourish Friday June 12

This is the front of a little card I sent to Master Penman Bill Lilly. The paper was a bit too textured for my liking. My thoughtful husband had contacted Mr. Lilly about purchasing his book and DVD on Engrosser's Script in order to give them to me as a surprise. Mr. Lilly is a graduate of the Zanerian College of Penmanship where he studied under E.A. Lupfer. My husband very much enjoyed his conversations with Bill, and he'd like to meet Bill (me too!) the next time we go to visit family in Ohio. You can visit Bill Lilly's blog here.

Wishing everyone a happy Flourish Friday!

Drafting and Calligraphy in Full Circle

My dad gifted me his old drafting set. (Let's just say he can take a hint...)

He used it during his undergrad days at Purdue University and then as a Professional Engineer. I've played with one of the ruling pens before just to try some expressive calligraphy, but this week I've been using the compasses for some wedding calligraphy pieces.  As I was working, I remembered that in elementary school I could never remember which was the compass and which was the protractor. 

Here is a peek at one of the calligraphy pieces on which I'm working.  I say it's wedding work, but I think the text would be applicable to many relationships not just marriage.  I have put the "love is" verses of 1 Corinthians 13 in my own words and am lettering the text on a round of watercolor paper.  I'm going in circles, but enjoying every minute of it.

Here is a peek at another piece on which I am working.  Lately, I have received many requests regarding Quaker style marriage certificates.  For this type of certificate, the guests at the wedding sign the certificate as witnesses and supporters to the union.  I think it's a beautiful tradition. I decided I needed to have a sample on hand, so I am using my husband's and my wedding information for the text.  I am going to do the border with off-hand flourishing.

It was wonderful to use my dad's compass for the border line and then to letter his name on the certificate.  It was a coming "full circle" kind of moment for me!

Designing My Blog's Header

I've been trying to design a header for my blog.  It has been two steps up and one step back, but you can see I haven't been completely unsuccessful. (Still can't figure out why the image is protruding beyond the border on the right.)  Thanks for helping me get that fixed!

I have had Photoshop Elements 4 for many years.  I thought I'd take to it like a duck to water, but unfortunately that hasn't been the case at all.  However, with the helpful posting of Trish Meyer to one of my calligraphy lists a few months back, I was finally able to tackle a task using PE4.  With black sumi, I hand lettered the word Flourish, along with the little floral and wheat elements, onto white paper.

Using the instructions I had saved from Trish's post,  I inverted the lettering from black to white.

Continuing with Trish's instructions, I combined my lettering with a background I had made in Victoria Pittman's Tortured Metals workshop.  

I added some text and wahlah!... my new header.  It was so gratifying to finally accomplish something in Photoshop Elements after all this time. Yay!..and "Thank you!" Trish.