Hunting 301 - Home, Work, Art

I've been in Westminster, Colorado since Monday, looking for the essentials - a place to live, a place to work, and places to market my art.

One down - place to live - two more to go...

On today's agenda:  t-shirt design, calls to staffing agencies, and sending job applications this morning, followed by venturing to Pearl Street in Boulder this afternoon. Next week, I plan to visit my brother & sister-in-law in Fort Collins and inquire at galleries there, too.

I am reminded of another favorite quote:  "Life is not about finding yourself - it is about CREATING yourself."

Here's to CREATING my life!

Ready to Deliver

The wedding certificate is complete and ready to go to its new home later today.

This project took me a lot longer than I anticipated but I also learned a lot during the process:

• A little planning goes a LONG way. I am usually much more free-form in my work, but this forced me to be methodical and very careful with planning the layout.
• Work to whatever music moves me at the moment. It just so happens that I was listening to Prince, which had me grooving and relaxed, just enjoying laying down the ink and paint.
• Patio doors make great light boxes - especially for full-size watercolor sheets!
• Commissioned work is best when it relates to the one commissioning it. The floral design was adapted from a motif in a stained glass window in the bungalow of this couple. Granted, whatever I create will reflect me inherently, but it is important to me that the client feels a connection to the piece, too.

I am always to see a client's reaction, and hopefully today's will keep my record going...

(Click on the image for a larger view; use your browser's "Back" button to return to blog).

Commission in Progress

Having my morning joe while mentally-gearing up for painting the border and decorated initials on a wedding certificate. It's the first time I've ever created one of these, and I'm enjoying the process.

I spent the better part of the day yesterday, lettering a rough, determining spacing of text and lines for witnesses' signatures, then actually penciling in all the guidelines. It took more time than I had estimated, but that's okay, as this is a first, and experience is a great teacher!

I used my patio window as my light box, tracing the border I had drawn on sketch paper. This certificate is a full page of 22x30" hot-press Fabriano watercolor paper, 150# weight. I used a heavier paper, because it will be signed after the ceremony, meaning it will get handled somewhat.

Here it is so far, with the calligraphy done in walnut ink with 1.5 mm and 2.5 mm Brause nibs.

More CD Cover Designs...

...a continuation from the previous post...

I ended up deviating from the plan - imagine that - me, deviating from a plan?! Hard to believe, I know, but I did - and enjoyed every minute of it. (Like usual, too!) I still used the random Wikipedia articles for band names and random quotations for the album titles. As I "let the chips fall where they may", some fun combinations grew.

I used several of my own photos from India, as well as an adorable photo of my sister, Heidi, when she was just a small fry. (I would call it a "vintage" photo, but only at the risk of incurring the wrath of an older sister. I think I had better practice my sprinting technique...) Several photos of rust, water ripples, cement, and others that I took last fall were used for textures and "grunging".

I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I had fun playing with various effects and layers...
(Remember, you can click on the images for a larger view - get clicking!)

Could Not Resist

A fun challenge was posted by a friend on Facebook today:

1. Go to wikipedia and hit random. The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to quotationspage.com and hit random. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”. Third picture no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use photoshop or similar (picnik.com is a free online photo editor) to put it all together.
5. Post it with this text in the "caption" and TAG the friends you want to join in.

I thought, "Hey, that sounds like fun - let's see what can happen in a totally random project!"

So here it is - my album cover. 

I grunged the band name, "Gower Report", weathered the photo with a photo of rust that I had shot last fall, and just plain had some fun with the layers. I think I may have to do some more for a portfolio project!

I Love Commissions

Some calligraphers I know will not take on commissions - it scares the bejeebers out of them. While I admit that some requests have induced a certain level of fear in me, it is usually only when I am requested to do something I've never done before - e.g. lettering on a motorcycle (turned out to be an OCC, so good thing I didn't know!), working with Native American pigments on deer hide, lettering on pottery, etc.

I like to bring happiness to people - and it's no different with clients. I want them to be more than pleased - I go for the "Wow!" reaction, but will settle for the speechless tears of happiness, too. It's those moments that make life as an artist so rewarding.

Enough drabble...here's my latest commission, waiting for matting and framing...

Playing with an Idea

I started working on a commission - when, it's hard to say, as my process begins with thoughts - cooking up an idea. From that point, I may search through clippings for inspiration for a layout I like, may doodle on a tablet, but I always begin with a pencil rough.

Yesterday, I just started writing, not aiming for great lettering, but just a feel I wanted. By the end of the day, I had the layout I liked, and I'm ready to proceed with adding a watercolor wash (to a fresh sheet of paper, of course) and the calligraphy in deeper shades.

The client wants blues and purples, but I may throw in something like a deep magenta or red for accent - "may" is the operative word. I know I will add some touches of gold - a little glitz goes a long way!

Here's the 2 roughs, in order of progression:

Greeting Card Designs

Wow - I can't believe this is my first blog since returning home to Minneapolis! Life needed to be re-organized, re-prioritized, and re-examined - but I was still creating...just creating my life, too.

That reminds me of a quote I really like: "Life is not about finding yourself; it is about creating yourself". (Unknown author).

One project I finished was that of tweaking and finalizing two accepted Xmas greeting card designs for The Printery House. (I am only showing one, as I have plans for the other design beyond that of a card). You'll just have to wait - drama, suspense, cool artwork - all right here in one spot!

All kidding aside, here's the design:

Calligraphy Classes

On a whim, I wandered over to the International School of Hyderabad, located on this ICRISAT campus at Patancheru, India, to inquire if they'd be interested in having me guest-teach beginning calligraphy. They enthusiastically said "Yes!", and we set a schedule beginning the following week.

I liked that they not only displayed student art in the hallways,
but they also let them paint on columns, walls, etc.
No cold, sterile-feeling environment here - yahoo!

What a wonderful experience this has been! I taught beginning Italic to 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th grade students. They were all great students, and we accomplished a lot in a short amount of time.

One of the 7th grade students - a wonderful group of young people!

Mr. Karan Singh, the middle school art instructor and an AMAZING artist - and me.

Unfortunately, they were taking a break soon, so I did not have as much time as I would ideally have liked with them, but that's life. I'm just happy for the opportunity that was given to me.

Gifts and Practice All in One!

Oliver's mama came home early, so I took advantage of their play time and lettered the names of the rest of the Douglas family members. Here are the kids' name pictures, done with a folded pen and indigo and sprectrum red watercolor:

...and one for my grandbaby, Oliver:

A Baby's Version of Murphy's Law

Yup, when I need the little guy, aka Oliver, to take a long nap, he barely takes only a 45-minute one. Now, if I hadn't wanted to get some art made, he'd have slept 2 hours! What a kiddo!

One of our new friends here, Gillian, from Australia, is celebrating her birthday today - so I wanted to quickly make her a card/gift. I barely got the paints mixed and was still just in warm-up mode, when Oliver woke, so unless I find time later today, her gift will be the warm-up picture. Oh, well, as a mother of three (one of whom she & her husband have nicknamed "Shiva - Lord of Destruction") she will understand.

Back to playing with Oliver...

Verse by Ibn al Arabi

From Sadia Dehlvi's column in THE HINDI, the newspaper of Hyderabad:

Her column was entitled, "Sufi's Light on Divinity", about the Sufi Mystic, Shaykh Muhyddin Ibn al Arabi, aka Shaykh ul Akbar. This verse by Ibn al Arabi (who died in 1240, remembered for his contribution in understanding Divine Love):

"Wonder, A garden among flames!

My heart has become capable of every form:

A pasture for gazelles & a convent for Christian monks,

And a temple for idols, and the pilgrim's Kaaba,

The tables of the Torah and the book of the Koran.

I believe in the religion of Love,

Whatever direction its caravans may take,

For love is my religion and my faith."

I will be emailing Sadia to get permission to reprint her article in its entirety - it really touched my heart. Naturally, I'm wanting to create some art around this verse.