Neuland hand w brush

I have been taking calligraphy courses at Albany Adult School since Spring of 2008.   Every session we approach a different hand, and finish several unique projects.  These are:  a card in basic brush lettering, done with Pitts pens; a mixed-media page from a large-format hand-made journal: and a piece in Neuland hand.  Thank you, Michele–for getting me started on my art blog.

from M. Theberge

flyer for my band--ink, paint, crayon, collage

Spring 2011.  A few pieces in UNCIAL hand, courtesy of a week of terrible weather (for gardening)   This piece is too big for my scanner–but not a bad likeness.

Abraxas inks on watercolor ground

And a time-appropriate piece–copied from circa 715 A.D.

Pilot Parallel black on Arches text-wove with acrylic washes

acrylic wash, lettered with masking fluid in a 6.0 pilot parallel pen

There’s more calligraphy if you scroll down past the landscapes  .  .  .  .

The experience of suddenly being taken in by an image–a color I want to try to reproduce, the idea that I know I can, and want to be the one that does it–impels a work of art forward and magically brings it together on the page.  What is the suspension of disbelief?  What is the source from which the original image came?  Some analysis takes place, it’s astounding that just finding the tube of Vat Orange, black Pentel brush pen, yellow and green Winsor/Newton inks and water on Arches paper, all come together in a gestalt that I enjoy more than the original postcard I was compelled to copy.

The whole piece took one hour concept to blow-dryer finish, looks so cool in my calligraphy journal.

Sometimes there is a fear, based on the memory of how long a project took and the steps and intricacies involved, that distracts me from beginning a piece–all the time it was all impulse and instinct that moved it forward, the delicious feeling of brushes on fine soft paper.  Getting to that state is often elusive, and the thought of figuring it all out logically blows my mind!

Then there is the embarrassment of copying–without the years of whatever lead up to the style and composition–the original is a hard-edge painting on a glossy postcard.  Somehow, though, it is very satisfying.  Thanks, Tim!

Some of my favorite places to go camping are the Anza-Borrego desert wilderness (above left)

Death Valley (above) and Saline Valley, the Eastern Sierras and Lone Pine;  Southern Arizona, and Nevada (right)– almost anywhere there are Hot Springs.

Above The photo above left is Clark Dry Lake in Death Valley.

I find nothing more delightful than painting sky effects and mountains.  Foliage is something I need to work at, and those paintings are still to come.

Faint Heart Never Won Fair Phainopepla-acrylic and collage on found canvas