Thursday, October 2, 2014

ATC "Autumn Mushrooms"


My recent journal page was recycled for this design, which I needed to finish quickly for September's exchange. Although I deviated from the techniques, this was inspired by Danny Gregory's Fast and Slow drawing techniques, as well as Andrea Joseph's journal lettering.

Friday, August 22, 2014

FastAndSlow Sketch

This is my second attempt for Sketchbook Skool's Fast-and-Slow exercise. Danny Gregory has now made it clear he expects us to outline, rather than fill in. Nevertheless, I wanted to make fast, solid blobs for this particular sketch. I'll do something later that draws only the outlines. I'm so thrilled that our access to the course was extended--ever since Sprint took over our internet service, it's been so bad that, most of the time, I can barely watch the HD videos. I certainly didn't finish the assignments. Of course, each time I take another stab at an assignment, my effort is more pleasing than the last.

Printing at the Sawdust Festival

My friend, Emily, treated me to a day at the Festival of the Arts and the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach. A highlight, was drawing a quick sketch onto a sheet of styrofoam, then printing it with a roller press. I can imagine all kinds of possibilities. Once home, hubby reminded me that I have a Gocco printer that I've never quite figured out how to use. SO, Emily and I will spend next Friday playing with that printer.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Latest ATC - Ginko and Uncial

I've been taking an Uncial calligraphy class with John Rafter, through Mount San Antonio College.He's a very thorough instructor and I've learned quite a bit about refining this hand (style) which I've studied off-and-on for years.

For all my ATCs, I'm determined to use mainly on-hand materials. The background here is scrapbook paper, purchased years ago, glued to stock cut from an old rolodex card. The strip of text is snipped from a Japanese novel, layered on top of green and gold pieces cut from scraps of paper. The embellishments are from a package of little self-stick "gems".

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Calligraphy Class - Rowland Heights, CA


Exhibit Piece - Imperfect Pear

The Society for Calligraphy has an exhibit, Beyond Words, at Muzeo, in Anaheim, right now. In the past, I've submitted pieces that I had created, but this is the first time I've created a piece specifically for an exhibit.There are a couple things that I want to change/improve, I'm considering this a draft and this fall, I'll create a Final version. I named this Imperfect Pear.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014


Version One of my Japanese Pear ATCs. I only had time to make enough for the current exchange. I'll soon make a variation to give to friends, tentatively creating a background of bouncing Romans with a broad-edged pen.
   The pear was cut from a Japanese detective novel that I found at a thrift shop. Yes, I believe I have the text in this one upside down, since the Japanese write from top to bottom. For the red "skin", I painted a page with a mix of WN Scarlet Lake and WN Alisarin Crimson watercolor. The small seeds and stem are cut from scrap paper--that took awhile!
   I'm very happy with the bright, cheerful color contrasted with the black and white background.

Thursday, May 15, 2014


Playing around with techniques for decorating envelopes. This color, added with watercolor pencils, is a variation on a piece done by Jane Shibata--she used Uncial lettering. The color here isn't really true--it looks better "in person". I'll blend better on the next try--fun, but time-consuming.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Spring Tulips

Spring's ATC. I'm clearing out and reorganizing my sewing/art room and my goal is to use the materials I already have--I shouldn't need to purchase another art supply for the rest of my life! (Ha!) Re-used watercolor paper on which I had practiced painting trees. I coated that with gesso, to tone it down, so the copperplate lettering would not be obscured. Sketched the tulips and lettered "Tulips" with sumi ink. Scanned and printed the design on tracing paper, then pasted over the card. Painted with watercolor. Pasted a "rhinestone" to dot  the i.

I don't think I like this card as much as the last. It was done in a hurry. Next: experiment with variations in a sketchbook.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Should be a fun class . . .


Monday, January 27, 2014

Sew Loved

Shown here is one of the ATCs I created as part of a series. The initial design was sketched on a journal page, which can be viewed in a recent post.


In order to add more color, I stitched two bright red border-lines. That color is picked up by the Love label. I also stitched a perpendicular blue line to pick up the blue from the dress form on the left.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Bluewater Avalon


It seems I'm VERY slow to update this blog.This picture is from October 30 of last year, when D and I went to Catalina. He had childhood memories and wanted to stay there in a place overlooking the harbor.
  We had eaten at this location on a prior trip, but the food is much better now that Bluewater has taken it over. I loved going at this time of year, for a change--our view of the restaurant was of the lights from the houses on the side of the hill. The next day, we had lunch here, outside, overlooking the water.
  One highlight of this trip was watching the childrens' Halloween costume parade. Even the dogs had costumes, with lobsters being their favorite theme.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

ATC - Dress Forms

I'm really behind on posting! I'll plan to add some more scans over the next few days. On this hastily-done journal page, I was playing around, designing my next ATC--I'll make a batch this week. I plan to add a small contrasting element and I'll update this picture when I do.