Ominous

 

This Inktober prompt took an "ominous" turn for Hallowe'en.  I'll post some Inktober sketches in coming days, but I've been influenced by a Ben Shahn program this week at our monthly Westcoast Calligraphy Society meeting.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Westcoast Calligraphy September Program

 

The Westcoast Calligraphy Society has a terrific line-up of programs planned for this year.  Although we can't meet in person, we're now meeting by Zoom.

In September, we did some watercolour spraying.  I've done it before, and it is always a fun activity.  We were supposed to gather fallen leaves to use, but it was pouring with rain that day, so I used some plastic ones.  And rather than the lovely fall colour I had planned, I had to use green because the pump on my butterscotch spray bottle was clogged.  It was an evening of last minute improvising all around, but with a Zoom meeting my supplies were all close at hand!

Yesterday I added the greeting using Akim Cursive and made this card . 

Calligraphy Practice becomes Bookmarks

Pointed Pen, Watercolor Ink

I was trying out some calligraphy options for my journal the other day.  I wrote on strips of mixed media paper left over from making journals.

Pointed Pen, Watercolor Ink, Pencil Crayon, Gel Pen

Watercolor ink worked well for the lettering and for the added color in the counter-spaces the best option is gel pen or a very sharp pencil crayon.

Decorating Paper

I decorated a sheet of watercolour paper with sprays this week too.  I'll be needing a new sketchbook soon, so I'll use it for the covers.

Journal Covers

7" x 7" Journal Cover

I took advantage of a sunny day recently to spray a large sheet of watercolour paper with watercolour ink.  I used a piece of it to make my current journal, shown above.  I still have some left to use in the future.

I'm always on the lookout for fun ways to decorate paper, and last month's Westcoast Calligraphy Society meeting provided some new inspiration.  Someone shared an idea that she learned at the recent Seattletters Conference.  Eager to try this out, I spent last Saturday "auditioning" colours:

I did these on cardstock with some Artist Loft watercolours (that perform a little more like gouache than watercolour), and some Laurentian metallic watercolours.

 I'll buy some large sheets of Canson Mi Teintes paper to do the final version.

 Each one has four layers.

I took some "in progress" pictures.  First, I wrote Roman Capitals with a 1/2" flat brush, covering the cardstock.  I let this first layer dry, rotated the paper 90 degrees and then wrote in a different colour.  Below, you can see the first two layers of the green sample.  The first layer was a metallic green, the second layer bronze.

The third layer is white:

The final layer was black:

30 Days of Biblical Lettering

 

Brush Lettering, Watercolor

 

Last week on Instagram, I found an interesting hashtag - #30daysofbiblicallettering.  It was an April lettering project, and quotations were provided for each day.  Unfortunately it was almost over when I found it, but I started anyway, and I hope to loop around and do April 1, 2, 3, etc. on May 1, 2, 3.

 

Of course, this required the making of a whole new journal! LOL

 

Here are the others I've done so far:

 

 

Brush Lettering, Watercolor

 

 

Watercolor Ink

 

 

Watercolor Ink