I’m getting ready for Master Penman Harvest Crittenden’s online Spencerian class starting in a few days.
I have to say although it may *look* easy, this oval drill is pretty tough. The goal, according to Master C.P. Zaner’s Lessons in Ornamental Penmanship, is to have all the ovals in uniform slant, height, and spacing.
Obviously I have a long way to go – but it can only get better from here!
I have been active on Instagram (IG) for the past two years or so, and in the past year I have made so many like-minded friends who are just as enthusiastic (if not more) as I am about calligraphy!
Heber is one of the calligraphers I met on IG. Not only is he an excellent calligrapher and designer, he is also a skilled artisan. He has been hard at work making adjustable flanges by hand. When he decided to share his work, I sent the above beloved penholders to him and he gave new life to them by adding adjustable flanges! Now I feel like I just got three new penholders.
Thank you Heebs, you’re the bee’s knees!
Photo by my teacher
Re-posting the photo from my teacher. See how much fun we have in calligraphy class? :)
The last class of Blackletter was this week. I learned a lot and really enjoyed this age-old letterform! It took me a while to “warm up” to Gothic. I found Textura really difficult because it is so structured, but I incorporated it into a fun Halloween project. Once we started moving to Fraktur, I started to like Blackletter more and more. Around Thanksgiving, it began to feel more comfortable and I was able to see some progress.
Happy New Year, friends! My one resolution is to grow and improve at calligraphy. Thanks all for the inspiration and encouragement. Here’s to a great year of learning!
Blackletter class work to date. I often get frustrated at myself because I just can’t get my writing to look perfect. But looking back, I do see some progress!
And here is class work from today. I am thankful for calligraphy, people who appreciate it, and friends who support my work!
“Maybe I’m Amazed,” one of my favorite McCartney songs.
Everyone who knows me know that I am a huge music fan. I’m especially fond of beautiful melodies with lyrics that I can really identify with. Sure, I enjoy happy music like everyone else, but songs of introspection, sadness, longing, and loss always make me stop and listen.
Inspired by the word of a few lettering artists on Tumblr, I started setting lyrics to calligraphy and lettering as practice and have been getting so much positive feedback when I shared them on Instagram and Tumblr. I’m so thankful to everyone who has been supportive with their “likes” and comments.
Here are a few more from my notebook:
A letter to Harry from me. Talk about Owl Post! :)
It’s so nice to be able to do some fun calligraphy on a Sunday morning. As I was taking photos of the envelope, I looked up at my dining room hutch and remembered my Howard Pierce collection. Doesn’t this little owl look like a baby Hedwig?
Had a lot of fun writing out this cocktail menu for a practice session of Casual Pointed Pen script. I was getting mighty thirsty as I imagined how delicious each of these drinks would taste!