Typeface

Typeface on T Tuesday

I learned lettering and calligraphy

in high school, using a 'dip' pen with a

wide nib and India ink.  We practiced and 

practiced the Old English style, until I was

very tired of it.  It was the most complicated

and had the most strokes to each letter.

Now that we use computers for lettering

fonts, it might seem unnecessary to know

hand-lettering styles, but I do enjoy being

able to draw or write almost any style

that I desire in my art journals.

Mixing up the letter styles is fun...and inventing

your own design is too!

Above, lettering 'borrowed' from the Harry Potter

movie series.  I see a resemblance to the 

Old English letters in the lower case lettering...

Above, an example of some lettering done

with a felt-tip calligraphy pen.  Basically that

just means the pen tip is a 'chisel-shape, '

rather than a thin point on the end.

When holding the pen at an angle as you write,

on the down-stroke of each letter you get a

wider stroke than on a horizontal or diagonal.

If you've ever examined the instructions for

calligraphy, some of the diagrams show tiny

arrows instructing the calligrapher in which 

direction to make the strokes for each letter.

It sounds complicated, but once you've 

learned the basics, it's similar for all styles

of lettering.  Above, Speedball textbook, 20th edition, 

copyright 1972. I probably bought this book in

1973, and have used it off and on ever since.

 These days, styles can be much

freer and you can get creative with spacing

and size of letters to suit yourself.  Well, I'm 

not doing a formal document or award, so

I pretty much suit myself!

When I make letters with shadows, I always put

the shadow on the right, as though the 'light source'

is coming from the upper left.  A habit formed during

 that practice in high-school.  When you are focusing

on the lettering, however, it is rather easy to

spell something incorrectly!  I try to double-check

before I ink it.  But the beauty of collage and

art journal pages, is that I can paste something

right over top of a mistake!

 I will be linking up with Elizabeth for her weekly

T Tuesday link party.  

and showing a beverage container...

do you ever have soda for breakfast?

just wondering...

TABS on T Tuesday

Tabs with my morning coffee today...

I like to try finding a topic that begins with 'T' for

the T Tuesday link-up party with Elizabeth and friends.

Thought I would share TABS

 on the edges of my art journal pages.

Tabs make me happy...

Most are made from scrapbook paper or 

watercolor paper, either rectangles or circles

punched out with a circle punch. Notice I sewed a

bit of burlap for the tab on the right. It is rather

bulky, but I like how it looks.  I've also used security

envelope liners, and watercolor paper with doodles

in paint and pen to make Tabs.

There are lots of options!

The Paper Clip as a tab: above, is a counted

cross-stitch design on Aida, that was cut out, glued to

the paper clip along with backing fabric, and 

the entire piece stiffened with white glue.

Another paper clip tab, with a knotted strip of

fabric.  You can also see the purchased paper clip

to the left that has an arrow image on it. I am not sure

if I bought it in the office supply aisle, 

or in scrapbook supplies.

Above, a rather large tab covered with

fabric scraps.  I guess I just wanted to include

the entire collage on this tab...

One of my favorite tabs: a scrap of lace that

I crocheted with beads sewn onto it.  The 

bugle beads and seed beads stick out over the

edge of the page. Not a substantial tab, but

adds a nice texture!

Tabs on cards or tags inside a pocket, make the

piece easier to pull out of the pocket.

A bit of fall color is showing up in my area

of Ohio...and here's one of the many

primitive pumpkins that appear around our

house this time of year.

Linking up with Elizabeth for T Tuesday.

Thanks for visiting!

Techniques on Tuesday

My most often used techniques:

Drawing, painting and collage.

Above, Sharpie pen drawing from a fashion

magazine, while watching a British murder

mystery on Netflix~ "Midsomer Murders."

  Couldn't resist adding that quote to the page!

Sharpie pen, blue watercolor, phone book

pages, and magazine scraps.  Click on the

image for a larger view.

I am faithfully keeping up - barely -

with The Documented Life Project, which

has a new 'prompt' each week.  While I 

usually get one page done (the tip-in)

 for the prompt each week, often

 the pages underneath have to wait days or

weeks to get completed. Sometimes they 

follow the prompt, but sometimes not.

Above, more faces from Week 35. The

journal also includes 'planner pages' with

my activities and appointments for

that week. I decorate and doodle on 

them too, but don't usually show 

them in order to maintain privacy-

at least some semblance of it.

Above, from week 33 ~ the prompt was to 

use your 'under papers' in your art.  Which 

meant whatever type of paper you had under

the art work you were creating, that might have

 splatters, scrapes, scribbles and drips of paint, 

or ink on it. Above, deli paper, painted papers, 

watercolor,  acrylic, Sharpie & gel pens, 

with words from a food packaging carton.

Above, Week 34 prompt  of DLP was to include

 numbers on your page.  I think these collages 

ended up being more successful than 

the initial tip-in page. (using my grocery list!)

Some unfinished pages...not sure what 

more to include, but there will probably be

 quotes and doodles involved...

upper right is a vintage scrap 

from Children's Book of Knowledge, 1953,

along with decorative tape and notepad paper.

Pumpkins and Fall decorations began 

appearing around my house in the 

middle of August. My daughter thought

 it was a bit premature.

•  ♦  •

Linking up with Elizabeth's T - Tuesday party,

and showing a 'virtual' coffee mug 

from my art journal.  Pop over 

to T-Tuesday to see what's new...

•  ♦  •

There may be more Fall arts and crafts to come

here on the blog...what do you think?

White Gel Pen on Black

The Documented Life Project:

Week 37~ Use a white pen prominently

on your page.

Sakura Gelly Roll pen on black card stock.

The Solar System illustration on the right

is from a vintage, 1953 Book of Knowledge,

a children's encyclopedia of science,

literature and art.  The image just seemed

to work in a quirky kind of way...

Love this quote.  Art makes

life better!

♦  •  ♦

Treacle Tart Recipe

When reading the Harry Potter stories,

I wondered what exactly Treacle Tart is.

Having looked for recipes on-line, it seems

to resemble our American pecan pie ~

without the pecans.  I've never made it,

but it's on my 'bucket list.'  I understand

you can substitute Karo syrup for the 

Golden's syrup, and there also seems

to be a debate about whether or not

a bit of molasses might be included.

In the U.S., some stores may carry the

Golden's syrup in the pancake syrup aisle.

An illustrated recipe page seemed like

fun, especially for Elizabeth's

T Tuesday link party...

I prefer a smiling Mr. Potter over

the darker, more troubled expressions...

and I think that baking up a recipe is

a lot like mixing up a magic potion!

Drawing and Collage: Black and White

Documented Life Project-

Week 35: Draw (or clip a face from a magazine)

for your weekly page...

  I decided to sketch in Sharpie pen

a drawing from da Vinci's notebook.  I have an

old desk calendar with these wonderful drawings

by da Vinci, and periodically make copies for 

collage or try to sketch from them. I rarely 

capture the amazing images as well as

I'd hoped, but it's very good practice!

Week 36: Black and White

I've noticed that many participants in the

Documented Life Project are using

paints and inks for their art work...and

 the inspiration provided by the

Art to the 5th artists is wonderful.

But it's pretty much 'anything goes'

for the projects, and

 I just have to make collages sometimes!

Above: my drawings, acrylic paint,

fabric, envelope liner, scrapbook papers, 

black Sharpie pen, & white gel pen.

I encourage you to draw, cut and paste today!

Tractors and other 'Fair' Things

Morrow county fair

This was a 'week of County Fairs.'

Above, sketches done on Saturday, while waiting for the

Morrow County Fair (Ohio) Tractor Pull to begin...

almost everyone was wearing a baseball cap.

We wore two pair of ear plugs because of the 

noise! One foam pair in our ears, and when the

trucks came out, we also put on 'ear-muff' type

ear protectors as well!  Loud engines, alcohol

flames, amazing custom paint jobs, and a very

enthusiastic and professional announcer.

The stands were full, and the people-watching

was nearly as fun as the tractor pull.  I didn't quite

get the sketch done of the tractor with the 'tank treads'--

it was 'working' the track before the show started.

A really huge monster...quite a contrast with

the antique tractor parade immediately 

preceding the tractor pull!

Morrow County fair

We visited a few barns before the tractor pull, 

and I took the opportunity to sketch this

 lovely pigeon. It was in the Poultry and Rabbit building, 

and was cream and tan, with iridescent

feathers on its neck, that changed from pink to green.

A landscaped area between two buildings- I used some 'artistic license' here!
 Fulton County Fair

The previous day, on Friday, I had driven to 'the 

top of the state' to the Fulton County (Ohio) Fair,

where my daughter and son-in-law are 4-H advisers

and Red Cross volunteers.  It is one of the largest

county fairs in Ohio, and a really nice fair...the way

I remember that county fairs 'used to be.'  Seems as

though county fairs are losing participants, as farms

get bigger and perhaps have less time to participate in

such things as fairs, schools have done away with things

such as FFA and ag, and everyone is so busy 

working and trying to make ends meet.

It's so nice to see home canning, quilts, antiques,

fabulous 4-H exhibits, and art exhibits, along with

the animals, midway rides, and of course lots of food!

Fulton County Fair

Sketch done with Sharpie pen-direct to paper- with watercolor

pencils added for color, so I could blend with water later...I used

the small book that I received from Roz Stendahl, as described here, 

while using a small clipboard as my drawing surface.

This is the first time I ever noticed that some folks like to leave

the legs of the lamb unshorn- all fluffy- as opposed to the

clean and lean body. 

Fulton County Fair

In the poultry and rabbit barn...these geese were very vocal!

Don't know the breed, but they were quite the pair, and 

giving me the eye because I stood near for so long.

"Suspicious woman wearing a goofy hat and doing 

something odd when she should feed us!" may

have been the translation of their honking...

Fulton County Fair

Above, these fancy birds had feathers standing straight up

on their heads like a crazy headdress!  One of them 

had its eye completely obscured by feathers-

I couldn't  see its eye at all.  Because it moved

 so much, I really did not capture the beautiful

markings of the black and white feathers...

but enjoyed the attempt.

Joining Elizabeth for T Tuesday- my T is for Tractor!

And as always, my beverage of choice today is coffee...

but I'm sharing a collage (above) from a previous post~

because those lemonades, and Slushies at the fairs

sure looked appetizing on a hot day!