Coming Soon: ezsett typograohic project

Of course now that I have gotten set up to work in my little room there is an opportunity to move back into a house with enough space for a studio of the caliber I've had in the past. So, while I am packing and moving and unpacking and stocking the new studio, I leave you with a teaser for the mini project that I am working on.



Water color on 96#/160g weight Royal & Langnickel paper

Ice Breakers

The kind of proposals I like...


make it easier for my introverted nature to talk about the cool things that I do. I've been keeping up with the promotional tour that Matthias Reim is doing for his upcoming concert tour & he reminds me of something that Michelle always tells me: if you are excited about what you do others will be excited too. I admire people who put themselves out there. I envy the people who put themselves out there. Matthias Reim is a rock star. I doubt that little dynamo needs something to break the ice when he meets new people. I do.

There have been enough random incidents while I have been out and about, painting at a table somewhere, that have taken me by surprise. I've bee asked so many times, "Do you have a card?" No card.

How will I ever get anywhere if I am not prepared when the Universe surprises me with it's favor by dropping something totally awesome into my lap? How many of those people who walked away without my card could have been a connection to something greater? I could have had a show by now. I could have had some commission work. Does that mean that it will never happen now?

By no means. Those experiences have taught me to be prepared. So I placed an order with www.moo.com. The sample cards last year were great. But I needed to work on the presentation part from my end, learn to take better photos & decide how I wanted to represent myself. So I figured it out. Placed an order and when I finally tore through the nearly child proof shipping package & opened that perfect little white jewel box...

There were 100 mini cards waiting for me. Tucked into a shiny little Mylar envelope the swivel case in which to carry them. And for the full sized business cards there was a matte finished black box the size of a cigarette pack but only half as thick. Each piece of this order screams "Great Customer Care!"

I love these guys. I love that I have some ice-breaking tools. Because I can print every single card with a different image if I want to, I don't have to explain my work. I can show it. These cards are a mini portfolio that speaks so much more confidently than I have been able to so far. Who knows... with these little gems in my hand, some of that moo confidence might rub off on me.

This is the whole kit & kaboodle.  They swivel open, dispense easily and I can clip the mini case to my purse or car keys. They will go anywhere. Which means that they can go everywhere that I don't always have access to. These cards are keepers. Thick stock, rich finish and of course... stunning artwork, these last a lot longer than the cards you could buy elsewhere for a lot less to get a lot more cards. But... do you really get more for so little money? We'll see.

 

Eszett: illuminated typography.... sort of

Watercolor on Strathmore
 

This is a gothic styled eszett created by combining the scharfes S  with a z. The Scharfes S is called a long S. In early American typography it resembled an F without the cross bar. And I don't mind telling you that it was very confusing to see George Washington's name written with a "goofy" F.

It is, as I may have mentioned before, a German calligraphic device that either stands in place of two esses or an ess and a zee. Modern writing standards have been challenged in recent years with the influence of the world wide web. German print standards are trying to get rid of the eszett. I hope that doesn't happen.

This is  beautiful special character. I especially like this gothic version. For one it uses a funky Z shape that you don't find very often instead of being a zig zig, it zigs and when the line comes down it dips below the base line with a half bowl extender... that's why this shape looks like a B. But trust me, it is a z.

The reason that I like this form the best is that it looks like a sword with a fancy quillon & guard.  Instead of a round pommel and button there is a tongue shaped flourish. And when I was sketching out this form, there were a couple of versions that reminded me a little of Van Helsing's silhouette.

A Rep You Must Have

After talking with a few friends it has been decided that I need to start looking for an agent/representative to start selling my art for real. Hmmmm...... are there even any art reps in my little town?

Big Projects Lower Productivity

This Pecock Poppy Pomegranate thing is killing me. It's large format is proving to be quite daunting and time consuming. So far we are looking at about 14 hours over the course of 6 weeks, you know, work and chores getting in the way. But if I am going to be terribly productive I'm going to need some smaller projects to work on during the down time.

Themes I've been contemplating: cacao pods, coffee, other fruits besides pomegranates. Or learning to paint glass.

Better Art Through Chemistry

 I found this blue while cruising through the Blick catalog. It is a fairly close match to Indanthrene blue which I like for getting deep rich colors. I need a really full ranged blue for mixing colors. And I think that this will be it.

Doing a little research to see if my assumption that it is related to the quinacridones that I love, I found some interesting facts about this quirky little blue.

For one thing, the science behind all the chemistry that makes these colors is complicated! And a bit frustrating. There is a lot of information to wade through that is so far over my head that now I have a head ache. But the trivial stuff is kinda interesting

• this pigment is oxidized anthracene
• it is a building block of Alizarin Crimson
• this blue chemical is the agent used to BLEACH paper
• naturally occurring in aloe and rhubarb, some fungi and lichens as well as some insects
• used to make hydrogen peroxide

Who knew!

 

 

As with all new pigments added to your personal palette, it's always best to make swatch pages so that you can see how your new color reacts with the colors that you are already familiar with. You will quickly discover which combinations make mud and which ones make a vibrant new shade. With your own custom color swatch book you have a true to you resource. Your own light, your own hand gives you a much truer idea of how your project will come out than relying in an online resource which is subject to the quirks of the computer screen of the originating computer and yours own screen.

 

This is a sample of Anthraquinone Blue mixed with the first of many new colors for me

 



Progress

And another couple of layers go down. With the new additions to my stash of tubes, I added some Opera to the poppies near the top. Some of my poppies were a pale pink but not very vibrant. So when the Opera came... woo hoo!

And with a little Perylene Maroon, which is my goto for a deep red, the pomegranates really start to pop. I am especially pleased with the pome crown in the back. It actually looks like a real pomegranate and it feels to me like I've done something that the Masters would encourage.

One day I will do a tutorial on the texture I used. I used to do a pointalist approach but that is so tedious. This technique is much easier. But you have to have patience with yourself and let the layers dry well in between applications.

I haven't done anything with the poppy in the foreground yet. I really like the subtleties there and don't want to overwork it. But it does need to come out a little bit more.