Bobbi's Ladder to Heaven

A group of Jacksonville calligraphers recently had a small tribute show for Bobbi Yoffee, who died about a year and a half ago from ovarian cancer...this show motivated me to finish a small sculptural piece that I had started after she died, but never completed (actually, it mostly existed in my head, until I actually had a deadline! My collage students can verify, all I had was the back spine -about 15"x4"- collaged with joss paper!). I never got a proper picture of it with good lighting; all I have to offer it this quick snap in my studio.

Sculptured Surfaces in LA

This was the collage workshop I taught last October for the Society of Calligraphy in Los Angeles....what a talented group! We found several "do-able" collage projects for our short time together, and, with a lot of sweat equity, we turned out the products! This was amazing also in that many people took time out that Saturday to attend the memorial service of Molly Gaylor, a wonderful LA area calligraphy who had recently passed.) You can see the participants painting the hosho paper that will appear covering their little flipflop boxes, their photo frames and in their collages. (Thanks again for my hostess Xandra Zamora and Carrie Imai, for helping with all the gear and stuff (lots of raw materials had to be brought to this room!) Please play the video-slideshow to see the art in action!

New Champion

Letterist to the rescue! Last December I was asked to put the TPC Sawgrass Golf Championship winners on the wall of the Men's Champion Locker room...an area of the locker room at the Sawgrass Country Club that is reserved for the people who play in this major golf event every year...this is after they got bids from sign shops and wood routing folks, they decided that a handlettered Bembo font (the font used throughout the country club) was what they wanted! And who was fool enough to take that on? Moi. The Letterist. I estimated it would take me two full working days, and it took me four. But they paid me what I asked for and it was the highest job I ever bid (I knew it would be hard, but not that hard!)
So recently, I added this year's champion, a Henrik Stenson...luckily, a guy whose name isn't too long (did I mention each name not only is hand drawn, but has to have about three layers of paint?) and who is at waist height, so I didn't have to lean out from a ladder and have lights hanging from scaffolding...that's for next year.
View slide show below to get the scope of this doozy of a job....

Just got back from teaching GRAPHITE TECHNIQUES in Phoenix....strictly black and white (and grey, and gray) but O! THE COLOR! at the Phoenix botanical gardens.....I was taken by Nancy Stutman to the Chihuly exhibit (installation) there, with blown glass set into the cactus beds...and many of the cactus are in bloom this time of year! WOW! (this is a slide show with music, click the start arrow to see more images, and turn up the volume to hear a little bill evans jazz) We also visited the butterfly gardens...what a treat!
...And continuing with color...one of my students, Nancy Pilgrim, is a glass bead maker...of course we had a trade for one of my giclee prints and I got some pictures of her beautiful, beautiful multi-layered beads....thank you, nancy, for sharing your talents!
Enjoy!
Also, here is some work be my diligent Phoenix Graphite students....

Paste Paper!

When I was putting up my brush tutorials on YouTube, I realized there were NONE on paste paper.....I already had one in the can from my Love Letters Power Point, so I added some additional demos, some still pics of example of how I've used paste paper, and a sound track of my son Robin's group: Fluid Thought... and posted it!
Happy Easter

Instructional Videos on YouTube
search Brush Lettering - the Letterist

This is a book that was purchased from last year's Newberry (Explorations)show: as an anonymous gift. Even though I'm very proud of the book, I miss having it: it was a wonderfully handy way to carry around samples of a fully rendered graphite text, for my graphite students, and a drawn Neuland text for my Neuland students. We are all cutting back on luggage, even traveling teachers! All I have left are the pictures....