Thursday, March 8, 2012

Artful Grid Lines

I took a little hiatus from working on Joanne Sharpe's Letter Love eCourse, but have jumped back into it to make sure that I don't lose my momentum.  I enjoy every lesson I do, and I walk away with projects each time that I'm pleased with.  I think that's a great testament to the quality of Joanne's instruction and assignments!

In one lesson, she has us creating artful, or "groovy," grid lines to use as a backdrop for our lettering.  She encourages using all different media, especially watercolor paints.  I kept it easy and tidy, and stuck with my markers for creating my lines.  In the future, I will try paints, but I was really pleased with my results using markers alone.
I created thick lines across the page with two different colors of markers, and then added additional lines with a thin black pen.  The black pen lines were the guides for my letters.  I used a Marc Chagall quotation:  "If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing."

Before I filled in the open spaces of my letters with blue, I took some pictures of the page, because I was afraid the blue might ruin it!
Do you like it better with or without the letter spaces filled in with blue?

Here are a few more close ups:
For my second page, I chose different colors and a different quotation.  Here it is without the open spaces of the letters filled in:
I used the e.e.cummings quotation:  "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."  Love that!  And here is the final product, as well as a close-up:
Finally, I did a third page, with a different color scheme:
This is a Ralph Waldo Emerson quotation:  "Do not go where the path may lead.  Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."  When I went to my mailbox this afternoon, I found another postcard from Shannon's swap, and it had this very same quotation on it!  (I will feature the postcard in a future post!)

These projects were great fun, and I am generally pleased with how the pages turned out.  One thing I love about Joanne's writing is the freedom and spontaneity of her letters.  My lettering still looks very labored and forced.  I think that is fairly obviously because I am so new to it, and with additional practice, it will look more natural.  It's always good to have goals, right?

At first, I was really loving the portability of this class, because all I needed with me was my notebook and my little zipper case of pens.  But as my pen collection expanded during the course, and as I decided to keep all of my old pens together with my new purchases, things have gotten a little bulkier:
But, oh, it is delicious to keep all those colorful pens and markers together in one place!

*******************************************************
I got some very fun news via email the other day!  I entered a giveaway on Regina's web site, Creative Kismet.  She was offering a spot in a new online course running in April called the ART*FULL Sketchbook with Dana Barbieri, and I WON IT!  Now, I probably need a new online course like a need a hole in my head, but I just cannot resist the opportunity to learn new techniques, receive new inspiration, and meet new online friends with similar interests to mine, so I'm very excited to be a part of this class!  If you would like to learn more about it, check it out here!

11 comments:

Anne said...

I like the first and third quotes filled in but kind of prefer the second one plain. No reason...I just do! You always manage to find the most meaningful messages. Glad you still enjoy the class.

scrapwordsmom said...

I love the blue...it adds so much. This class looks like a blast! I so want to take...thank you for sharing your work with us.

Congrats on the WIN!

And so happy you will be here for my class.

Happy Weekend!

Leslie

Laura Bray said...

Very pretty! I love the technique!

Kristin said...

What a great post! I love that you won - and loved even more your comment about needing another online course ;) I am the same way - I want to do them all but never end up actually doing many of the lessons. . . . Your work and lettering is absolutely beautiful - I love the creative lines and the white pops! And I really enjoyed the tutorial on envelopes too, thank you! xo

laurie said...

your lettering looks great! i love the striped pages and the quotes you chose. i know what you mean about another on-line class - if only there weren't so many great ones out there! have a wonderful, creative weekend. :-)

Lynette (NZ) said...

Loving your quotes here...I am working through this class slowly too. It's so fun. See you again :-)

Janet said...

I love your artful grids. Colorful and wonderful quotes. I'm glad you won Regina's giveaway, but I wished it was me. lol It seems we are like minded. Feel free to visit my creative blog: http://hellocreativesunshine.blogspot.com/ I have 3 blogs going and yes I am nuts. You'll have to scroll down a bit to see my grids but I much prefer yours!

aprilmariecole.blogspot.com said...

These are such beautiful "lettering", great work!
I agree, having all your favorite pens and makers close at hand, is pure heave.
An artists delight! :]

Parabolic Muse said...

Andria!

I really really like the lettering you're doing. I aspire to working more with my letters. I just wrote on some postcards and was not thrilled with my penmanship. But to answer your question, I really like the letters both filled-in and not filled-in. The first set filled in is even better! And congrats on winning the course!

Yes, it is hard to pen in the burgeoning pen collection, but it's always good to have choices! At least with pens!

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