Triplets?

No, not triplets, just three requst for poems and vows which use the exact same layout - OH MY!  It's not often I get back to back requests which I can use the same template.

So these requests all came the last of December, and finished up the last request mid-January.  The layout is one from the Alan Furber book, "Layout and Design for Calligraphers".  Tried and true ideas that can get you through even the most challenging of requests. 

These layouts are right aligned, which I like.  All three used a pointed pen variation, which is my favorite!  NOTICE the change in color and lettering style?  In lieu of a title, I used this idea for visual interest as well as to convey the emotion of the piece.

Glow Worm

"We are all worms, but I do believe that I am a glow worm." -Winston ChurchillA dear friend from dinner club had asked me to do this quote for her a year and half ago (6/2008). She was patient and never bugged me about it. I didn't have a deadline, so it wasn't a priority. *The artists out there know what I'm talking about.

All my ideas didn't seem right. I never felt ready to execute the final. Then one day, in a paste paper workshop (12/2009), I created this piece. I thought to myself, "This is it! This the glow worm poem."

I finally felt as if I had the right paper, the right colors, the right everything. Once I was ready to put the pen to the paper ... the ink repelled. No matter how much Blair spay fix I used, (the paper was saturated) ... the gouache repelled. I went over and over it - and over again. Patiently let it dry. The gouache seemed to finally stay in place. Much rejoicing!

This is the final photo. Paste Paper. Lettered in gouache. Pointed pen variation and Foundational variation.