For the Love of Penmanship

What do all these images have in common?

I wrote a letter to my 3rd grade teacher to thank her for teaching me cursive.

(It's not one I can really send). But it was a great prompt for journaling/memoirs.

I've been refining my cursive writing with a book, The Art of Cursive Penmanship.

A Test of the Pens in a new Quo Vadis Journal.

Clairfontaine dot grid but on white instead of cream color

like my favorite Rhodia Web Notebooks.

 

Pages from my Daily Journal

A different sort of art journal. Folio collage in which I'm using up snippets, little drawings

& watercolor washes & designs from my stored stash.

Yes! Handwriting with fountain pens! Love!

PS My favorite source for pens, ink, journals, paper:

Goulet Pens. Variety, customer service, yes,

but also education & inspiration of how to further 

their use & enjoyment.

Do you write/draw with a fountain pen or did you?

Sketching at the Little Beach

Finally, an outdoor sketch! 

We weren't exactly outdoors, we were eating 

takeout sandwiches in the car,

 overlooking the little beach that is just south of here.

 

The seagulls are way too big, 

but it was they who dominated my attention. 

Six of them,

hanging out, swimming from pebbled sand, 

then riding tiny waves,

then just floating & bobbing, 

together. 

One was often apart from the group, 

but eventually joined the others...

Blue: Folio Book with Pockets & a Pamphlet Booklet

 

I promised myself & you, blog visitors, that I 

would glue up my painted Blue papers (previous post) 

into a folded folio.

The pages of the little tied up booklet 

have become ink swatches

of 5 favorite fountain pen inks in blue: 

Diamine Polar Glow, Noodler's Midnight, Sailor 940, 

Sailor Yonaga, & Noodler's Blue. 

The sentence in the lower right middle, on vellum says,

"Blue, réconforte-moi." Translated: "Blue, comfort me..."

Gift Giving & Receiving

I've been creating postcards, folios & little booklets

to give as gifts. 

I also enjoyed receiving a few gifts this season

like this fine pottery vessel made by Maine potter,

Mark Bell.

The blues are so dreamy.

They inspired some watercolor painting...

These are now elements ready to glue into

another folio/envelope/pocket accordion booklet.

Stand by for the finished product...

I'm feeling renewed & hopeful in this new year

while also weary of the virus restrictions.

I know that restoration & healing will take time.

In the meantime: There is Art.

I hope that you out there, Dear Visitors, are 

safe, content & hopeful too.