November 2020 Meeting

Meeting Minutes 10 Nov 2020

11 present

Lynn Frieburg- Versal Gift Tags

 

Welcome & Announcements:

**Lynn came down with a stomach flu at the last minute. Candy plans to fill in for her tonight.

**Candy passed around the guild birthday card list and encouraged us to sign up to send birthday cards to fellow members.

**The annual Christmas Party is still on at TJ’s house on Tuesday, Dec 8.

**The freebie table is full of pencils, thanks to Jim Whitford.

**Karen McGinn told us how much she enjoyed her 2-day Black Letter on-line class with Reggie.  Another on is coming up in early December featuring Carolingian and another hand.  

 

Show & Share:

**Karen S brought cards people had sent her recently.

 

Tips & Tricks:

**Tom told us how well Liquid Latex by any brand works well as a masking fluid.  It’s a product mostly used as a glue for train and woodland scenes. He recommends adding water to thin if using in a pen first dipped into Dawn dishwashing liquid. Thanks!  Great tip, Tom!

 

Library Book Review:

**Karen S gave a thorough review of Shelia Water’s book “Water’s Rising: Letters From Florence”.  Sheila and her husband met in art school in England and migrated to the US around 1971.  Peter was an extraordinary conservator and book binder.  He was in charge of the team of folks called in to rescue and restore the volumes of books nearly destroyed in the 1966 flood in Florence. Karen shared excerpts of letters illustrating the immense love Peter and Sheila had for one another.  Julian brought a copy of the book when he taught our Black Letter class a couple of years ago.  Karen encouraged us to take the book home and look it over.  Karen McGinn did just that!

 

Evening Presentation:

**Candy did a fine job presenting the material Lynn sent her in photo fashion.  Candy brought the images up on her phone and projected them for all of us to see.  She traced over a pencil drawn exemplar and we got to work tracing some letters onto watercolor paper and embellishing with paint.  Some of us tried Tom’s masking fluid to preserve the white spaces.  Lynn put a lot of work into her gift tags and we’re sorry she wasn’t well enough o present them in person.  Maybe another day!   

Cards sent to Karen S

Psuedo Masking Fluid

Lynn's Sample Versals

Lynn's Letters

October 2020 Meeting

Meeting Minutes 13 Oct 2020

18 present

Barbara Close’s Gestures in Graphite 

 

Welcome & Announcements:

**Welcome back!  This is our first meeting since COVID hit in March, forcing us to keep at home.  Our Sept meeting was canceled due to an early snow.

**Tom asked for volunteers to create art using odds and ends from an aviation collector.  Proceeds from the sales will fund the aviation museum he helps/works for.

**Angie Tingle held a day-long journaling workshop in her new studio downtown.  It was met with huge success.  

 

Show & Share:

**Karen McGinn used Calligraphic Crystals from John Neal to enhance the envelopes she brought.  She had a decorated Versal H to show as well.

**Kimmi got an idea from Pinterest to use an old Rolodex to add art to.  She made an Itsy-Bitsy Spider pop-up book for her 2-year-old grandson, and used scraps of paper she had to create new cards! 

**Cecelia brought some of the pieces she did in Randy’s recent workshop using a square Speedball A-nib and fat round end B nib.

**Tom showed off his airbrushed mask with an image of an airplane.

**Cheryl brought the journal she worked in Randy’s recent class.

**Deb S used an Elton John concert ticket to create a Rocket Man piece as a tribute to the music legend as well as a haiku.

**Lynn F brought in a new Etch-A-Sketch to show how much it’s improved. She thought young children could use it to practice their penmanship.

**Christie Lee went hiking and took pictures of aspen trees in full color and turned them into cards.  

**Margie brought the collecting cards she had been sent in a small box!

**Others had cards they’d received and samples of the work they’d done on the Show & Share table.

**Candy showed us how to use a piece of tape to pull apart the layers of napkin and a water brush to pull an image away from the background of the napkin without using scissors!  Great technique!  She used matte medium as her glue because it has less water in it than regular glue. She glued the image of a hummingbird to white cardstock to create a card.

 

Our Library Book Review:

**Leslie showed us Jill Berry’s book on Geographical Journaling using maps for the basis of projects and journals as well as Max Gallo’s The Poster in History, featuring hundreds of images of posters from around the world and noted how they influenced various art forms.

**Karen McGinn gave a short report on the Zoom course she took on American Cursive with Marie Hornbeck.  She plans to offer classes on American Cursive at a local library for elementary aged students this fall.  

 

Evening Presentation:

**Candy went to IAMPETH in July of 2019 when it was in Denver and took Barbara Closes’ class on Studies in Graphite. She asked Barbara for permission to use a few of her examples for tonight’s presentation.  Candy had us trace one by one inch squares onto plain copy paper and then using a soft carpenter’s pencil, began adding pressurized shapes of wisps and strands in each box to create grasses and shadows.  She used a stump, but said a Q-Tip would work to smudge areas to create the shadows.  She also showed us a few samples of graphite work in the VOL 34:2 of Letter Arts Review.  She also masked off areas with Washi tape, made pencil gestures top and bottom of the white line the tape made once it was removed so lettering could be placed in the white space.  It was a very helpful class with endless possibilities if we’ll just use our eyes and imaginations!  Thank you, Candy!! 

Card Making From Home

1 Jun 2020

Recently, a number of us participated in making birthday or general-sentiment cards for our guild members.  Typically, we gather for a couple of card-making sessions to fund our card stock-pile, but with the restrictions in place for COVID, we opted to do them on our own.  TJ agreed to meet everyone in the Costco parking lot on Nevada to collect what was made and deliver them to Leslie.  Thank you to all who participated!  I think we met our goal for numbers!  Below are some examples of what was made.  tj

 

January 2020 Meeting

Meeting Minutes 14 Jan 2020

26 present (1 guest)

Decorated Envelopes with Kimmi

Welcome & Announcements:

**We welcomed Terri Ayer’s friend, Denise Nelson to the meeting.  

**Leslie announced a card making day at Kimmi’s on Fri, Feb 7^th. There will be a sign-up sheet, and we’re to bring the basics like scissors and glue.

**Marie Hornbeck, last year’s IAMPETH president will be at our March 10^thmeeting to talk about bringing cursive writing back into the elementary schools.

**Lynn F wanted folks to know the paper she used for her Christmas card was Deluxe Black from John Neal on page 33 of the most recent catalog.

**Randy Hasson will be here for a weekend workshop on 20^thCentury Letters in both March and April.  Still only $75 for members.

**Annual dues are going up to $30 in February to cover the additional cost of obtaining Liability Insurance for the guild that will cover us during our meetings at Mesa Hills Bible Church, and anywhere we have meetings and workshops

**Sketch the Springs is a drawing group that meets every 3^rdSaturday. Contact Cheryl Carey for more information.

Show & Share:

**Elma-a whole board of decorated envelopes people sent her as she gets well

**Sherry-pointed pen lettered cards with metallic crystal embellishments

**Deb-fabric coasters with letter strips/hand painted wooden box with lettering/bottle of infused vinegar with lettered label

**Tom-airbrushed photo of a shark

**Cheryl- photos of alcohol ink paintings & a portrait of a man who looks like her husband

**Cindi-examples of her Italian hand

**Kimmi-Travel Journal from her trip to Egypt & Jordan

Book Review:

**TJ shared Margaret Morgan’s The Bible of Illuminated Letters: A Treasury of Decorative Calligraphy.  She found it one of the most helpful resources for tools and paper and use and selection of velum and well documented steps for gilding, grinding inks, and mixing gouaches.  The second portion of the book is designated to illustrate 6 different styles of Illuminated Letters to include Gothic, Romanesque, and Ottonian.  The latter portion is a gallery of modern art using some of the techniques she describes.    

Tips & Tricks:

**TJ passed out syringes to be used to draw ink from a bottle and refill a cartridge or bladder.  She showed us how to take the cap off to expose the needle and how to twist the cap off if we wanted to use the syringe without the needle.  She cautioned using it for thicker fluids like gouache.

Evening Presentation:

**Kimmi introduced the evening by showing us examples of previous Graceful Envelope winners, TJ, Deb, and Cheryl.  This year’s theme, sponsored by the Washington DC Guild, is ‘Double Vison’. She also showed us a slew of examples she pulled off of Pinterest for ideas and ways we can use lettering in creative ways to put some spunk into our mail!  Nice work, Kimmi!

Sherry 

Cheryl

Deb

Tom

Super fun name tags!

Deb

Cheryl

Elma's Envelopes

Deb

Cyndi