Rinka Ronka Redux

©Jody Meese 2016
Another commission, a result of previous iterations of a little ditty sung every morning at the preschool. This time I actually thought to document my process and thought I'd share it here, missteps and all.

Last year I created the first "Rinka Ronka" illumination as a donation to the auction fundraiser...

© Jody Meese 2015
...which led to another...and another...

©Jody Meese 2016
...and then one of the moms asked me to create a piece showing the melody as well as lyrics. Even though (or perhaps because) I have a background in music, I was a bit stumped at the prospect of incorporating the notation into a cohesive piece of engrossing. I sent her two concept sketches (the second one borrowing a border from Angelo Rassu)...


...and she preferred the first, specifically that the lines of music were straight across.

I started working on that design.


I did some gilding with gold and palladium, and used different colors for the notes, but...meh. It just wasn't working for me, so I set it aside.

Eventually, I came across this image of a William Morris tapestry design.

William Morris tapestry
I'm a big fan, and was intrigued by the idea of working on dark paper. I did some sample swatches in gouache and colored pencil on ivy Canson Mi-Teintes paper, and loved the way the colors popped on the deep green background, the gouache (right-hand column) more so than the colored pencil.

William Morris tapestry design
I worked up a sketch making the words larger and the musical notation smaller than the previous design. I planted one of Mr. Morris' fantasy flowering bushes on each side (minus the monster acanthus) and strung the musical staves between them. I tried to compensate for the 'weight' of the treble clefs, time signature, and larger letters on the left by adding more flora on the right, some of it encroaching on the music to fill space in lines with shorter text.

© Jody Meese 2016
I scanned the sketch into Photoshop and cleaned it up a little. I printed it onto Borden & Riley #90 Vellum Sheer Trace, covered the back in white chalk, placed it chalk-side down on the green paper, and began to transfer the design by tracing over it.


It was working fine, though a little messy (not to mention arduous). I had decided to pick up some white Saral transfer paper to use instead (the graphite color didn't show up well enough) when it hit me--I wonder if I could print right onto the green paper? And the answer was yes.


Ready to go! First the Instacoll, three coats to compensate for a little bit of roughness in the paper (even though I used the smoother side)... 


...then the 23k gold leaf...


...then the pale green foundation for the leaves, to set them off from the deep color of the paper.


With a little inspiration from a walk in the neighborhood...


...I started in on the flowers and branches, having lined in the music staff with a Pentel Slicci .08 gold pen.



The melody was next, and then the text.  The leaves, branches and lettering were outlined in black ink.


I wrote the melody first with Sumi, but it wasn't showing up very well, so I went back in with a black Sakura glaze pen, which is both glossy and raised. I think notes kind of look like birds on wires!


I felt the flourishes across the bottom weren't carrying their weight in the design, so I went over them with Kölner Miniatum Ink and applied gold leaf.


All of the text and flourishes were shadow-lined with white pencil...


...which I then decided I didn't like, and erased the white pencil on all but the first line...


...which I then decided I didn't like either! So it ended up the way you see it at the top of the page (for now!). I made a decision not to tool the gold (again, for now!) because I didn't think it needed it, and well, you have to stop somewhere.



This project was a delight to work on, and I'm a little sad to see it end. Thanks for following along!

Talk to the Animals

© Jody Meese 2015
Bristol board, gouache, 23k gold leaf,
Finetec 'Evening Gold', Moon Palace Sumi Ink

This one was hard to photograph, but the colors are pretty true in the scan above. It was a commission to be given as a gift to a recent veterinary school graduate, to hang in her new office.


The gold is tooled with the traditional pattern that I think of as curled fern fronds.



I wanted the animals to be subtle, so I "hid" them in the border. Best of luck to the newly-minted veterinarian!


Rinka Ronka Reprise

Goauche, gold leaf, Spectralite, Finetec, ink, colored pencils
and crystals on Bristol board

It's auction season again and I was asked to donate a piece to the school where I worked for 25 years, until I 'retired' last June. If you follow this blog you may remember that last year, the curse was broken and not only did my three little pieces raise some serious money, there were people who were willing to match the highest bids so I did two more. This one is essentially the same design as last year, with different colors.

This is the song the children (and their parents!) sing each morning as they file into the classroom. A choir of angels!

Dust-up Wrap-up


Last weekend I did a new wall to welcome seven brave souls who came to learn about lettering with chalk at the "Chalk Lettering Dust-Up". It got good and dusty around here as we worked both on black foam board and on chalkboard-painted masonite boards. In the morning we transferred pre-made sketches to the boards. The short phrases were mostly from Patti Digh's book Four Word Self Help. Everyone did a great job, and each board had a very distinctive look!

Carla

Marjorie

David

Linda

Katy

Janice

Lori


Before lunch, we each personalized our chalkboard painted wine glasses using chalk pencils! Aren't their designs wonderful?!?









In the afternoon we created our own designs in pencil and transferred them. 

Katy

Linda

Janice

Marjorie


David

Carla, the overachiever!

Lori

 ...and we ended with an art show on the back patio! Aren't they amazing?!?
 




Doesn't it make you want to grab a piece of chalk and start writing???




Sweet Music

Quote by Stephen Sondheim, Artwork by Jody Meese
Gouache, Spectralite, gold leaf, colored pencils, "jewels", Pitt marker

 These little 5"X5" illuminated pieces (8"X8" framed) are so much fun to do, and perfect items for charity auctions. This one was for the Marin Girls' Chorus. My daughter, a former chorus member, sits on the Board.




Lucky for me, I had help with gilding from visiting calligraphy royalty, Harvest Crittenden! She also offered valuable critique and encouragement.


The mat is some marbled paper I picked up in town...after this photo was taken, I used a ruling pen to add a gold line about 1/4" from the inner edge.

Always fun to contribute to a worthy cause with something I enjoy creating!

Chalk One Up



Last weekend I was honored and excited to be asked to teach one of the six mini-workshops at San Francisco Friends of Calligraphy's Trivial Pursuits XXVIII ! The calligraphers' version of speed dating, this event has each teacher meets with five groups of eight for fifty minutes each. The wonderful Evelyn Eldridge chaired the event and made everything run like clockwork.

Planning the class gave me the opportunity to reflect on how I got into doing chalk lettering, which was after a kitchen remodel during which it was suggested we paint a wall black to make it 'disappear'. After a few years of staring at that wall, one Christmas I impulsively wrote a snippet of a carol on it to add to the decorations. This was the humble first one:



I decided to make it an annual tradition, so I made a template on graph paper, blocking out the 'obstacles': TV, framed artwork, beam, etc.



The designs got a teensy bit more elaborate.



And here is this year's iteration.



Of course, there was nowhere near enough time at Trivial Pursuits for something this large in a fifty-minute class! Things had to be scaled down. So a sweet little book by Patti Digh, entitled "Four Word Self Help", came to mind.  Four words seemed doable, so I picked a few of them and made thumbnail sketches to scale for our 15" X 20" black foam boards.









And one more I read somewhere, sometime:


After studying a couple of inspiration boards filled with vintage lettering and alphabets, and establishing a list of elements to work into the design, my FOC colleagues dove right in and transferred one of the phrases onto their pieces of foam board--with, of course, artistic license. It was a joy to see what all these talented calligraphers came up with to make them their own!




A fun event and an inspiring day! Thanks to all for your enthusiasm!

Hittin' the Bottle

'Tis the season...for making bottles---of wine, olive oil, jam, fragrance, whatever---into special gifts! Glass engraving is highlighted with gold or silver inlay.

Beginning Copperplate Class starts October 10!

Me with my piece exhibited at Kalligraphia in the SF Public Library

Whew! It's been a whirlwind few months, and I'll be posting a little retrospective soon, but wanted to give a shout out to anyone in the Bay Area who is interested in learning Copperplate (pointed pen) calligraphy! I'll be teaching a series of four classes in Marin, currently scheduled for October 10, October 17, October 31 and November 14 from 12:30 to 2:30 each day. For info and registration, go to http://www.meetup.com/Mill-Valley-Calligraphy-Meetup/. Hope to see you there!

Puttin' On The Spritz

Issey Miyake City Blossom event

Here's me at the office! Spent the last two weekends personalizing Mother's Day cards to go along with fragrance purchases at Macy's San Francisco flagship store on Union Square. Lots of crazy, busy fun!

My Burberry event

Triple Threat



As a mom and school director, I have probably been involved in 25 or 30 charity auctions for schools and sports teams. Over the years it has become painfully clear I have absolutely no sense of what will attract the interest of bidders. Once I copied an item (non-calligraphic) I had seen go for $600 a few years before...then watched it go for 60 bucks, probably less than it cost to make it. Another time I donated anonymously--still no dice. I've even bought back my own stuff to be sure it didn't get tossed! In other words, I am the Kiss of Death (KOD) for auction items.

But I'm giving it one more shot this year! I've chosen three verses that are special to the children and known to the parents at the school, and illuminated the heck out of them. Gold leaf, crystals, Spectralite, Finetec, the works! I figure even if these babies don't go for much, I sure had a great time making them. Each is a little less than 5"x5", and I popped them into 8" x 8" frames.



Please hold a good thought that the KOD curse has lifted, and that these find good homes and raise some golden coins for the magical Mountain School!




Update 3/29/15: There were bidding wars and these puppies raised well over $1K for the school! Yesss! The curse is lifted.

Update 5/15/15: Two families offered to match the top bids on their favorite piece, so now we're over $1900!


It's a Wrap





Cavallini & Co. images
Perhaps, like me, you are a fan of Cavallini & Co.'s vintage image calendars. And if so, perhaps, also like me, you cannot bear to throw them away. So there they sit in the studio, more years' worth than I care to count, trimmed and neatly stacked...

Enter four certificates created for much-appreciated volunteers at my school (sorry, can't reveal them here in the unlikely event the recipients follow my blog). I always hesitate to frame things for other people, not wanting to assume that the piece will live on display rather than tucked in a safe place and taken out occasionally to enjoy. But how to present in a decorative fashion?

Inspiration, fortunately, struck: I took a calendar page, cut a piece of vintage Fabriano colored paper the same size and lay it in as a liner (Canson Mi-Teintes would work well, too), set the certificate in the middle and folded the calendar and the liner squarely. A strip of the same paper was used to made the band, and fastened with fragrant Atelier Gargoyle sealing wax. (I'm a little out of practice with the creme brûlée torch, but it got the job done.)
Cavallini & Co. images

Cavallini & Co. images
Cavallini & Co. images
Cavallini & Co. images
Forgot to photograph the backs, but the calendar grid itself is visible, and a little more of the image.

This isn't the first time I've upcycled these gorgeous images; here's a link to my post on some more complex stationery portfolios. Enjoy!