Hi all!
Two weeks ago I was in Tennessee, attending IAMPETH's calligraphy convention. I think it's 
taken me about a week to recover! I had such a good time, met a ton of very talented, friendly calligraphers, and learned a LOT! Oh, and bought MANY supplies back home with me!
I learned Spencerian and Italian scripts, the basics of flourishing (which I SO needed), arm movement writing (take some of that pressure off my wrist!!), and brush lettering (portable calligraphy! what!). I bought three pen holders and lots of nibs and inks- which I have been so excited to use the moment I got back home!
In my flourishing basics class, we drew this flourished bird on a quill (hence the title of this post!):
I also promised that I would share my pangram that we exchanged at the convention- so hereit is. Note that this was before my flourishing class!! For those who don't know, a pangram is a sentence that uses up all the letters of the alphabet ("the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is the most common one).
Honestly, I'm so grateful that I gathered the courage to put myself out there and go to this convention. I thought I would feel left out, or too amateur- but the incredible hospitality of this organization and the attendees made me feel welcome and involved right away.
So now that I'm back and somewhat settled in, I've been working on a couple of invitation designs. Also, I've got Christmas on the brain (title says it all, doesn't it?)- I have to get started on new batches of cards- all occassion ones and Christmas. I can't believe how fast the summer is flying by...not enough hours in the day!
For the rest of the week, I've got some calligraphy projects to work on, cards to start sketching out, business card designs to finalize (omg, still!!), and a print day for my linocut, which has been sitting around for months! phewww Oh, and we're off camping on the weekend- 2 day portage trip! Eek!
Have a happy week,
xo
Pri
ps. Can't remember if I've posted this previously, but here's the link to the IAMPETH website, which has amazing free tutorials, notes, and tips for a beginner in calligraphy! It's one of the ways I got started- give it a try!