Soft Winds

Sumi ink and watercolor evoke a feeling of soft winds across a sea of azure. The letters are gleaned from the earliest known examples of written Greek discovered in 1900 on Crete by the archeologist Sir Arthur Evans and have been used only for their artistic value without any meaning implied.

 

Be Aware of Wonder!

Using wet in wet techniques, Nussbaumbieze (peat ink), Moon Palace sumi, Dr. Martin’s Bleedproof White and Daniel Smith watercolor were painted, rolled or dropped onto Arches Velin paper thereby creating a feeling of joyous chaos and wonder, eventually inspiring the text fragment Be Aware of Wonder to be written gesturally on the final 7.5″ x 9.5″ fragment cut from the original sheet.

Where Is Art?

Selected for the 2010 Letter Arts Review Annual Juried Issue, the text is original and was gesturally written in response to the background created with a pen/ink sgraffito technique and watercolor wash on 8×10 Rives BFK. The French shell gold was added as an accent.

Where is Art?
The art is in the eyes and art
is in the mind.
Open the mind so that your eyes might see what your heart knows!
For therein lies art.

Darkness Into Light

The underlying watercolor wash was created over a blindly written text using a wax pencil resist. A feeling of the illusiveness of creativity lying in wait within the darkness of one’s mind brought to me the following text fragment – Reaching through the darkness to find the light – subsequently layered as a text block using white gouache.

Dominus Vobiscum (detail)

Exhibited in the 2010 Washington Calligraphers Guild Juried Exhibition, Dominus Vobiscum incorporates acrylic, gouache and sumi lettering done after painted double shuen paper has been collaged onto a 16×16″ gallery wrapped canvas.

Silently, the Stars (detail)

Some might ask which comes first, the text or the art?  Like the proverbial chicken and egg, there is no right answer.  In this case, although I have used this text many times, the art was the inspiration for the words. The canvas is 10 X 24 gallery wrap.  The medium is collaged rice papers which have been stained or painted with sumi ink and Daniel Smith relief inks.  The writing is ruling pen and white gouache.

Silently, one by one in the infinite meadows of heaven, blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels. 

 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) Longfellow was one of the most popular 19th century American poets.

To view the piece in it’s entirely click on the thumbnail to the right.