Letterforms

Nice two-hour workshop at the IPRC tonight with B.T. Livermore, talking about letterforms, sign-painting, different tools for hand-lettering, keeping stroke consistent, being inspired by the past.

Edited to add: One of the surprises of the class was when four of us students at the south end of the table discovered that we all hold our pens & pencils "wrong" in the same way--with the pen braced against the first knuckle of the ring finger, rather than against the middle finger. I've never met anyone else who does that with their pens, to my knowledge at least--though it's not a thing that often comes up in conversation, it could be more common than I know? Anyway, it was a surprise and a triumph to discover that we were a "gang" of holding-pens-wrong-folk, all sitting next to each other! (Gabi was the most awesomely rebellious, because she does it left-handed.) Anyone else out there hold their pencils funny?

Library Nerd

Took myself to the Portland State University library for the first time this week. I was looking up books on the philosophy of biology for work, but of course had to wander through the illustration section of the stacks as well. Was captivated by a book of posters by Maurice Sendak--man, that fellow can blend cross-hatching with delicate watercolors like a dream. Found this illustration from his interpretation of Ozma of Oz: look at Dorothy's oversize shoes with no laces, and how she almost looks sad-eyed in his rendition. Captivating.

I also came across a book from the 1600s that was full of home remedies for various ailments. It wasn't illustrated, but I loved the crazy archaic fonts and the spellings of common words. (Ah, the "long s" always makes me nostalgic for my Renaissance Faire days!)

I suppose that's one benefit to visiting libraries where you don't have borrowing privileges; it makes you take good visual notes on what you are excited about. (Or, in the case of the biology of philosophy articles, it lets you spend quality time with the photocopy machine.)