L and G wedding

We have three daughters and when they've married I've done letters for the couples as wedding gifts. First, in January 2011, there was C and R. Then, in May 2017, came V and S. Finally, in December 2017 was L and G. As like V&S, L&G each have a tiny 24 carat gold heart on their art.

Greg and Lydia, and Greg's sister Gemma
who came all the way from Australia to help celebrate.

I seem to be slowing down. L and G didn't get their letters until January 2019! Sheesh.

Two letters for a wedding

Our youngest daughter got married recently in North Carolina. It was held at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden outside Charlotte and everything was lovely! They will live in New York City for a few years; she has her degree to finish and career to start.

Veronica and Shahruz

The newlyweds with parents and siblings and siblings-in-law.

When her oldest sister got married several years ago I created artwork with the couple's initials. You can see that pair of letters here. I decided I wanted to do something similar, this time 'V' and 'S'.

I began two square pieces. I had matching frames that would fit, so that worked nicely.

As I worked on them it felt increasingly not right. Finally, I decided to abandon those and begin again. I saved parts to make bookmarks!

This time I used the eco-dyed paper which has been inspiring me lately. It was a good decision. The work went quickly - I had two weeks left! - and I was quite pleased with them as they progressed.

Each one has a tiny 24-carat gold heart, a bit of the special gilding I had left from the zenAgain event last November. They are float-mounted on mat board with a window-cut mat around that, and a simple, reddish-brown wood frame.

Here's to a long and happy life together!

C & R: the letters and the people

My eldest daughter's wedding was January 8 this year. I did their initials in Zentangle-inspired art and you can read about that project here and see the finished art here.

The wedding was lovely and fun and elegant and hilarious, with peacock feathers and dinosaurs as themes. They went to the Geology building at the university to have photos taken amongst the pterodactyl and the tyrannosaurus rex skeletons. The vegetarian dinner was delicious and they had a gingerbread castle instead of a cake (constructed by Chloë and Robin's sister, with some help). Robin's mum baked 12 of his favorite crumb cakes for dessert. One of the guests remarked that it was the most fun wedding he'd ever attended!

Had to share: here's a photo of my daughter and her new husband, and the letters I did for them.

Chloë and Robin, two of my favorite people.

They're back in Halifax and my husband, Bruce, and I are planning a little holiday at the end of April. We'll visit Chloë and Robin in Halifax for ten days, then on to Bermuda to visit Bruce's sister and her husband for a week. Atlantic here we come! Lookin' forward to that!

C & R project: The finished art

Wedding gift for Chloë and Robin, 2010 January 8.

Ta-da! Here are the finished letters, complete with four tiny gems each. They're done on (buff, I think) Stonehenge paper, which is lovely to work on. I used black, sepia, and rust colored inks, mainly Sakura Micron pens but a Pitt pen for the sepia. To shade, I used Prismacolor's Verithin pencils in three colors, plus a white 'chalk' pencil. The brown sections are a little more orangey than shown here.

Some of the tangles spread beyond the border I had set, which I was hoping would happen, although I didn't expect to go right off the page!

I plan to attach them to darker toned, fabric-covered matboard with some small hematite beads in each corner (thanks to Maria for that idea!) which will keep the glass away from the artwork.

I'm rather pleased with myself!

C & R project moves forward!

You may recall the beginning of this project, more than a  month ago, when I figured out the size and designed the letters.

It seems that going public about my procrastination was just the kick in the pants I needed to 'feel the fear and do it anyway'. After the Procrastination post I got to work.  I went to my desk, got out a pen and one of the letters, and made some marks. That's all it took. I was off!




Here they are with about half of the inking complete:

After I finish with the ink, I'll do the shading, and whatever else seems fitting.
Update soon. So's the wedding!

In case you're curious, here are Chloë (our eldest daughter) and Robin. This is their engagement announcement,  which Chloë designed to be like a movie poster.

She just arrived from Halifax for a visit. And a wedding!

C & R special zentangle project: Stage 1

My eldest daughter will be getting married in January. I plan to give them one of my paintings or drawings - their choice. I mentioned this to an acquaintance and she immediately said, "That's nice! But you should give them something especially for them too!"

"Hmmm," I thought, "yes I should." I thought some more.

I've always liked illuminated manuscripts, and perhaps I was further inspired by the beautiful calligraphy and illuminated letters created by Maria Thomas, and the special project of the Zentangle seminar in August 2010. No, sadly I wasn't there :-(

I decided to create old-looking-but-on-closer-inspection-kinda-wild-and-contemporary zentangle-inspired initials, "C" and "R". I considered doing the two letters on one piece of paper but there are more hanging options if done separately.

Stage One was to figure out the size and design the letters. I don't want them too big; they'll fit into 12"x16" frames, which I bought. I also bought a sheet of beige (that's the "old-looking" part) Stonehenge paper. It's lovely to draw on, good for both pen and pencil. I plan to use black and brown inks and probably white highlights.

Here's the very begining of the project, on scrap paper. Updates to follow.