place - 3rd and 4th steps




and here are your next two steps ... I had to draw the letters in this place all at the same time, so I cheat a little bit ... but I'm working on how to manage all these 26 square papers as a whole !

Working towards the first alphabet

I was given a Gelli plate for Christmas so I’ve decided to use it for my first 2014 alphabet.

 I’ve never used one before so I want to keep it simple.

I’m exploring how stylised a letter can be or how little of it do you need to see in order for it to be readable as that letter. I’m going to use these positive/negative shapes to create 26 abstract prints.

I’ve not decided yet how I’ll put them together.

These are the closest to what I'm after. Shame the Y is the wrong way round

The spatter box

This is the spatter box the wonder husband made me. I think his motto is 'ask and ye shall have'.

And these are the first 4 cut out letters to be spattered (A and B already started)

like so ... using a toothbrush dipped in ink rubbed against the mesh. It produces quite a fine spatter.

I hope to finish C and D on the weekend. In the meantime I have started my 'place' alphabet - more to come on that later,

confuzed

January Leters

Hello everyone, this is the first post for the Place alphabet.  I came across a metal shim alphabet belonging to my Grandfather and decided to emboss the letters of various places that  I have travelled to during my journeys around Australia in the past few years.

Sabi's First Post

Hello everyone!  I was very excited to find this project and am so glad to be part of it.  

I am a mixed media artist in London.  My primary interest has been in textiles but over the last five years I have branched out into mixing up the media and am having a ball!

This first set of letters is very loosely based on the colours of my garden, painted onto Lutrador, cut out and bondawebbed onto hand made Indian paper.  The colour blocks have been stitched; the lettering is hand drawn with a marker pen then I stitched round each letter to highlight it.  At this stage I think the letters will be made into a book as they are almost there on zig zag paper.

I'm back ... but still confuzed

Well, no more excuses, we have packed up, moved, and unpacked. So at last I am doing my dotty alphabet, the idea for which I had two years ago. Itzick, the wonder husband, had made me a screen for making spatter stencils, but I just didn't get started. So I will now use it to be my 'freestyle' alphabet.

So this is my first attempt at the splatter idea just to try out the screen:

I haven't finished my first four yet, but here are two. I'm not sure if they are finished but they are a work in progress so there may be changes/additions.

These are to be a small boxed set when they are finished, of 26 little single section volumes. I don't know if I will put anything in them yet - another thing to be sorted out. I am making the booklets first then applying the spatter.

So far the letters look like this:

They are not as defined as the trial letters. This is due to using a different paper stock. I might work back over them with pen and ink - to be decided!

More to come in a few days - it's nice to be back, thanks Fiona for all your hard work!

confuzed

Fiona's first four letters

I feel as if I'm off to a better start this year, building a letter a week into my art schedule.

These are my first four letters - and I must admit my alphabet is a little bit quirky.  The full story can be read over at my blog; but here they are - fun letters made out of coloured pencils…

A - with an Amethyst theme…

B - with a Burgundy theme…

C - with a Crimson theme…

D - with a Denim theme…

I am poking the letters into really really fine sand in a tall vase then trying to get a good shot from directly above.

I'm not sure how the letters will appear in a final piece just yet, but hopefully that will happen!

Louise - powering along!

Stitched up!
Powering through my free style alphabet and thinking hard about the presentation for the final piece of artwork.  I am thinking of a accordion book with little related objects pocketed behind the see through part of the letters. Might become a learning tool for my three year old grand daughter.  The challenge alphabet idea is also underway, but from the other end. With this alphabet, I have started with how it will be presented and am working backwards to the letters but have the idea firmly grounded. Will keep under wrap for the time being until I start fixing the letters in place. I'm having fun...hope you are too! Louise.

Place: K is for Kyoto

Kyoto

Kyoto is located in the South of Japan's main island, Honshuu.

It is synonymous with Geisha and the old world culture of Japan. It was previously the imperial seat, now located in Tokyo. I have visited Kyoto three times now and loved it each time. It has some of the most famous temples in Japan, including the Love Shrine at one of the biggest.

This square is made using kimono silk from Japan. You see the red umbrellas at a lot of locations in Kyoto, usually outside tea houses and at shrines.In Summer the weeping willows that line the banks of the river spill green down from the trunks and you can walk through them like curtains.

I remember seeing a geisha (maiko) walk down the street in Kyoto the first time I visited and being stunned by her. She was tiny, in a bright blue kimono, but she had such presence even though dozens of people were pointing, taking photos and crowding around her. Despite it all she kept a small smile on her face and kept walking on to her destination. It felt like a special moment to have seen her in the real world.

K for Kyoto

Carol DuBosch - D & E & F

This project is such fun! I enjoy the challenge of choosing an image for each letter...something that my grandchildren think is special about spending time at my house.

U is for Ueno

U for Ueno

Ueno Park is a public park in the Ueno district of Tokyo, Japan. 

In spring, it is famous for both cherry and plum blossoms that are strategically planted. I traveled through Ueno all the time, because the bullet train that I caught down to Tokyo stopped here. It's a busy hub but the park is often just as busy, especially in Spring when people were having cherry blossom parties.

 U for Ueno Park

(上野公園, Ueno Kōen) 

 

place - 1st and 2nd steps



I'm very happy to be back on this 2014 edition of ALAW. I'm French, practicing calligraphy since 15 years and starting my 6th year of medieval illumination studies.




here are the first two steps of the place I'm inviting you in, and the alphabet will guide you to the way out.



A Letter A Week 2014 - Introduction Calligraphytique

Hello everyone! 

Bonsoir à tous!

I'm calligraphytique, a french young adult who like calligraphy and make this art, of course, isn't a "big art". I discovert this project A Letter A Week in 2011, but I didn't know that I can participe. I am here since A Letter A Week 2013! I'm very happy to make this project! I make calligraphy since a few years, but I want to improve me, so I pulls (entails?) me. My blog is "Calligraphytique", "between calligraphy, graffiti and graphic" (but he is in French.).

Bonjour tout le monde! Je suis une jeune adulte française, qui aime et pratique la calligraphie, mais sans que cela soit du "grand art". J'ai découvert ce projet A Letter A Week en 2011, et ai pu participé à l'édition 2013! Je suis très heureuse de participer à ce projet. Je fais de la calligraphie depuis quelques années, mais ce n'est qu'en 2010 que je m'y suis mise sérieusement. J'essaie constamment de m'améliorer. Mon blog s'appelle "Calligraphytique", "entre calligraphie, graffiti et graphique".

Here is the beginning for my second year in A Letter A Week 2014, I've chosen for my first alphabet to make a kind of calligram: the letters will be calligraphed in the "lowercase Beneventine". I wanted a pretty close to the uncial alphabet, round and pleasant to read. The letters, calligraphed in black ink, are going to serve as supports for the calligram, which will be a landscape, different for each letter, calligraphed too. I don't know what I want to use for the alphabets used for the calligram....

Voici le début de mon alphabet 2014 pour A Letter A Week 2014, j'ai choisi, pour ce premier alphabet sur le thème "place" (localisation, endroit), de faire une sorte de calligramme: la lettre va être calligraphiée en minuscule bénéventine, je voulais une écriture assez proche de l'onciale, ronde et agréable à lire. La lettre, calligraphiée en encre noire, va donc servir de support au calligramme, qui sera un paysage, différent pour chaque lettre, lui aussi calligraphié. Je sais pas encore quels alphabets choisir pour le calligramme précisément.

A small drawing to better illustrate my point:

Un petit dessin pour mieux expliquer:

This is an extrat of my notebook, but I have translate what I have writte just above!
Voici un extrait de mon carnet de dessin, que j'emporte et complète partout et tout le temps!

Here is the beginning of the alphabet, lowercase bénéventines, that I have already completely calligraphed:

Voici le début de l'alphabet, les minuscules bénéventines, je l'ai déjà calligraphié entièrement:

Second week, second project

Project Two: Japan

Most people who know me are aware that I lived in Japan from July 2010 to March 2011.

I lived in Shirakawa City in Fukushima Prefecture and was present for the Category 9 earthquake of March 11, 2011.

Japan will always be a part of me and I miss it every day, so I have decided to base my second set of letters there. My "place" is Japan and each place is somewhere that I have been.

Here is the first one: A for Akihabara, the electronics district in Tokyo.

Hopefully you can see the buildings, light and trees.
-Penny

Louise's letters...

Hi ALAW friends,
A day of firsts for me, first time opening a google account, first time blogger, first time creating ALAW, but first I need to introduce myself.
I splash about with paint on canvas, get dirty with mud and enjoy pulping paper, making books and anything remotely creative.  A mother four times and grandmother to one and counting.  Currently sharing an early retirement with my husband, we are NINK's (no income no kids...well left at home anyway), we love to travel and go bush 'civilized camping' occasionally.
I live in Ingham, tropical NQ, have a studio where I escape to most days and am actively involved in art groups in the region.
I hope to be a regular blogger and while I start out steady I often rely heavily on the last minute and work better under pressure. Just giving you all a heads up.
Here are my first 4 letters, working blind on my free alphabet with no concept yet while I crank up the grey matter for the challenge! Ideas are forming!

JGR January letters

Hello ALAW friends and Happy 2014. Below are my letters for January-A sense of place. The 'place' I've chosen to represent is Georgia in the Southeastern U.S. 

 G - Providence Canyon located in the middle of the state.

 A -a close-up of some lovely pine trees which are a common sight.

 N - the beach.

H - another view of Providence Canyon where you can see the red clay. Thank you for visiting!

Penny's letters

Hello!
I'm very happy to be involved in this project: it's a fantastic idea.

My two sets of letters will be done in fabric, sometimes a challenge due to the small size of the blocks and the need to leave a seam allowance. I have two completely different projects in mind for the two sets, one for myself and one for a friend.

Here are the first two letters from one project: an alphabet quilt.
 E for Eye

  M for Mermaid.

You can view my blog for the project at http://pennycelloaletteraweek.blogspot.com.au/ 

Looking forward to seeing everyone progress :)
-Penny

Introduction - Carol DuBosch

I'm delighted to be embarking on A Letter A Week 2014 and have jumped right in. Here are the first letters of my "Place" alphabet. They reference things that are important to my 5 grandchildren about being at my house. I've written the Uncial letters on Canson MiTientes with sumi ink, the drawings are colored pencil, and the titles written with a pointed pen. I'm making two sets of letters will mount them in accordion books for each of my children. Only 23 letters to go! See more of my calligraphy at www.caroldubosch.com.