by Nysha | Jun 7, 2014 | Calligraphy, Prismacolor Pencils, zentangles
What is there to do when you are feeling down trodden and are trying to procrastinate — not get down to work? What else but practice some calligraphy and write out some sentiments from the heart! above is a blend of Walnut Ink and Dr. Ph. Martin’s Spectralite liquid acrylic ink in 51K Brass plus a little graphite shading. Here the attempt is using watercolor and blending from one colour to another plus a little shading with Prismacolor Pencils Sumi Vermillion ink for the lettering and Sumi Vermillion blended with Walnut Ink and ever increasing amounts of white watercolor. Each page was done entirely with pointed pen. All the decoration, while inspired by Zentangle was done with pointed pen and an intention to play with the thick and thin lines created by a pointed pen calligraphy nib. I used Canson Calligraphy Parchment for the first page (8.5 x 11 / 24lb.) and Paper and Ink Arts brand Diploma Parchment (8.5 x 11 / 47lb.) for the other two. The nib was a Brause Steno used throughout. I did intend to try several nibs, but this nib was very nice and holds a lot of ink — so I just kept using...
by Nysha | Apr 10, 2014 | Calligraphy, Thank You, ZenTangle
If you know me or regularly read my irregular blog posts then you know that I am at the end of taking my second calligraphy class this year. And I love it!Writing is an important thing. Calligraphy is beautiful and also strives to be legible. How words are strung together is also important though much writing is typed and the legibility comes from the font and not from the hand. The mind however is important to both processes and can convey much more than the sequence of words convey or the look denotes. Which leads me to the point of this post…Thank You messages. Especially from businesses.Perhaps you are a business person or simply someone who is mindful of sending ‘Thank You’ notes to others when you feel it appropriate. Many businesses do this as part of their regular marketing champaign. And it can be a good idea.However!In the past few weeks I have gotten three such messages from three various businesses I patronize. The first was a hand addressed envelope with a custom printed card, the front of the card had an etched image of the business, housed in an attractive old house in Memphis. Nice. When I opened it out fell a business card and a small card printed with 10% off… Nothing personal. No salutation. No signature. All just stuck in the envelope.Another was an e-mail message that said in many words to tell me “I was appreciated.” There was a nice quote from Gertrude Stein and it was ‘signed’ from the person at the business that I deal with. Upon closer inspection I noticed several...
by Nysha | Apr 1, 2014 | Calligraphy, Studio Nysha, ZenTangle
I have been taking a calligraphy class. To get the most out of that class I have been doing the suggested homework (Here an practicing capitals by creating an alphabetic list of something — I choose fabric and yes Jacquard has a ‘u’!) as well as some other things like creating cards recreating my logo and tag line and addressing a letter to CBS News Sunday Morning along with a ZenTangle. The idea is that a bunch of Certified ZenTangle Teachers are sending letters and ZenTangles in on April 1st to try and get Rick and Maria on to talk about ZenTangles. It is such a great thing, ZenTangles and has done so much for so many that creating a greater awareness of it would be even better! And I had another excuse to practice my calligraphy! Cause I am having a challenge finding...
by Nysha | Feb 20, 2014 | Artist's Way, inspiration, Maria Shell, This Is Colossal, ZenTangle
A friend recently asked me “How do you work at improving yourself as an artist? Reading art books? Classes? Making more art and experimenting as you go?” Excited, I replied; This is a passion — self improvement! Some of what I do for self improvement and furthering my art involves on line video content. Lynda.com – especially the documentaries. Marianne Bantjes is one of my favorites along with one on Jerry Uelsmann. Ted Talks (Ted.com) — hard to find a talk that is not inspiring or challenging. ZenTangle — really the meditative part of it. Trying new things. Perhaps adjacent to my art work, perhaps not, but interesting and new. This year some are calligraphy and enameling. Reading – bios of successful artists and decorators, philosophy, metaphysics. One of the most significant things I have read in the past was “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron: a book and workbook that takes you through a process of uncovering your inner creativity. A must for everyone currently breathing! As an artist it is especially important to look and really see. Always looking with the help of; tumblr, pintrest, keeping up with ThisIsColossal.com (Amazing!) finding new artists on line and in print, looking at the beautiful detail shots on 1stDibs.com [a great tool I learned of last year is SnagIt. You can try a free trial. It is a screen capture tool – great to snag an image for your visual file…] snagged for my personal use – sorry I have no idea where it is from or whom the artist is… bad record keeping! One of the...
by Nysha | Aug 31, 2013 | bullet mandala, Mandala
A little earlier than the usual Mandala MondayI just finished doing a one minute presentation showing a mandala being created — one line at a time…If you are in the area come join me at Mid-South Doodlers, Tuesday September 3, 2013. We meet from 7pm – 9pm at StudioNysha in Bartlett.I will be doing a full demo this month. Then you can try. No need for supplies I will have some you can use! Questions. Just ask! Mid-South Doodlers meets the 1st Tuesday of each month. Join US! from this to...
