I Don't Want to Live on the Moon

This has to be my favorite artistic project for the summer. A very sweet young man came to me and asked me to letter this song for his mother, as he would be dancing with her at his wedding to this tune.

I recognized it at once -- from Sesame Street -- Ernie sits in the window, gazing up at the moon, singing this song. It was still in my head after more than 10 years. I sang fragments of it for days while I played with ideas of how to best represent it on paper.

You can see Ernie sing the song.

I was thinking that this is a perfect example of how my best work comes out when I don't think too much about the client, instead reacting to the words (and the feelings and images they conjour up). If I make it personal, I can't go wrong. If I have fun with it, play with it, the work comes alive. If, instead, I try to get inside another person's mind, I end up either completely STUCK (more on that later) or making a piece that doesn't ring true. Of course, I want my clients to be happy -- but more and more I realize that by working in a way that is from my heart, I accomplish that.

Chris emailed me after the wedding, and sent a picture of his mother receiving the poem. She cried, he cried, and even I got a little teary... who could ask for anything more?

Six Degrees of Separation

This picture blows my mind! Kevin Bacon is holding my calligraphy, on an award presented to him by the Dartmouth Film Society. And he's smiling! How amazing is that!

These awards are lettered on a paper that is pre-printed with a vine border, then blind-embossed at the top (hence the appearance of empty white space in the top 3 inches...)

I was tempted to make streaky "bacon" letters for his name, but restrained myself, instead using an earthy red (not unlike bacon, you might notice), a warm brown, and gold leaf.

So now, if you ever play the game "Six Degrees of Separation" you will be one step closer to Kevin. Cool!

Hello from soggy Maine!

I love new journals. In fact, I have a collection of them -- purple velvet, handmade paper, gold edged pages, marbelized end papers, blank pages, lined pages, handmade paper, grid lines... All those pristine pages just waiting for me to write on them, draw on them, add a splash of color, glue something interesting in...

I use my journals as inspiration and a record of my days. Sometimes they are chronological, sometimes I bounce back and forth in them, responding to the images and words on a page spontaneously.

And here is a new kind of journal. A new journey! We'll have to see what unfolds...

A few images to get us started, because, of course, I'm a visual learner, and pictures are Where It's At!














Here are some sketches of botanical designs I have been playing with.

















And a pretty little box I made for a nice client to give to her friend. I had fun trying to figure out how to make the flourishes on "Peggy" look elegant and not like Medusa's hair.