Turquoise

Here's another little calligraphy project...

• Pen: 1915-ish Arthur A Waterman eyedropper flex-nib fountain pen
• Ink: Pelikan Turquoise
• Paper: Clairefontaine Seyes-ruled
• Quote: Christian missionary Jim Elliot, who gave his life for the cause of the Gospel
  

Artsy

Well, the long dull days of winter seem to over (finally!)...

Over the last few months, I've been on sort of an artsy kick, experimenting a bit with watercolor painting and lately with flex-nib calligraphy...

Watercolor-wise, I have done four paintings over the last month or so...three for Cathy and one for me! Cathy's paintings are all garden and flower related: a pink rose, a blue hydrangea, and a garden-y cottage:

Last week, I painted something for me - its a closeup of the hood of a 1940's Pontiac, complete with the Indian hood ornament. Painting shiny chrome is very challenging, especially with watercolor, but I think it came out pretty well...

On the calligraphy front, yesterday I bought another old flex-nib fountain pen, an A.A. Waterman. Got a steal on it, only $15. These pens are what people used about 100 years ago, and using them you can get some wonderful calligraphy effects, varying thin and thick lines. Maybe I'll do something that combines the watercolor with the calligraphy... Any ideas?

Music

My talented and lovely wife Cathy put up a great blog post, about how songs are so amazing at being able to bring back memories, both good and bad...

I liked her post, and thought I'd post a few random ones from my childhood...

• "Like a Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell - I have a distant memory of being in the car with my Dad at night, coming back from some random shopping trip in the nearby town Fairfax. This song was playing on the AM radio, and I remember Dad humming along, tapping out the snare drum on 2 and 4 with his wedding ring against the steering wheel. Its one of those tiny, warm, happy memories.
  
  
• "Ebony Eyes" by Bob Welch - Another Dad memory. The year is 1976, and one of the big fads that year is beer can collecting. My brother David and I were really into it, and were always trying to figure out how to get cans from other parts of the US, and from other countries. A bar in DC (Brickskeller) boasted having over 500 kinds of beer. So, David and I talked Dad into going into DC and buying a case of beer, with 24 different brands. We drove there on a Saturday, and this song came on the radio. Another good (although sort of bizarre) memory of Dad!
  
  
• "Cat Scratch Fever" by Ted Nugent - I remember going on a church youth group event in junior high school (to a roller rink in Sterling VA?) and this playing on the radio. Sort of a big contrast, there, don'tcha think?
  
  
• "Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan - Mid 70s, long car ride in the Green Machine (1971 Ford Ranch Wagon station wagon) to Wisconsin, two adults and 3 kids (no Angela yet), bright sunny day, radio playing. Good times.
  
  
• "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder - This is a great memory. I think I was about 12, and I came down with something and was in the bed for a number of days. Couldn't do much but lay there. My Dad bought me a red Panasonic portable AM radio, just out of the blue, as a gift. It had a little white earphone (one ear only) so I could listen to it at night without bothering my brother, who shared the room. On this little radio, I remember listening to Casey Kasem's Top 40 countdown, laying there in my bed. Someone sent out this song as a "special dedication", and for some reason I remember that moment. That little radio was my introduction to pop music, and (part of) the start of a lifelong love of music. Probably my favorite gift anyone has ever given me. :) Still have that radio (see picture).
  

Anyhow, isn't it amazing how our mind associates songs with events in our lives, no matter how trivial or important?

Like Cathy, I will probably do another post on Christian music which has played a big role in my life...

Ciao!

Ambigrams

You know those blog posts that you read and say, "Wow, I wish I could write meaningful, moving, uplifting posts like that!" ?

Well, this isn't one of those!

In my long tradition of bizarre, random post topics that continue to confound and baffle my lovely wife (as in, "where on earth did you come up with that?"), I present to you "ambigrams".

Ambigrams are words that are written in a "font" such that the same word can be read when you turn it upside down. I first saw this on an album cover long ago, and since I am into calligraphy and lettering and such, I thought it was cool...

Here's an example (be sure and turn your head or your screen upside down and test it!):








(That's the word "Revelation", in case you had trouble reading it...)

Or, sometimes it reads as one word right-side up, and another word upside-down, like this one (Life/Death):






Kinda neat, IMHO.

Anyhow, here's my first attempt, using my own name...










Want your name done this way? Drop me a note on the blog, and I'll take a shot at your name!