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Sunday, January 25, 2015

A Writer's Art: The Alphabet

 Alphabets are a fascination with me.


It might come as a bit of a surprise, as I do not incorporate too much lettering into my work at this point. Calligraphy is an art which I have not the time to practice (though I do practice) and so until I have mastered it enough to make something folky I have chosen to simply work with motifs. For now, my calligraphy dances across the page, and not gracefully. 

That is not to say I do not do letters, though. Ah, yes, thankfully I can do illuminated letters. In fact, they may have started me down the whole fraktur trail. Armed with sharpies, I drew letters on every scrap of paper I could find. I happen to have a few of those scraps, too, so I thought I would share. To the left you will see an example of how I kept sane in school at 13. It appears to be on the back of a recipe for home ec class. (The historian in me notes that we were making Mississippi Mud Cake). 

Letters were my doodles, and with some helpful direction (and a bit of persuasion) from my mother toward frakturs, letters became my art. I do find what opportunities I can among the tulips and the houses to illuminate those strange bits of language that make all the difference. And I am planning to incorporate them even more in the future. 

I find it very apropos that I love letters so much. I am both artist and writer, after all, and so live "in awe of words" (Anonymous). I live in awe of letters both on the tome and the sketchbook page. If you want to see more of the letters that inspire me, check out my Pinterest board devoted solely to letters, called "serif or sans?"  here.

February Sale Note: I will have some new items for sale February 2, 2015 starting at 8pm EST at www.rebekahlsmith.com. I am very excited about these latest pieces, so enjoy! 


Sunday, January 11, 2015

In A New Year

We have entered recently into a new year, and I have found it is time to blog again. I am a bit ashamed at my absence from this blog. Being in the last year of my graduate studies, the semester was even more taxing and intense than those before. I have mostly recovered thanks to some time with family and some time to get back to ink and watercolor.  

I feel I must have a little reflection and recap of From Our Hands and Hearts, the November folk art show put together by two of my favorite artists (my mother, Rebekah L. Smith and Lori Ann Corelis). The show was simply amazing. I was grateful to get to meet some of you who have kindly commented here and pinned my art. It was bustling and busy, a whirlwind of activity, with an atmosphere of Christmases past. My work was so graciously received by both the other artists and by those who attended the show. For those who took a piece of mine home, I hope my humble skills have brought a little joy into your house. I am grateful for my family's help, especially my mom in giving me the opportunity to be a part of the show. I am also grateful for my boyfriend, the engineer who bravely forayed into a world unknown (art shows), doing my sales for the day and making an urgent Kelsey-forgot-something-important run. Altogether I had a lovely time and cannot wait to do it again this year!



In the meantime, I will be doing a web show with my mother in February. I do not have a date for it yet, but I will let you all know. To make up for a long silence here, I have included some sneak peeks once again of things you will be seeing on the website come February. Warm wishes to all as we brave the winter, finding joy in our tea, our books, and our art, whatever your art may be.