The first time I took Reggie, I made a small book of
all the new ideas that I learned. So, I decided to
do that again in the last year long Reggie class
ever. We had a fun send off party for him our last
weekend together in New Orleans complete with a
“Second Line” Jazz Band. Wish you could have all
joined us.
But before that, I made this
book.
I decided to make a larger one this
time, this one measures 12x12. The cover is woven
strips of paper painted from the colors for my color
wheel. I used this as a guide thought out the book
when deciding on color combinations. I approached
the book thinking that it is not a finished piece,
to give myself the freedom to experiment with
different techniques such as watercolor, gilding,
adding photographs to my calligraphy, and collage. I
really did not want the pressure of a finished
piece. I just wanted to be free. And to make some
beautiful letters to he best of my ability guided by
Reggie’s class and homework. |
I was riding in my
car one day singing along to Earth, Wind and Fire’s "You Are A Shining
Star", so decided that would be my main wording. That’s why the first
gilded piece looks like an album cover. So pieces have more of the
songs words than others. I did use other quotes in the book to keep it
interesting, and send secret messages to people who would view it.
All of the photographs were printed out on my basic printer using
nicer paper cut down to 8.5x11. Some photographs are cut up xeroxes. I
used a variety of paper though out the book including, Arches cover,
Arches watercolor, Bruga, Stonehedge, and Arches text wove. Basically
I just went from whim to whim compositionally trying to create the
beautiful letters that Reggie was teaching us. I used a lot of
gouache, moon gold, palladium, watercolors, embossing, walnut ink. The
colophon was done using yellow ochre and indigo which was inspired by
an article by Carol DuBosch I read in Bound and Lettered, Volume 14,
Number 4. If you have a specific question, please contact me:
eugphoto@bellsouth.net |