What's New
April 5, 2008
My calligraphy kit (originally published by Walter Foster in 2006 and still available here) was repackaged and reissued for the 2007 winter holiday season by Barnes and Noble, under the name Classic Calligraphy and Illumination (pictured at right).
Many thanks to all of you who called or emailed me to let me know about the problems with this kit.The publisher regrets the errors in this recent production of the calligraphy & illumination kit offered by Barnes & Noble. If you have bought or received this red kit, please contact me and I will forward your correspondence to Walter Foster Publishing, who will then mail you the corrections for this kit.
For more details, visit this page.
December 26, 2007
I have extended the pre-publication price for the standard edition only of Star Spell through New Year's Eve, December 31. So you don't have to go to the mall to find a bargain!
December 5, 2007
Today marks the release of my new limited edition book, Star Spell. In honor of the Yule season, I am offering it at a reduced pre-publication price between now and Christmas. It is being made in a standard and a deluxe edition. After Yule it will go out to a larger audience and the price will necessarily go up. Some of you may have seen the first version of this book at the Book Arts Jam in October.
I will be at Kaleid Gallery on Friday evening, December 7 between 7 and 9 with my books. These are not ordinarily available through the gallery, as they are too fragile to be handled in a shop environment. I will have Star Spell there, as well as The First Writing. I'd love to see some of you there, but if not, stop by in cyberspace and say hello.
The original book Star Spell is now in a private collection, along with most of my other original books. I make a limited edition every few years so that my book work will be accessible to more people.
November 25, 2007
A few changes to my product line: a couple of card packs, and some of the bigger prints now available in a smaller size; both in the interest of offering your a little better value for your $$!
November 13, 2007
If some of you tried to visit this website on the weekend before last, you would have been disappointed to find "Server Not Found" messages instead. My host was involved in a complicated move of the servers and unfortunately some of the websites were affected. This site was down between November 3rd and 5th, so if you visited then, so sorry, and I am glad you came back! We don't anticipate any more problems.
September 21, 2007
Sincere apologies for posting the wrong date on my Shows page for the artist's reception at the Kaleid Gallery for my solo show. The Friday part was right, but the date was wrong. The reception is on October the 5th, Friday evening. Hope to see some of you there!
September 10, 2007
New pictures of another book, A Goddess Alphabet (green), part of the Goddess Alphabet series.
August 27, 2007
Check out the Shows page for two upcoming appearances of my work in October. I will be having an exhibit of framed calligraphic art at the Kaleid Gallery in downtown San Jose, as one of their two featured artists per month. I found when pulling together artwork for this exhibit that I had thirteen pieces going back thirteen years, beginning with fairly traditional lettering and illumination techniques, moving into paste paper and abstract marks about seven years ago, and returning to traditional techniques while preparing work to be included in the Walter Foster beginner's book. So there is an interesting range, but they all share in common my desire to "enlighten" the words with gilding, color and design. Thus, the title of the exhibit, Illuminations: Enlightening Words. I never fail to be enlightened by my text while working on it: living with a set of words for a period of time reveals more nuances of meaning, like a meditation. I will be at the artists reception at the gallery on Friday evening, October 5, from 7 to 9, and would love to see you there. At right, a detail from Mother of Us All, one of the pieces in the show.
The other October show is the sixth annual Book Arts Jam at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. Books are where I'm putting most of my creative energy these days: lettering, painting, sewing, gluing. I plan to have a new limited edition ready by then, plus some original books. This show will have many incredible books artists, so if you are bookish, you will not want to miss it!
August 11, 2007
Uploads today include new images in the Awards Section, and a couple more of my handmade books, A Goddess Alphabet (red) and Star Spell. There are also a few new sample images of handlettered names on my Garden Wedding Certificate, and my Elements Wedding Certificate.
February 4, 2007
Sage Woman magazine has published a review of my work in the winter issue, on sale now (the cover theme is Joy). Primarily a review of my book The First Writing, it also covers some of my other work, and kindly includes my website in the title of the review (though there is an erroneous website, FirstWords.com, printed in the body of the article). I'm very pleased to be recognized by this publication of the Goddess community, which has done so much to nourish my creativity and provide inspiration for my work.
January 10, 2007
To my great surprise, Walter Foster has rushed through a second publication of my new book, in their very affordable Beginner's Guide instructional series. This oversize paperback book (10.25" x 13.75") preserves the 13 alphabet exemplars at the 100% size they were written, and fixes a few other problems with the original book (much better fonts, for example). It will probably start appearing in arts and crafts stores soon, and will be available from me in person or through this website within the week. Click here for more information.