Calligraphy at The Marriott

Every two years the Houston Calligraphy Guild reserves classrooms in the Marriott Westchase offering discount rates for over-nighters. I last attended in 2011 when I taught Zine-Making - see my prior blogs about Zines:
https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/10/publishing-zines.html
https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/11/writing-zines.html
https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/11/designing-zines.html
I attended the HCG Retreat last weekend & really enjoyed myself.

There were 9 classes (2 & 1/2 hours each) to choose from. Forty HCG members each picked 3 classes. Saturday morning I chose Journal Contour Drawing with Shirl Riccetti: http://www.shirlriccetti.com 

Shirl exhibits her drawings & watercolor art at the Archway Gallery in Houston.

My quick portrait of Shirl Riccetti - left / Lobby sketching - right

Shirl liked timed drawings of 2 and 3 minutes! First we drew a chair copying from an upside down drawing from Van Gogh - I liked that! We practiced outlining and filling in while copying from magazine photos. 

I loved using one of my Paris photos for a timed journaling exercise. Finishing up, we actually went out to the lobby & sketched - fun & daring.

My Saturday afternoon class was Pointed Pen Uncials taught by Cindy Haller, a talented local calligrapher for hire:
http://www.houstoncalligraphyguild.org/blog/cindy-haller.html 

The class was modeled after Michael Kecseg who was bringing this historical letterform into the 20th century. 

Cindy’s class would have been better for me if my bottled ink had not exploded in my art supply bag - ugh! Cindy suggested I use a pencil first and go over it with a monoline tool (no thicks or thins). I will practice these letterforms since done correctly, they are very pretty.

On Sunday morning I took J.B. Banzon’s class, another talented local calligrapher. This was his first time teaching and he was excellent! Snowflake Flourishing was lots of fun with attention to detail. How long ago had I used this compass!?!

On Friday evening we dined at a lovely French restaurant, La Madeleine. During the weekend the Marriott provided two breakfast buffets with yummy crispy bacon, and a fine lunch and dinner on Saturday. The cookies that afternoon were a treat! Plus I actually had two good nights of sleep. 

Saturday night there was a raffle for calligraphy prints from a legacy left by Helen Shinpaugh, a most beloved HCG member. I was lucky enough to win the print above by Mark Van Stone.

All in all it was a fun weekend of making art and being with my calligraphy tribe.

©Anne Rita Taylor 2017

Africa Travels with Beads

I bought lovely beads when I was in North Africa - called Trade Beads. I used one for this necklace. I visited Casablanca & Marrakesh which I found other-worldly. 

This is my photo of the entrance to the souks, the Jemaa el-Fna in Marrakesh. The buses arrive here too.

The Souks - the open-air marketplaces - are like a continuous craft fair. Having a local guide is necessary in the maze of shops. The guides meet the buses, arriving from Casablanca to Marrakesh. My guide told me to call him Mohammed Charlie Brown.

Besides beads, various kinds of clothing, shawls, household goods, rugs, slippers, and handbags are bargained for and sold. Many of the slippers and handbags are made by the nomadic Bedouin tribes that roam the Sahara desert.

I bought this handbag in Marrakesh - made from goatskin by a Bedouin tribe member.

I created this blog a year and a half ago (this is my 62nd blog) and I love traveling, so I was recently involved with editing a friend's travel web site.

http://triptravelsale.com

My friends use this site for flights, hotels, car rentals and cruises and everything goes smoothly. They are opening the site to the rest of the world.

A postcard I bought in Marrakesh shows a display called “Fantasia” usually combined with dinner for the tourists.

I’ll continue blogging about art and crafts. And I'm planning more travels combined with crafting. Please let me know if you have any thoughts to share in the Comments section.

©Anne Rita Taylor 2017