Commissioned

A friend from church commissioned a calligraphy project. She had stripped an antique window frame and painted it teal with a crackly looking cream-colored paint on top. She asked me to calligraphy six words; one for each space in the window. She had a general style of font that she wanted and also asked for the following to be included in the finished product: rough edges, an antiquey feel, all-capital letters that one would have to think about a little to read (no plain Roman type here), a rather random layout (to go with the mismatched, antique feel). Oh, and the colors she uses most in her decor are teals, burgundies, and browns. Here is what I came up with:

I was pleased. It was my first experience using a very wide nibbed pen; I tend to like making very tiny things (my handwriting is small, any sketches I make are small, I like using small stitches on my sewing machine, etc.), so this was out of my comfort zone. But oh, did I enjoy making those large, flowing letters! I just might be addicted. : )

When she saw it she was pleased. But she did comment, "It doesn't look quite like I pictured it." I think the more she looked at it the more she liked it, though. Perhaps it looked better than she had expected.

She was delighted with the colors and said they would coordinate perfectly either at work or at home, so she could choose where she wanted to hang it.

I had so much fun carefully crafting it for her: forming the letters, selecting the papers, and fitting them all together. I hope she enjoys it and is encouraged by it for a good, long time.