Friday 14 February 2014

a letter a week 2014 ....

It is already half way through February and I have finally made some progress with the ALAW project coordinated by Fiona Dempster.  This is my third year, though I confess to only doing one of the Alphabets last year.  This year we have a free choice alphabet and one centred around the idea of 'Place'.

I have begun with the free form alphabet and am waiting for inspiration to drop in regarding the 'Place' alphabet!

I have done the first eight weeks A to H ..... The backgrounds for my letters are all from engravings of mine and the letraset letters, are those left behind by my father who was an architect.  It gives me a wonderful sense of him to be using these letters.  I couldn't find them, thought I had thrown them out and then yesterday whilst looking for something completely different, there they were secreted away with beautiful old rulers, set squares and drawing sets.  I was thrilled.











14 comments:

  1. It is lovely to read that you found a connection to your father doing these pieces. I took me a while to find the letters and I enjoyed the idea of making them so small within the piece. I'm always fascinated by the synthesis of opposites - the straight line grids and the free flowing lines in a variety of density.
    Hilary Florence

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    1. I am glad your persevered and found the letters Hilary. I didn't want them to be the dominant force in this piece so I used smaller type. I love that 'synthesis of opposites'. Thank you.

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  2. LOVE those letters. I was recently given a huge bundle of Letraset. What absolute luck.

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    1. It is a treat to have such a bundles given to us ins't it ... I am just glad I found a way to start using them. (am heading back into my blog now to correct the spelling of letraset!)

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  3. Your engravings are absolutely lovely, Susan! And I think the Letraset letters fit in really well with the lines & 'squiggles'...how nice that the merging of the two elements has an even deeper meaning/story behind it.
    I almost think this could actually serve as your 'Place' alphabet, as those engravings very much have the character of maps!

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    1. Thanks Lisa ..... hmmmm love the idea of making this series my 'place' alphabet. Will keep that in mind for sure .... I too see maps in the marks :-) Will see if I can bend it that way! Am using embossing in the book so may be able to enlarge on that sense of place with the embossing .... will give it lots of thought. thanks again.

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  4. Looking good! So glad you found the lettraset a lovely connection and a lovely design element.

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  5. These are lovely. I like the way that the letters aren't the dominating element in the individual pieces

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    1. Thanks Jac - was hoping there would be a kind of 'search' for the letters amongst the line work.

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  6. Thanks F. Yes, really lovely to be using something with an emotional connection ..... am thinking quite seriously about Lisa's suggestion of bending this towards my 'place' alphabet!

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  7. I love the contrasts - fine wandering lines, straight and parallel grids and those small but robust letter shapes. And I remember Letraset so well on maps as a student geographer (another life) in the late 1960s - good but very different times ...

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    1. Hello Charlton - I associate Letraset with something from the past and it has been fun to incorporate the letters in this format. I had so many sizes and formats left it was hard to choose which way to go - initial thinking was large letters. Just singles. As you can see, my ideas changed ....

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