Yesterday at Letters of Joy, a calligraphy and paper arts conference sponsored by Write On Calligraphers of Edmonds, WA, I had 36 adventuresome students in two classes entitled Picture Your Words. The eager artists rose to the challenge of thinking differently about lettering and images brought together. They gamely followed a series of exercises I had prepared for them (if you are one of those students, know that I appreciate your hard work) with the help of a booklet I designed for the classes. On the cover of the booklet was the artwork shown below. It exemplifies the final exercise I gave them and was done with a fine black gel pen and Winsor and Newton watercolors. The original is 3" x 3.5". Can you read it? Here's to having fun with drawn letterforms and color. Try it!
Playfulness with Letters and Letterforms: Picture Your Words
November 23, 2025
Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).
Posted in Applied Calligraphy & Lettering
3 responses to “Playfulness with Letters and Letterforms: Picture Your Words”
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oh! how beatiful, do you have more examples of the work? i would love to see it! wishing you a happy spring
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Hello Stephanie!
Thanks :-). I didn’t think to take photos of the students’ work (there’s so little time for instruction, let alone documentation) but I will see if one of the students can send me a copy of what she did–hers was nearly finished in class–and I’ll send it to you if it’s ok with her. I’m thinking of doing more of this kind of work for greeting cards. It’s a lot of fun to do. Spring joy to you, too!LikeLike
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oh please do! i would love to see more. also, let’s talk of greeting cards and letter illustrations…i think you’re going somewhere with that! {and i’d love to be along for the fun!}
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Jocelyn Curry 
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