Baby Gift for a Friend

I was told by the parents that "Hazel Joy" meant "the one whom God sees rejoicing," so I decided to put that as a banner over her name, like a prayer that she will, indeed, be one who rejoices in our God!

The spatters are gold gouache and the diamonds on either side of the name, as well as the dots at the front and back of the arched type are done in gold leaf. The lettering was done in a dark brown gouache with a pointed brush.

Some Recent Work

I found this quote a while back and thought it was a great one for a calligrapher. I tried this numerous ways, different layouts, etc. Finally wound up with this one.

Winter Calligraphy Classes in Chicagoland/Northwest Indiana

Don't let the winter doldrums get you down! Do something creative and come explore the "art of beautiful writing" with Julie Wildman. Here's a list of my winter classes! Classes will be held in my home studio in Highland, Indiana. I am also available to travel to other locations for half-day and full-day workshops for groups or schools. Please email me to discuss details.

Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing” 
(Beginner)
6 weeks, 3 hours per week - adults (12 yrs. and up)
6 weeks, 1.5 hours per week - students (9 yrs. and up)
One-day workshop (adults)
$135 / $75 / $75 (fee includes all materials)


This is like Calligraphy Appreciation 101! In this class, students will get an overview of the fascinating world of calligraphy, from historical manuscripts to the modern-day lettering arts. We will be inspired by different calligraphic hands found in the many works we’ll view, and then we’ll get to experiment with the tools that the masters’ used to create those works.


There will be plenty of demonstrations and one-on-one instruction. Students will get to try new tools, different hands, all sorts of beautiful papers, and various media. Our time together will be fun, informative and not at all threatening, and maybe even a bit messy!

Rather than producing a finished piece, students will come away with a variety of samples that will help them begin exploring ways to create new works on their own time. This is a great class to whet your appetite for the world of letters! And that world is going to blow your mind!

Basic Italic
(Beginner)
6 weeks, 3 hours per week - adults (12 yrs. and up)
$120 (materials list will be supplied upon registration)

A hand that every calligrapher should have in their repertoire! We will begin by learning basic strokes and how they apply to the Italic form, then putting those strokes together in a sequence that creates the letters.

From there, we’ll move into writing sentences, learning about proper letter and word spacing along the way. Many samples from various historic calligraphic masters will be shown throughout the class, as well as modern samples from some of the cutting-edge lettering artists out there today. The student will come away with a strong, working knowledge of the Italic form.

Using the Principles of Art and Design 
to Create a Finished Calligraphic Piece
(Previous experience with any Basic Lettering class required)
6 weeks, 3 hours per week - adults (12 yrs. and up)
$120 / $60 (materials list will be supplied upon registration)

Line. Shape. Texture. Negative Space. Thumbnails. Roughs.  What do these terms mean and how can we use these basic skills from the areas of art and graphic design to create a beautiful, finished calligraphic piece?

Find out as we walk through a series of exercises that will put these skills to use. Using a favorite quote and image, students will learn how good design is important in achieving a well-balanced, pleasing result.

We’ll use simple illustration and painting techniques, along with a photo-transfer process, to create whatever image you choose to accompany your lettering. Not an “artist”? No fear.  You don’t need to be an artist to put an image with a piece. The simple techniques we’ll learn will give you the confidence you need to embellish your lettering a bit further.

In the first part of the class, we will all work together on various exercises. The second part of class will be more individual instruction as each student begins to develop his or her specific piece.




Class Schedule and Registration Information


#1 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
6-week (adults)
Date: Thursdays, February 23–March 29
Time: 10 am–1 pm
Fee: $135 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Feb. 9


#2 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
6-week (students)
Date: Wednesdays, February 22–March 28
Time: 10 am–11:30 am
Fee: $75 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Feb. 8


#3 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
One-Day Workshop
Date: Saturday, April 14
Time: 9 am–5 pm
Fee: $75 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Mar. 31


#4 ~ Create a Finished Piece
Date: Mondays, February 27–April 9 (off April 2)
Time: 10 am–1 pm
Fee: $120 (supply list given at registration)
Registration deadline: Feb. 13


#5 ~ Basic Italic
Date: Tuesdays, February 21–March 27
Time: 10 am–1pm
Fee: $120 (supply list given at registration)
Registration deadline: Feb. 7


QUESTIONS: e: wildesigns@att.net

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!

To all my blogging friends!

Marbled Papers Play Date!

Wow! Haven't posted since October!!! Thinking back, that's just around the time that I started teaching some classes again and got very busy with my graphic design work. I need to take some time and browse on all my blogging friends' sites. What have you all been up to?

I did manage to sneak in a play date with some friends a couple of weeks ago where we made some marbled papers. Thanks to the detective work of my friend Rita's husband, John, we all came out with gorgeous results! John is a retired engineer who has been using his right-brain a lot lately! He has investigated all the details of which papers, inks, and surface preparations work best for paper marbling and you can see here that his work has paid off. And we got to play in one of my favorite places—my friend Luce's studio!!!

This is a section of one of John's sheets that I won at a silent auction in October.

And this is a portion of one of my sheets. I tended to like the more "organic" marbling, as opposed to the patterns that we learned.

All in all, it was a very fun and informative day! I'm so blessed to have wonderfully creative people in my life.

That's John giving Luce some instruction on how to apply the paint to the surface of the water.

And here's Cathy using a plastic "wand" that John made. 

We dipped them in the marbling inks and then tapped them 

so the paint would speckle the surface.

This is what it looks like up close.

Some of the finished sheets drying in Luce's studio.

Being Neighborly

Yesterday, one of my wonderful neighbors came walking over to my house with a large, old book under his arm. He said, "I know you like calligraphy so I thought you'd enjoy this." His great-grandfather, who lived in France, had started a ledger for all the business transactions in his family. The same ledger was kept by various other family members for over 100 years and eventually wound up here in the States. The entries begin sometime around the late 1830s and are written in French. Toward the end of the ledger they are written in English.

Hard to believe that someone chose to do such beautiful writing for something as mundane as record-keeping isn't it? Enjoy the photos!

Fall Calligraphy Class Schedule and Registration Deadlines

This week is the registration deadline for my 6-week classes coming up in October. For a full description and registration form, please email me at wildesigns@att.net and I'll send you a pdf document.

#1 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
6-week (adults)
Date: Tuesdays, October 4–November 8
Time: 10 am–1 pm
Fee: $135 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Sept. 20

#2 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
6-week (students)
Date: Wednesdays, October 5–November 9
Time: 10 am–11:30 am
Fee: $75 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Sept. 21

#3 ~ Introduction to the “Art of Beautiful Writing”
One-Day Workshop
Date: Saturday, November 12
Time: 9 am–5 pm
Fee: $75 (fee includes all materials)
Registration deadline: Oct. 29

#4 ~ Create a Finished Piece
Date: Thursdays, October 6–November 10
Time: 10 am–1 pm
Fee: $120 (supply list given at registration)
Registration deadline: Sept. 22

#5 ~ Basic Italic
Date: Fridays, October 7–November 11
Time: 10 am–1pm
Fee: $120 (supply list given at registration)
Registration deadline: Sept. 23


QUESTIONS: e: wildesigns@att.net or p: 219.616.0135

Weekend Fun!

This past weekend was spent at the BMX track, watching my son race and win two first-place trophies in his 9-yr. old intermediates class! And in between being BMX mom, I volunteered to do temporary tattoos for the kids to raise money for our home track.

I probably did over 100 "tattoos" and had LOTS of practice with brush manipulation by the end of the second day! Wrote a lot of names and "I [heart] BMX!" :-) Here's a pic of one of my tattoos and face paintings.

One little boy named "Jacob" spent 10 minutes telling my how he'd just learned to write his name. He proceeded to tell me how each letter was formed—over and over and over again! My favorite description was the "J". In his words: "OK. You start at the top and go down, down, down. Then you do a little turn this way. Then you make a little hook, but just a little one! And don't go all the way up with it."

CCC's 8" x 10" Exhibit

The Chicago Calligraphy Collective's All-Members' Show, called "8 x 10" will be up at the Skokie, IL Public Library from September 10 until October 22.

I did this logo a while back for the event.

And finished this piece last week to put in the show. This is one of three that I'm submitting. The quote reads:

"Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible; to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an explosion into unknown areas." ~ Arshile Gorky

When I'm playing with shape, line and movement, I often experience that "emancipation of the mind" as I delve into areas that are out of my comfort zone. It's in those "unknown areas" where I often meet the Lord, and where I feel He helps me "extract the infinite out of the finite."

Commissioned Piece

This is the piece I finished last Friday. A friend commissioned me to do this for her husband, as they are celebrating their anniversary next month. The text is from one of his favorite hymns.

The background is a pale watercolor wash. The lettering was done with brown gouache and a pointed brush. The illustration was done with gouache, watercolors, and Prismacolor pencils.

The final size is 12" x 18".