First Day

The first day of class went well. I was anxious to know what we were going to do this week. Valerie W., the instructor, called me "eager" at one point. To the left is an example of her work.

I have certainly been swept up into a whole different world. The world of Calligraphy, dying art that it may be. Now, one thing I was a little confused about was that this class is really about illuminations and not lettering. I thought it was going to be both. However, Valerie mentioned that depending on how far we got, we would get into lettering. I am now committed to working hard to push the class into lettering. I have a hope to come back with a nice finished illuminated piece with both illumination and lettering...we'll see.

The class is varied in experience. Of the ten, some are amateur calligraphers, a few have taken icon painting classes, the host is an iconographer and taking the course as well and there is me. Four of us are from out of state. One of us is Asian. I am one of the more experienced painters and definitely more comfortable with mixing colors than most of the class (which is what we did in the morning). Then in the afternoon, we painted on a printed worksheet- kinda paint by numbers to get used to the process. We will continue with that tomorrow and learn some pen and paint techniques.

My question: What does God have for me here?

M and I continue to have good times together talking, driving, cooking and packing the kitchen.