Chalkboard Garden Markers

I was asked by Chelsea to write on these cute metal rimmed signs for her garden. Although they are chalkboards, I used acrylic paint on them with a calligraphy pen since Chelsea wanted the signs to be permanent. Makes me want to start my own garden!

Program Cover

I just got a last minute request to do a program cover from Tova Glenn at Brighten My Day. The wedding is in less than two weeks! The verbiage is an excerpt from the couple's ketubah. I used this copperplate variation to coordinate with their invitation which is shown below.

Custom Invitation and Postage

The lovely Tova Glenn, owner of Brighten My Day, an invitation designer in Atlanta, hired me to do this invitation for her client. I've been getting many requests lately for this particular calligraphy style. In addition to the invitation, I created a monogram for the couple. This is the first time I've seen my calligraphy used for custom postage!

A New Angle on Addressing

This request is the first of its kind in my 25 plus years of business. Chelsea from Sugar Paper asked me to address her birth announcements covering almost the entire envelope and wanted the writing on an angle. It was challenging at first, but then I got into the flow. Her baby Owen is a doll!

Gold Beveled Invitation

This invitation set is a combination of my calligraphy style and Sugar Paper's special flair for paper and beautiful letterpress printing.













You can really see the from this photo of the reception card how heavy weight and beautifully the gold beveled card is done.














This is my first illustrated hand lettered map. Several calligraphers are doing these so I did my own style of lettering to keep it unique.














And here's a view of the whole invitation package together with just a peak at the envelope lining.

Vanity Fair Placecards

These are from an Academy Awards party given in March by Vanity Fair. They created these lovely little booklets that included the menu for the evening and all the academy award nominations. Each guest had one at their seat along with a tiny pencil to mark their choice for the award winners. The calligraphy style here is a variation of copperplate.

Calligraphic Genealogy Book

This is a very special package I delivered to my client this past Friday morning. I was commissioned to create a genealogy, all hand lettered and bound into a leather book for her husband's 90th birthday. His ancestry goes back to the Mayflower! I had two months to complete the book and I was a nervous wreck not having ever created a bound book nor a project that held such significance for a client.

These are just some of the 18 pages from the book.

About the cover of the book. The book binder was reluctant to foil stamp the cover, concerned the texture of the leather would impair the foil. He debossed the design which I later filled in with gold gouache because the debossing was not prominent enough for the cover.

And finally the last page!

CD Cover

This CD is hot off the press! My brother Jeff Holtzman did the graphic design and I did the lettering for the title. I did an album cover for a jazz artist years ago (when album's existed!), but this is my first CD cover. The music's pretty nice too.

Calligraphy on Wood

Using the techniques I learned recently in Julie Haymaker Thompson's class, I created this piece to give Cody for her 14th birthday. Not being very experienced at using a wood burning tool, I realized after I sketched out her name and transferred it to the wood that I had designed letters that were all curves - uh oh! It was a bit of a challenge, but I got the hang of it. The only thing I wish I had done was make the letters thicker so there would have been more room for color and pattern. But, Cody thought it was cool so that made me happy!

Rook Script

I just finished an addressing job in white gouache for a client on these luscious chocolate brown envelopes.

A Calligraphy Credit!

This is one of several different pieces of lettering I did for the baby shower for Chelsea at Sugar Paper. Chelsea just let me know my calligraphy for the shower is shown on a lovely blog by Nole in Washington, DC called Oh So Beautiful Paper. I didn't see the printed pieces, so it was really fun to see them in the shower setting as well as mentioned on a blog!

Anniversary Gift

I love it when men want to give a romantic, meaningful gift! I just completed this song in calligraphy that my client is giving to his wife for their first anniversary. The song and the Hawaiian flowers have significance for them. The piece is 16 x 20.

Baby Shower Invitation

I was asked by Ilyssa over at Brenda Himmel Stationery to do an invitation for sweet Misty who works there doing graphic design. I was delighted! The guidelines included, no pink, no pastels, no cutesy. Uh oh, how do I make it look like baby without the cute??? Well, I do like a challenge, so here was what I ended up with. I typeset and printed the info for the tags, the return address, and the address on the front of the envelope. I then hand cut all the tags and labels for addresses. I then used stamp pad ink on a sponge to color all the edges. Punched wholes and added eyelets to the tags. Mounted scrapbook paper to card stock, cut the striped paper for the pocket and glued it to the base. Then added handcut flowers to the base as well. I tied fiber to each tag. I cut out pieces of canvas and rubber stamped "baby" on them and attached it to the fiber on the invitation tag with a tiny safety pin. The final touch was a ribbon around the pocket. Phew! After a day and a half of work, twenty-two invites were in the mail!











Here's a view of the whole background that the invitation sits on. The flowers that I glued onto the base paper I cut out of an envelope lining that I had leftover. The striped kraft paper pocket is from a Whole Foods hot bag!









A little surprise tag tucked behind the invitation with the registry information.










I had decided to do a few different background patterns so that not all the invitations were exactly the same. It was fun to play with the variety and still make the design work.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wishing you lots of love!

Bickham Script

Bickham script is probably one of the most popular lettering styles I am requested to do. It is a digital font that has many different options for the capitals and various swashes. This is my hand lettering of one version of Bickham that I did for Katie Dox Segal for her wedding. Katie is the owner of Poppyflower Press. She's got some wonderful invitation and stationery designs. You can also check out her blog.

Art Hearts for Haiti

I just created and submitted this art to the amazing artist and kind hearted Laure Ferlita . Laure has asked for submissions from the artist blogging community to raise funds to help the people of Haiti. I know Laure has received about seventy-five so far. I can't wait to see what everyone else has done and how much will be raised. Thank you Laure!

Design for Donation

I know the earthquake in Haiti has been on everybody's mind and our hearts ache for them. I made a donation as so many people have, then received an email from Cafe Press. They are asking for designs that can be used to help raise money through products on their site. The entire profit from anything sold for Haiti relief goes directly to UNICEF where they will make great use of the funds to help the children of this disaster. I don't know if they'll use my design, but it sure would be wonderful if it could help.

Theater Menu Board

This is a quickie 24 x 30 board I did today for the concession stand at a children's theater production going on this weekend in Manhattan Beach. The kids are performing Grease. I knew I wanted to do something playful and I think this fits the bill!

Calligraphy and Painting

I did this for my friend
Judy and used one of her
favorite poems by Emily
Dickinson. The prominent
calligraphy is the most
known verse of the poem
but I also incorporated
verses two and three.
I used gouache, acrylics,
brushes, sponges and
calligraphy pens.

Holiday Calligraphy!

I don't think I've done my own card for several years now. I'm usually so busy with work this time of year that I don't make the time to do one. I was determined to make one this year! It's a letter pressed card. Best wishes to you for a wonderful holiday and happy, healthy new year!

Holiday Envelopes

This year I had fun using a couple of different envelopes. I love the polka dot, and the white on that deep red is a favorite of mine.

Press

In C Magazine, my calligraphic monogram was featured on the "What's Hot" page! I designed and lettered it, and it was beautifully letterpressed by Sugar Paper.

Holiday Card and Tag

A new card design by Sugar Paper with my calligraphy incorporated.

Store Front Calligraphy

I did calligraphy for a mailer for Sugar Paper and they decided to blow it up to use for their Holiday window. It's always fun to see my work used for a variety of applications. The original size of the letters was about 1/4 inch in height.

Calligraphy in Art

Two samples of my first time painting and doing calligraphy on canvas. These are both going to be sent to other artists as part of an art exchange. I also created a mailing tag for the outside of the package and you can see that on my other blog here. I had a great time creating these!

Seating Envelope and Embossed insert

This is an example of the other portion of the job shown below. I think the embossed monogram on the insert card is really a nice touch.

Copperplate Table Names

These were just done for a client whose wedding is this weekend. It's always a bit challenging to do copperplate in a larger size like this (lower case letters about 5/8" high), since the thick lines require pressure on the nib to allow more ink to flow. I think they came out fairly well and I hope she likes them!

Wedding Menu

I just completed 12 of these menu chalkboards for a wedding this weekend in Napa Valley. I thought this was a clever way to designate the tables (each board has a different table name), as well as providing a menu for the guests. The wedding is being coordinated by Traci at
Napa Valley Celebrations. It's so beautiful in Napa, wish I was attending!

Chalkboard Sign

This sign will be placed next to the guest book to encourage people to leave good wishes in the book for the bride and groom. The script is in white acrylic paint, the leaves in green gouache and the block letters are done with white uni-ball pen.

White Script Envelope Sample

I'm completing this job tonight for a client to pick up tomorrow. The typeface I'm mimicking is called Zaner. Generally you don't want lines crossing through other letters, but that's how the capitals are designed in this font. Envelope addressing can be tedious, but I'm really enjoying this one. The combination of the script and the white on the red is really nice!

Van Cleef and Arpels

I just completed a big job this week for an event Van Cleef and Arpels held at a private estate in Malibu. It was to launch a new line of one of a kind jewelry. I did place cards, seating cards and description cards for the jewelry. I was also hired to be on site for last minute calligraphy. I tried to trade my work for a pair of earrings, but they didn't go for it!

A to Z Flower Book

All put together with a bit of ribbon on the binder ring.

Flower Book Spread

I put the the pages together with the cover using a binder ring.