lettering of late

Weddings are fun when you have a good bride. And free rein.

The Lamb and Gift of Gifts.

This time of year is a perfect occasion to gorge on beautiful old music. I've been doing so on various Rdio, Pandora, and iTunes Radio stations as well as our wonderful local public radio station 91.1 in Nashville.

This tune in the video above, composed by Sir John Tavener, isn't particularly old, but the verses are by William Blake in the 18th century. Not exactly Christmas music but in a way, it is.

The excerpt below is from a favorite book, Valley of Vision, and dovetails nicely with our pastor's Advent sermons on the humanity and deity of Jesus. This is from "Gift of Gifts":

Herein is wonder of wonders:
He came below to raise me above,
He was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to Himself.

Herein is power;
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
He united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom;
when I was undone, with no will to return to Him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

Swapped a pencil for a needle.

Getting some long-languishing projects much closer to completion...
feels good to use a slow, grey day this way.

hearts r us

i don't normally love the overused heart motif (ba dum bum) but i created a version of this for a women's retreat and it was warmly received. and since i saw st. patrick's day schlock in stores this week, i figured i'm not really ahead in posting this.

four calling birds

If you'd like a Christmas tweet for yourself or someone who likes writing (or for hand-written messages any time of the year), we've got lots of these bird cards for purchase at the site of Juicebox Designs. Clockwise from top left we have the Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atriacapillus), the Canyon Wren (Catherpes mexicanus), the Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor), and the Cactus Wren (Campylorynchus brunneicapillus).

These are printed on 80# True White French Speckletone Paper and are especially lovely upon which to write. Matching envelopes, set of 12.

More from Society6.

Interesting work from Society6.
Wayne Edson Bryan
Teagan White

Lucas Brezak
Ju. Olvoas

Lovely, in Russian!

I have no idea what this little film is about but it is entrancing...especially the calligraphy by the wonderful artist Marina Marjina. More of her amazing work is on her Flickr.

Miniature Masterpieces for Cheap

Stamp prices are about to go up, but that sure doesn't mean you'll pay gallery prices! Great little tiny masterpieces, for 45 cents... I've always loved stamps, and here are some of my favorites about to hit the post offices.

There's a veritable wealth to choose from over the past hundred years or so... a few of my favorites from the past, for whatever reasons, below.

If I was nice, I'd put the year on them...so glad they started to do that themselves in the last couple decades or so. Seriously, what a dream illustration job!

Last of my finds from Society6.