long story - fraktur broadside

 every now and then, someone finds me, even though i keep a very low profile. they usually want something lettered to put in a frame. they are usually grannies (not a disparaging term because i am proud to be a granny) or they are handsome young men who are looking for a meaningful gift for a loved one. in both cases, i am happy to help - even though they usually want something traditional, which is not my area of expertise. if they have a crazy big budget, i refer them to one of the rock stars of calligraphy. usually, the budget is more jeanish. so, a while back someone tracked me down. how they found me is another long story which i won't get into. it sounded like a granny on the phone. a couple showed up and they had a very cool, very old frame. they also had an image from a magazine of some old fraktur looking artwork. it was very cool and i was actually excited to work on the project. the lettering was going to have to be tall and skinny and done with a pointed nib. so, i thought it would make sense to practice the writing. killing two birds with one stone, i did the remaining envelopes for the april exchange. it is always fun to get into the walnut ink. i really enjoyed doing these. while they are very primitive - that is actually the look that we are going for.
the example they brought had loops that were colored in and many of them were also turned into bird's heads. i didn't do any bird heads - but i added some detail in gouache. the moisture dissolved the walnut ink.