Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Pioneer - Penmanship!


Malorie decides to honor her pioneer ancestors by writing in her "best" Spencerian. (note to reader: this is truly not a sample of traditional Spencerian..I applaud those who can!)

A little about Spencerian and the writing used by our Founding Fathers (US) that I found from this document: Although our founding fathers were Americans, their educational heritage had strong ties to the English school curricula, for as a pioneer land of English colonies and then a fledgling country, the United States had not yet developed its own system of handwriting. Thus our colonial patriots had been taught the English Roundhand Script, or Copperplate Script, and they used this style for the writing of important documents....Spencerian is uniquely American.

26 comments:

  1. Happy New Year Shirley :) Lovely details.

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  2. Excellent illustration! What could be more groundbreaking than founding your own national handwriting? Great information!

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  3. just love to feel your water colouring.
    wish you happy new year!!

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  4. Another winner. Lovely illustration and sentiment .

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  5. Oh Shirley! your art transports me always to a place i would love to go :) I hope your future is as bright as your past, hugs, valgal

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  6. Oh, I just adore your paintings! Great historical info on scripts. I should know that as a calligrapher : 0

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  7. really love this one Shirley, its beautiful

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  8. great little illustration, and a history lesson to boot!

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  9. Great idea and beautiful illustration as always!

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  10. Sweet. Malorie is talented calligrapher :) And Happy new year!

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  11. Wonderful piece!Perfect for the topic!

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  12. A lovely illustration Shirley! I have a dear friend who worked in an office where she used a similar script. I always was amazed at how beautifully she was taught to write.

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  13. beautiful illustration! the character is simply adorable!
    Happy New Year!

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  14. Hey Shirley! Happy New Year! Very interesting stuff about our forefathers and Spencerian lettering. I love Malorie! .. and the angle and wash are spectacular! Thanks for all the smiles and comments in 2009. Love stopping by and having you over as well.

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  15. Hi Shirley!! What a great piece for this weeks theme!!! I also learnt something :0) She is s very cute character!

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  16. And your watercolor characters are uniquely Shirleyan! Wow, I had no idea about the penmanship. Thanks for the history lesson. Awesome! And your little Malorie is very sweet (beautiful penmanship, by the way).

    I saw a huge feather pen at Barnes & Noble. I will have to get it for my daughters.

    Happy New Year!

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  17. this isnt only lovely but full of warmth and i love the idea of Spencerian too, it makes this illo look classic, though i think that your illustrations are classic, which i LOVE!

    Wishing you and your family a happy new year!
    Send my kisses and hugs to my lover Monsieur :))


    xxoo

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  18. By the way.... I hope you saved me a slice of your gourmet ho-ho. I love those things, and the bigger the better!

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  19. Your talent never ceases to amaze me. That is such lovely illustration! Malorie is absolutely beautiful, so delicate and sweet. Great penmanship as well.

    Lovely characters spring from your well of creative beauty!

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  20. Bonne Année! Thankyou for following my blog. Best wishes for 2010.
    xx.Cassandra

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  21. Love your watercolor style! I'm a huge history buff, really appreciated the lettering lesson too!

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  22. Happy 2010!! full of sweet and great illustrations :-)

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