Rebecca Wild (rwildart.com) traveled from the Pacific Northwest and brought with her fresh, creative and non-intimidating ideas about how to blend handwriting with shapes and shades. With a supply list that took some digesting, we tackled projects with extremely detailed handouts. Her notes are step by step and she demonstrated the techniques and methods to be used in conjunction with the notes.

Many of us had never used hand-cut stencils, powder graphite and acrylics before so finding them accessible and easy to use -with delightful results - was a real treat. We added layer upon layer of matte medium over graphite, pastels, pencils, pencil crayons and watered down acrylics to create transparent and translucent pieces of 7x7" art. By the end of the two days, most of the class had at least 4 pieces that we artfully folded into a portfolio for safekeeping.

Rebecca is patient and kind, ever ready with a witty comment and helpful hint. She was very intentional about giving us opportunities to see other work in her portfolio or from exhibitions to help inspire us in this new artistic direction.

Our works were not your typical intensive calligraphic pieces but the high degree of satisfaction felt by students at how more casual writing could contribute so significantly to our art, reminded us that calligraphy comes in many different forms and faces. This two-day workshop was rich in experiences, learning and exploration and our journey leader Rebecca Wild led us to the wild side of our own discoveries new methods and materials. A lovely trip!

Anne busy creating and discovering