Trying Brush Script

So I've been infatuated with Kal Barteski's brush script art for quite some time now. I have almost zero experience with painting so I didn't think it was something I could do. But when Mom and I went to one of our classes at CKC Charlotte, we tried brush script. We picked a preprinted phrase, cut it out, and inserted it into a vellum bag. Then we used india ink to trace the phrase onto the bag. The india ink dries a little lighter than I prefer. Part of what I like about Kal's work is how stark and graphic the black words are against the white background. She uses other colors too, but the black and whites are my favorite. Maybe. I'm kind of digging the ones with color behind the words. I'll take one of everything, please!

One night I decided to sign up for Studio Calico's class called Life Scripted. It includes several videos where Kal teaches you how to do brush script. I LOVED THE CLASS!! At first, I used acrylic paint and was somewhat satisfied with it. I went to Michael's later that night and got the medium that Kal uses - it's called gouache ("gwash"). It's sort of an opaque watercolor.

I also practiced the alphabet. I used plain printer paper (cheap!) and a little mixed media sketch book I got at Michael's. I felt a little bit like an artist with all these pieces of paper scattered all over my craft room!

I didn't have quite enough gouache on my brush here. I was also using a larger brush than I wanted. I couldn't find small size 2 or size 4 bamboo brushes at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. I did find some online and they're on their way to me! Can't wait to try them out.

This is actually painted on a light blue piece of card stock. My camera wasn't cooperating with me, but that's okay. I plan to cut this down and put it into my sadly neglected One Little Word binder (which I've actually been working on recently. More to come soonish).

Have you tried brush script?

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