News and Updates     

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  2012 

So, here we are.....Can you remember what our world looked like this time last year???  We were having a white out!  What a difference with our so-far balmy January.  This time of the year is "down time" for many.  My year is starting off with a bang.  I'm very happy and very excited be so busy with weddings already.  Most seem to be finding me thru the internet, which is remarkable.  My site has been developed, maintained and optimized by WSI and my rep is Bob Kadel.  Ask me if you want to know more about them for your website.  It's up to me to keep it up to date and pretty and that is my Number ONE goal this winter.  I'm not much of a techy, but it's the way of the world and so I will learn it better and do it right and continue to reach my market of enthusiastic brides, and others, who understand and appreciate the value of the written  word.

Biggest news event here is the formation of my newest endeavor...."The Bucks County Event Specialists" serving Bucks County and beyond.  I got this brain storm that the Business Networkers International and my Creative Endeavors groups are working so well, why not combine their principles and format into one group that would be my contact sphere.  We had our first meeting this month and these people understand and share my enthusiasm.  Watch for more about us in the near future.

In and around Doylestown, things are popping even in January:

Be sure to take a look at the Moose Lodge - all renovated and open to a beautiful venue for special events.  The Paper Unicorn stationery and gift shop is thriving.  The Art Galleries are filled with beautiful things from accomplished local artists.  When you come to visit us here in Bucks County, be sure to visit all of these places, especially on First Fridays.  Other beautiful places are Skippack and Yardley and Jenkintown, Bethlehem and Emmaus, Lambertville and Frenchtown.  These are spots where I enjoy meeting my clients from the city; places to relax and enjoy.  Peddler's Village in Lahaska and New Hope are also great places to be at this time of year.  If on a motorcycle on these mild winter days, enjoy and be careful. Here, I am busy with beautiful wedding plans and all kinds of clients in all these beautiful places and beyond.                   

Welcome to my website!    I will continue to add and change images as frequently as possible.  I've had a lot of computer issues this year, and I recently had most of that taken care of, so soon I will be making some new changes in my site.  I now have a business Facebook page....go to Facebook and search Linda Carol Arts.  My daughter, Erin, is assisting me when she can.  We're so busy that I am finding it difficult to keep up with the blogs.

Once again, I enjoyed my convention for a full week in Phoenix.  This was our largest convention to date....over 200 pen people came together to learn from the admired Master Penman.  Check out the blog of events.....  www.iampeth.com

We are now offering custom framing!!!  Yay!!!!!  I have partnered with JoAnn Schmalz for all of your custom framing needs.

I've been doing a lot more Design work for CustomWedding Invitations  and complete suites; save the date cards, shower invitations, mitzvah invitations and accessories, Menus, table cards, placecards, program covers, special notes, thank you notes and other stationery.  Monogram designs have also been great fun along with the large wedding documents.   I will continue to post more samples to the website. Each custom designed invitation or greeting that I make is a one-of-a-kind piece and uniquely yours.  This season I have several Business Christmas card designs in process.  What a special treat for the clients who receive these.

My studio is open by appointment especially at Christmastime and I invite you to visit my "boutique and gallery" and remember that I have a variety of gift items for sale....including note cards, fraktur and folk art, Framed prints of my favorite florals and watercolor designs, dog and animal prints, hand embossed, keepsake bookcards, and as always, my custom designs for wedding invitations, and all paper accessories for special events. Illuminated verses from scripture make wonderful spiritual gifts.  Other great gifts include house portraits, pet portraits, and all those pretty verses you may want to make into permanent memories including hand inscribed messages or captions added to a book or photograph--anything involving ink on paper!!  I have recently done a series of dog portraits which are posted.   I welcome visitors from anywhere - especially from the nearby communities I serve daily:

 Philadelphia, Doylestown,  Quakertown, Newtown, Yardley, Langhorne,New Hope, Washington Crossing, Solebury, Lambertville, Frenchtown, Sergentsville, Ringoes, Stockton, Basking Ridge, and Clifton Heights, NJ; North Wales, Montgomeryville, Skippack and Laderack, Souderton, Franconia, Kulpsville, Skippack, Bethlehem, Bally, Macungie, Coopersburg, Blue Bell,  Maple Glen, Ambler, Gwynedd and Gynedd Valley, Norristown, Chalfont, Warrington, Warminster, Churchville, Richboro,  Allentown, Ambler, Plymouth Meeting, Norristown, Emmaus,  Easton, Macungie, Lansdale, New Britain, Buckingham, Wrightstown, Abington ( my alma matar), Jenkintown, Elkins Park, Glenside,(my home town) and New York City (if you want to drive) and of course, Philadelphia.  I'm happy to work with anyone nationwide, thanks to the internet.  I especially enjoy Skippack and the Blue Bell area and the Upper Montgomery County areas.....where I spent so much time growing up! 

When I'm busy, I refer my work to my friend and colleague Therese Swift-Hahn who's work and work ethic I admire.  Her studio is located in Ewing, NJ and if any of my potential clients are calling from those NJ communities, she may be more convenient .  You can find her at www.bellascrittura.com. If you are looking for the work of a true Master Penman, be sure to contact Rosemary Buczek, www.thegildedquil.com located in Milford, NJ.

Local Events:

Last year I was chosen to participate in the open studio tour with the Chamber's Bucks Fever program.  It was a lot of fun for me and I plan to have "Open Studio Weekends spring summer and fall, and will announce them.  I hope they may be as successful as the one weekend I experienced last spring.

I am again working on the Bowmans Hill Wildflower Preserve Gala Committee. It is interesteing to see how the efforts of so many people come together to make a very successful event.  This year the focus is the refurbishing of the Audubon Trails.  Those who know me well know that I have had an interest in birdwatching.  My brother Leigh and I have enjoyed walking the trails at Bowman's.  Briar Bush is my first love though and still do some things there in Abington as well.

Last fall I  again participated with the art committee for the 812nd annual Phillips' Mill Exhibit in New Hope.  This is probably the most prestigeous show in the area.  Phillips' Mill is also the location of some wonderful stage productions that John and I have  been enjoying with friends at their dinner theater productions.

My studio/gallery is open every single day by appointment.    I welcome opportunities to do demonstrations for local  promotionals . I enjoy doing penmanship demonstrations at stationery stores and at special community events including First Fridays, when my schedule allows,  in Doylestown, Newtown, Bethlehem, and anywhere in Bucks, Montgomery and Lehigh Counties.

I have recently taken a workshop on gilding and illumination.  I have been increasingly interested in sacred art using these medieval techniques.  I am hoping to take an art retreat at a monastery at Enders Island this year and to study more under a pen master, Harvest Crittenden. 

Business Networkers International - Doylestown II is a close contact networking group that I and others have founded.   If you or anyone you know  is interested in growing their business, go to www.bnidvr.com  and look for the link for Doylestown 2, or call me for information.  All are welcome to visit Wednesday mornings- 7 a.m. at the WaterWheel restaurant.  .

The Doylestown Art League is an ongoing group of area artists to meet and take classes.  They exhibit regularly and include the best artists in all mediums in Bucks.  Please go to www.doylestownartleage.com .  

 The Paper Unicorn is a well known landmark here in Doylestown serving the Central Bucks  and  east to New Hope areas for all of your fine stationery and gift items.  Located in the center of Doylestown,  they have been serving the Central Bucks community for many years and have been doing it so well.  I am very proud to be their referred calligrapher! 

The Paper Chase is a beautiful Stationery store situated in the heart of Peddler's Village.  They carry a full line of beautiful papers for your special occasion.  The staff there is very professional and can assist you with all of your invitation needs. www.ThePaperChaseLahaska.com 

Heirloom Occasions, www.heirloom-occasions.com, is a wonderful graphic design business for custom invitations .  Look at the talent of Kim Bensing. 

Jackie Orr of Orrganics in New Hope is another resource for your beautiful  eco-friendly, fine stationery needs - www.orrganics.com  

In addition, Pineapple Farm Design for Life and Business are fabulous graphic designers.  Go to www.pineapplefarmdesign.com  and see the talent of Sebastian and Renee. 

For those of you shopping in the lower Bucks County area, then The Giving Tree on State Street, Newtown. is absolutely the place to go.  They've been serving the community for 30 years and continually update the look of the shop with new and better products and services all the time.

The Phoenix Art Supplies and Framing store is the best resource in the area for fine art supplies and framing.  Go to www.phoenixartstuff.com.  Allegheny Art in Newtown and Jenkintown are other nearby resources for fine art supplies.  Chapman Gallery  and the Wayne Frame Gallery are the other best framing galleryiesin Doylestown   JoAnne Schmalz is a new custom framer in the area.  We are all lucky to have so much available in Doylestown's world of art!

Philadelphia Calligraphers' Society

For anyone interested in furthering their education and knowledge of the calligraphic arts, I strongly recommend that you join the Philadelphia Callilgraphers' Society and participate in their workshops and events. Go to www.philadelphiacalligraphers.org for more infomation about this wonderful group of talented artists and upcoming events .  Our annual Exhibit took place  at the Wayne Art Center.  Watch our website for more upcoming events.  We have ongoing workshops posted to the website as well.  These take place at Rutgers, Camden.

Art Goes to School

The 2011 school year is off to a good start.  We have another terrific portfolio.    We present the art to  every single grade school classroom in all of Central Bucks and New Hope Solebury.  Anyone interested in volunteering in this program, please let me know.  Go to www.lmtsd.org/art2school.htm for more information.   We are lucky here in Doylestown to have our own beautiful art museum - the Michener.  Art Goes To School meets for workshops there and we feature art that is on view at the Michener for the students during the school year.  Take advantage of what Doylestown has to offer and visit our museums. 

Introductory Class in Italic Writing

Did you know that in our schools Cursive writing is bearly taught any longer?  High School kids are struggling throught the written portions of the SATs and many do not even write their signatures in cursive, but rather block print.  I think this is a tragedy!!  I offer private studio instruction to introduce basics - $100/4 hours.  I  review the basics with anyone, any age, who has an interest in the lettering arts.  This is truly a fine art that takes a lot of discipline and practice to learn well and with the correct tools.  It's a dying art and I especially encourage young people to learn an appreciation for the calligraphic arts.  I strongly encourage membership in the PCS.

IAMPETH

The International Association of Master Penman Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting  met in Phoenix, Arizona for it's 2011 convention.  Go to www.iampeth.com  to view the highlights.   IAMPETH includes the best and the most honorable penman (people) in the world!  Included are the "Masters" who have earned their titles by the disciplined practices and skills handed down thru the ages.  I recieve my best professional instruction and advice from these members and value the friendships made.  I am happy to announce that I am now serving on the Executive Board for this wonderful group.  I am quite pleased and honored.

Some local IAMPETH members are planning to organize workshops locally.   We are looking seriously at a location in the Bethlehem, PA.  I'll post more information is things develop.

Creative Endeavors

Six years ago I co-founded this wonderful group of people who meet the last Wednesday of each month  to share, support and encourage creative endeavors.  These people have become some of my best friends and my best resource for the encouragement I need to carry on in my practice of the lettering arts and painting.  If you have a creative endeavor of any kind, please let me know.  As a group, we present our own, unique show each September on the farm property , "The Broken Barn" owned by the McCauley Family, a  member.  Our Fall Show took place last weekend and was a wonder event.  Go to www.creativeendeavorsgroup.com .