letters from rita

“Splatter Color” Process

- Stephanie Leave a comment

I wanted to share a little of my “splatter color” creative process, since clearly I’m obsessed with it. (If you haven’t been following the journey on Instagram, you should!!) First I splatter fresh water with a paintbrush, sort of strategically around my watercolor paper. I try to make it into a wreath shape so that I have space in between to write words.

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Then I pick my colors, usually three, usually complimentary, and individually fill each droplet with pigment! Very tedious, but I do it this way because I’m actually fascinated by how the water snatches up the color. And I can guide it into swirls or zigzags if I want.

Then I let it dry, which usually takes two hours, and then I add the words!

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My first few pieces are in my Etsy shop and are discounted because they were experimental! 

Real-talk-ing it out.

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Let’s get into some real talk. The main thing that I want for this little lettering business is to make art that isn’t regular. I want to make art that means something. To you, to me, to anyone who reads it. But the internal struggle I’m having is that I kind of also want to make a summer line of prints, with quotes that I love and maybe other people won’t love, but I love them. I have so many ideas in my head and I think that maybe having a set line of prints would help my shop be consistent, and if people like the prints, they can grab one right away instead of waiting for a custom order to go through and for me to make it. Does that make sense? I’m kind of in a weird brainstorm/struggle space. What do ya’ll think? New summery line of prints? Stay purely custom? What do the masses say?!?! 😉

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Always Learning

- Stephanie Leave a comment
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If you follow my instagram, you know I’m currently enrolled in a watercolor class at the local tech high school. I signed up because I’ve always wanted to actually learn watercolor (instead of faking it) and I also saw the class had good reviews.
So here I am. The youngest by 20 years in a 3 hour-once-a-week-class-that-gives-homework. And I’m loving it. I forgot how much fun learning is. Even though I have a rich history with art classes, (I took more art classes during my senior year of high school than I did academic classes) (plus 4 years of a BA in Communications Design) (plus enough painting classes that I could have declared a minor, but didn’t) I am not a great art student. I like to do things the way I want to do things. But this class feels different (and maybe I’ve grown up a little) (and maybe watercolor is just really hard). I want to know the right way to do it, and I’m trying to soak up all of my instructor’s 80 years of watercolor knowledge. SO YEAH enough parentheses, Stephanie.
I’ll keep you updated.
This has been a blog post. 😉
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A little about my Creative Process

- Stephanie Leave a comment
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I love creating. DUH, that’s why we’re here 😉  But I’m not really sure what I love more. The process – the inspiration, the daydreaming, the messing up, the aha! moment… the creating – being in the zone and being proud of what’s on my paper… or the sharing – getting to send it out into the world so all of you can see it!!

I thought it might be fun to share a little bit more about my creative process:

First, I’m usually inspired by a Bible verse or song lyric and just feel the absolute need to letter it. (Or I get a custom order request 😉 )

So, I set up my space, put on good tunes (NEED the good tunes) and grab a cup of coffee (NEED the coffee). Then I’ll start sketching out ideas for a layout in my sketchbook. It usually takes about 4 layouts to get my favorite. Once I find the layout I love, I’ll start the final version by drawing it onto a nicer piece of paper.

I usually start and finish a piece in one sitting. The only reason I’ll step away is if I have to replenish my coffee or if someone calls or something like that! I like the idea of starting and finishing in one go because it feels more complete. BUT! There are some pieces that are really long and intensive and my hand gets cramped up, so I do take a break during those ones!

Once it’s done to my satisfaction, I’ll style it up a little and snap a photo for instagram so I can share it with you all! I’ll also mention that I need really good light to work well (whether it’s natural or fake, doesn’t matter, it just needs to be bright!) So there you go!

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

My 2015 Goals & Dreams for LFR

- Stephanie Leave a comment
I’m so excited to share with you today some of my big dreams and goals I’d like to accomplish for Letters from Rita during 2015!

But first, let’s recap 2014. It was a defining year!

– Re-launched LFR in July 2014 (I had originally launched my Etsy shop in August 2013, but kind of just let it sit there. This year I actually told people that it existed.)

– Collabed with 10+ amazing bloggers in the Boston area.

– Started the LFR Instagram account, where I met and connected with many artists!
– Contributed to a styled shoot with Joie Mag.
– Made a big decision regarding purely custom artwork.
– Bought a domain name and website (that I’m not linking to, because it’s not completely done yet.)
– In general, became more confident in my artistic ability 😉
So you can say 2014 was pretty great. Thanks SO much for helping that happen!
But now onto 2015 🙂 I have some big goals and expectations for this little biz! Some of these are reach goals, and some of them I think are totally possible. And I’ll work to make them real!
2015 Goals and Dreams
– Finish my website and make it live to the world!
– Commission 4 custom art pieces a month.
– Grow my Instagram community to 800. Make it more of a community.
– Letter 2 invitation suites this year.
– Contribute to 2 New England styled shoots.
– Create a greeting card line + sell in local stores (2 in particular.)
– Send 10 just-for-fun snail mails a month!!
Thanks again so much for being on the journey with me! It means a lot<3