Blog - Maria Montes | Maria Montes

Having a creative block?

A few weeks ago, after a conference talk at the University of the Sunshine Coast, a student asked me “what do you do when you have a creative block?”

Sep 11, 2018

Tips on how to prepare a calligraphy course

At the end of July, I travelled to France to attend a five-day residential course with Mrs Amanda Adams. This is the […]

Sep 6, 2018

What a Shitshow Opening

I’m super excited to present my second solo exhibition, this time in Catalonia at the Art Centre La Panera. This exhibition is a retrospective of my last five […]

Jun 9, 2018

Green Fairy Font Release

Green Fairy is a chromatic font family highly ornamented for display purposes. Green Fairy has four chromatic weights and three combined styles […]

May 29, 2018

TDCBNE 2018

It’s a great honour and a huge pleasure to have been invited to speak at this year’s The Design Conference Brisbane alongside an amazing line-up of local […]

Apr 1, 2018

International Women’s Day

In honour of International Women’s Day, I want to show my face and give my support to all creative women out there. Many people tell me that […]

Mar 8, 2018

Type Touring 2018

Living in Australia is awesome but one of the toughest moment during the year is when the “type conference season” starts. If you —like me— […]

Jan 31, 2018

Type Conferences 2017

We salute those type conference organisers who decided to use their 2017 chapter as an opportunity to improve their speakers lists towards […]

Sat 6, Jan 2018

The Shit Series (Part IX)

My ongoing personal project called “The Shit Series” has reached 97 posts and counting! Check out the latest 7 posts. Check out the entire shit […]

Dec 1, 2017

A List of Fonts by Women

This thoughtful and impeccably curated list selects typefaces of quality by the talented women of our community. Victoria Rushton’s resource […]

Nov 15, 2017

Calligraphy Retreat 2017

This year, I was fortunate enough to travel to Saint Antoine l’Abbaye (France) for the third time to be part of a 6-day Roman Capitals Calligraphy Workshop […]

Nov 14, 2017

Scared Shitless – Transcript Talk

This is the transcript of my talk at TYPISM Conference on September 30, about facing fear and getting out of your comfort zone. You can watch me losing my shit here […]

Sep 30, 2017

Typism Conference 2017

Watching yourself on screen is shocking! Last weekend, I watched my Typism talk and I was like: “WTF?! That’s how I talk… And my accent…” […]

Sep 30, 2017

Typodarium 2018

The guys from Typodarium are featuring my Green Fairy font on their golden 2018 edition. A 365 day type calendar with a fresh font for every day! […]

Sep 15, 2017

The Shit Series (Part VIII)

My ongoing personal project called “The Shit Series” has reached 90 posts and counting! Check out the latest 4 posts. Check out the entire shit […]

Sep 14, 2017

Copperplate Capitals Workshop

I am hosting a 2-day Copperplate Capitals workshop at Rotson Studios. Sunday 2nd and Saturday 8th July 2017. Applications now open […]

Jun 7, 2017

Copperplate at Shillington

On Saturday July 1st, I am hosting a Copperplate Calligraphy workshop at Shillington College in Melbourne. I only have 4 spots left […]

June 6, 2017

The Shit Series (Part VII)

My ongoing personal project called “The Shit Series” has reached 86 posts and counting! Check out the latest 18 posts. Check out the entire shit […]

June 6, 2017

Interview with Maria Montes

Recently I talked to the lovely Enza Lacherdis from Typerie. The interview is now up on her site full resources and personal insights […]

May 9, 2017

Chorus Insights with Maria Montes

Chorus Insights / This month we meet with Maria Montes our long term collaborator as she reflects on her life of patterns and […]

May 1, 2017

Me, myself and I are Australian!

It’s only taken me 10 years and 6 months, but finally… me, myself and I became Australian last night and it feels so good!! […]

Mar 16, 2017

The Shit Series (Part VI)

My ongoing personal project called “The Shit Series” has reached 67 posts and counting! Check out the latest 9 posts here […]

Feb 1, 2017

John’s Signs

A couple of months ago my partner and I spent a weekend away near Warrangul. In the AirB&B where we stayed, I found a copy of the Gippsland […]

Feb 1, 2017

The Great Copperplate Myth

Last September 2016, I was lucky enough to visit my teachers Amanda and Keith Adams at their house in Catalonia for five days of private […]

Feb 1, 2017

Shitism T-shirt

The Shitism T-shirt is inspired by my post number 52 of The Shit Series. This post is about my feelings after learning the news from the […]

Jan 1, 2017

Brush Calligraphy Weekend

This special workshop with my friend Carla Hackett will cover the foundations of copperplate calligraphy and script brush lettering […]

Dec 16, 2016

The Shit Cards

With the help of many of my friends, I have selected 7 posts from my ongoing personal project The Shit Series and turned them […]

Dec 4, 2016

Hidden gems in Melbourne: Renaissance Bookbinding

In 2012 I discovered a great hidden treasure in Fitzroy North called Renaissance Bookbinding. I walked in the shop and I was […]

Dec 1, 2016

The Shit Series (Part V)

My ongoing personal project called “The Shit Series” has reached 58 posts and counting! Check out the latest 15 posts here […]

Nov 30, 2016

Calligraphy in Cabanabona

Last month, September 2016 I was lucky enough to visit my teachers Amanda and Keith Adams at their house in Catalonia for five days of private […]

Oct 12, 2016

Happy 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago today I landed in Australia and I am not going anywhere. Many things have happened in the last 10 years, and this is a short blurb […]

Set 28, 2016

Rebranding Myself (and the pain that goes with it)

When you are your own client and don’t like any proposals you come up with. More than a decade ago I designed […]

Jul 4, 2016

Introduction to calligraphy

I am writing this article with the intention of clarifying a few things about calligraphy, and to hopefully shed some light on misunderstandings about […]

Apr 12, 2016

Como House calligraphy workshop

This past 28th of February 2016, I hosted a Copperplate Calligraphy workshop at Como House & Gardens in Melbourne. It was […]

Feb 28, 2016

Breaking The Ice: Opening day

The ‘Breaking The Ice’ launch at Nieuw Amsterdam was an awesome afternoon full of good vibes, great company and delicious cocktails. I want to […]

Dec 5, 2015

New body of work

I’m really excited to present my new body of work featuring a series of illustrated cocktail artworks and patterns prints created from the individual […]

Dec 1, 2015

WIP: Mojito, Pasión Cubana

Mojito, Pasión Cubana is a new illustrated artwork inspired by the classic Cuban drink. My idea about Cuba is a place with great architecture, vibrant colours […]

Nov 24, 2015

WIP: Absinthe

I am working on a new illustrated cocktail piece inspired by the classic French liquor called Absinthe, La Fée Verte (The Green Fairy). This is a brief […]

Nov 7, 2015

Announcing my solo exhibition

I am very excited to announce my first ever solo exhibition in Melbourne called Breaking The Ice. Embracing both aspects of this idiom – making a start […]

Oct 1, 2015

WIP: Negroni

Ciao Negroni! is a new illustrated artwork featuring this classic Italian cocktail. The inspiration behind this piece is a blog post from BonAppetit.com […]

Sep 25, 2016

Celtic Calligraphy in France

In August 2015, I attended a Celtic calligraphy workshop in Saint Antoine L’Abbaye (France) with Mrs Amanda Adams. The workshop is a 6-day […]

Aug 10, 2015

Italic Calligraphy Retreat

In August 2015, I attended a calligraphy workshop in Saint Antoine l’Abbaye (France) under the tuition of Keith Adams. The course started on a Monday […]

Aug 4, 2015

WIP: Margarita

I am working on a new piece inspired by Nieuw Amsterdam’s Piña Margarita cocktail. My aim is to create a series of illustrated cocktail artworks, each of […]

Jul 25, 2015

WIP: The Estimulant

I am working on a new artwork featuring an Espresso Martini. This year I have started to teach Computer Aided Design at Melbourne Fashion Institute […]

Jun 25, 2015

Calligraphy workshops at Rotson Studios

This past 13th of June, my friend the great photographer, Mark Lobo, attended one of my calligraphy workshops in […]

Jun 25, 2015

WIP: Old Fashioned

Last March 2015, Nieuw Amsterdam contacted me in regards to having an exhibition of my artworks. They saw my Bloody Maria […]

May 6, 2016

WIP: Gin Tonic

For the last 4 years I have been lucky enough to visit friends and family and spend over a month in Barcelona. Everyone who lives there knows that gin tonics […]

Apr 15, 2015

Bloody Maria in London

I’m really happy to announce that after selling my framed artwork at Supergraph Melbourne, three copies of this piece are traveling to Europe to be represented […]

March 22, 2015

Typism Book Two

Last April 2015 I received my contributor’s copy of Typism Book 2, a real honour to be part of this compilation full of great artists and designer around […]

Mar 2, 2015

Tone of Voice Exhibition

Last weekend I had a great time at ‪#‎ToneOfVoice Mel‬ exhibition and I have thought of posting a few images, to sum up the experience. This is a blurb […]

Nov 10, 2014

Loose Leaf Group Show

Last week Loose Leaf run the Australian launch of the book called Strange Plants. “We’re very excited to invite you to the official Australian launch of Strange […]

Oct 22, 2014

Fraktur Calligraphy Retreat

In August 2014, I spent one week in Saint-Anotine-l’Abbaye (France) studying Fraktur calligraphy with Keith and Amanda Adams, two amazing teacher […]

Aug 6, 2014