Logo designed by Judith Lovell
Regular monthly meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month (EXCEPT JULY and AUGUST)
from 9am to 12:30pm Island Savings Centre 2687 James Street P.O. Box 2, Duncan, B C, V9L 3X1 Canada http://members.shaw.ca/warmlandcalligraphers
NEWSLETTER ISSUE #46, FEBRUARY 2010 Cover artist: Inside Back artist: Printer: Page Layout: Editor:
Proofreader:
Susan Miller Elaine Richards Copycat Printing & Design Microsoft Publisher Barbara Qualley / Charlotte Whiteley Telephone 250-245-5960 (Charlotte) Fax 250-746-4580 (Barbara) chaw@shaw.ca/ bqualley1@shaw.ca Denise Rothney
Executive Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month at Eleanor Harris’ home from 9am to noon
COPY DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE 13 April 2010
Warmland Calligraphers of the Cowichan Valley (the Guild) is a non-profit group formed to facilitate the exchange of information between calligraphers, and to promote interest in and appreciation of calligraphy as an art form within the community. Its membership is open to calligraphers at all levels of expertise as well as those with a love of beautiful writing. Contents of this newsletter are copyrighted by the authors/ artists. Requests for permission to reprint any part must be made through the Editor. The views of contributors are not necessarily those of the Editor or of the Guild. Members are invited to submit concise pieces for publication as well as to alert the Editors to conferences, papers, speeches and other matters of interest to our readers. The Editors reserve the right to make editorial changes in material accepted for publication. These include such revisions or additions as are necessary to ensure correctness of grammar and spelling, clarification of obscurities, brevity and conformity to the newsletter style.
Membership in the Warmland Calligraphers guild includes three newsletters published in February, May and October. Annual membership dues are C$20 for Canadian residents and US$20 for US/International
Design by Susan Miller
Well after much ink, paint, gouache, paper and gnashing of teeth I finally completed my promise to create a February newsletter cover page. The quote I chose was the easy part. Now what lettering style, size and what nib should I use? In total frustration and after many attempts I reached for the clothes peg my brush was resting on and VOILA! I believe the Martin Luther King quote applies to calligraphy in a lot of ways. You don’t have to be perfect, learn it all at once, ignore the dust bunnies under your bed or decline lunch with friends just to work at and get better at calligraphy. As this is the February cover page, the month Vancouver hosts the 2010 Olympics, I have decided to include the inukshuk to represent this pinnacle of achievement. As they say, “it’s all good” so keep on scribing and take the first step.
Marilyn Silver During the past two years as I have had the privilege of holding the president position in our guild I have been continually amazed by the enthusiasm, support and dedication of the members in our group. The executive has been outstanding and I want to thank each and every one of them for their contributions to the efficient running of our guild. Marilyn Lundstrom, our Vice-President is about to take on the role of President in April and we are looking forward to her creative leadership. Marilyn has offered much to the guild through organizing the Loft Show and the Telus Lobby exhibit this year. Denise Rothney is an active member who after two years of working on the newsletter took on the position of Program Coordinator. Our program format has changed considerably this year as we have gone from presenting a variety of topics to a year long focus on the Italic hand.
In Diana Hardy Wilson’s book The Encyclopedia of Calligraphy Techniques, she states: “Seeing how other calligraphers have solved visual problems, created interesting layouts, combined techniques and explored unusual subjects makes an important contribution to an individual’s development of personal style and the acquisition of calligraphic skills.” These words remind me of how valuable our Galleria can be to our members. Over the past two years we have started on the process of making a few changes by having the focus of the Galleria topics project based rather than just themes or quotes. Betty and Judith have also begun to mentor a few members in the art of leading a Galleria critique. In closing, I want to thank to all the members for their support and encouragement over the past two years. I am looking forward to new experiences and challenges with our dynamic guild in the future.
Gwyneth Evans and Trish Peebles are working as an efficient team in the position of Secretary. Eleanor Harris has mastered the Treasurer’s position and keeps such good records that we always have immediate access to up-todate numbers – and lots of money to spend. Judy Lowood’s efficient work as Membership chair has kept us well informed. Barb Qualley should officially be given the title of “Communications Expert”. Her work on our newsletter has as always been outstanding and to add to that she keeps our website up to date and filled with important information. If you ever have a guild related question check out the web site first and you will likely find the answer. Barb also keeps us well informed through e-mail messages. This year Charlotte Whiteley has joined Barb as newsletter editor and this newsletter is her first “solo project”. Well done Charlotte! Our library continues to expand through the guidance of Judy Dearman and Pat Wheatley. They keep us informed of the new books, magazines and newsletters that arrive as well as reminding us of what is in the wonderful collection we have. Pat Wheatley also acts as the liaison with CVAC, the Cowichan Valley Arts Council, to keep us up-to-date with what is happening on the arts scene. As always Betty Locke and Marilyn Boechler keep us supplied with a full slate of outstanding workshops. They have provided a nice balance between guest instructors, guild instructors and informal “kitchen table” sessions. We have been very fortunate to have had a number of international calligraphers work with us. And finally, I want to thank Betty Locke and Judith Lovell who have lead our Gallerias at the end of each meeting for so many years. The Galleria is an important part of our meetings as it provides members an opportunity to share their calligraphic pieces.
By Charlotte Whiteley Here it is! My first message. The message I have to share with you is to tell you how much more I appreciate Barbara Qualley for all she does for the guild. She has guided me through this issue and will continue to be there in the months to come. Barbara was the headings creator for this issue so we have to thank her again for that. As I have been working on this issue it has been brought to my attention what a cohesive group Warmland Calligraphers are. The articles and write-ups arrive without any prompting and we have to thank Janice Graham-Andrews for coordinating the events with reporters. The preparation of the newsletter is so much more than putting the pictures and articles in some semblance of order. So many people are involved by contributing regular artwork and articles, photographing workshops and events, assigning writers to articles, proofreading the newsletter draft, getting the printing done and distributing the newsletter upon completion. My thanks to all of you whoever you are. I believe that my next lesson after this one is distributed will be to learn your names and recognize your faces. A new page we are trying out is called Play Time. This is a place where we can glue in something and include instructions on how to achieve the effect. If you have any ideas please submit them for consideration. There may be some restrictions on space and size but we will review all ideas. Please forgive any errors or omissions. I will improve. My space ends so must sign off. Thanks to all.
By Janice Graham-Andrews We began today with a review of last month's highlights which can be found on the last page of Newsletter Edition 45. It was stressed that regardless of the tool, Italics are given a 5 pen width height • whenever making a horizontal stroke, reduce the pen angle slightly • the space in the 'e' should be almond shaped • when we have 2 down strokes in a word, open the negative space; when 1 down stroke and 1 round stroke, tighten the negative space a little; when 2 round strokes, we have the closest spacing in the letter • the main stroke of the 's' is at 45 degrees with the top and bottom at 20 degrees • push to the left with the first stroke of 'a', 'd' and 'g' • the last stroke of the 'k' is made with a pen angle of 0 degrees • with 'v' and 'w' pull down almost vertically with the first stroke; the space between the strokes in the v is approximately 2 pen widths. with 'b' and 'p', with the ascender, ride up on the first stroke and do not round the bottoms of these letters. We were asked to bring a carpenter's pencil for next month's program.
It
In keeping with the meaning of the word 'HUGS", it was suggested that the teddy bears and the outer writings be brought in closer to the word HUGS. (Lenore Le May) In 'Happiness', Judith Lovell magically used gold to cover a 'booboo'.
By Janice Graham-Andrews
We were reminded to often bring a portion - even a line - of the illustration into the words of the piece. See Gwyneth’s piece When dealing with words and illustration in a piece (Pat Wheatley's), the words can be done first on a separate piece of paper and moved around to determine their position relative to the illustration. It was noted that the Foundational hand works well in a child's subject. Note: Higgins Eternal ink will run when placed on watercolour background! Instead, use watercolour or gouache for your lettering.
Laura Griffin
Our galleria this month was critiqued by Marilyn Lundstrom. Putting the bookhand/foundational hand in context, we learned that we have to thank Edward Johnston for his development of this hand based on ancient manuscripts. The formal bookhand treatment is a 4 pen width height, and the informal is either 3 or 5. We notice in the galleria pieces this month that there is a good amount of spacing between the lines of a bookhand piece. This enhances its readability. Romans are often used with foundational in the galleria pieces. We were reminded not to make the size of our accreditation so large that it takes away from the text. Enlarging the words of importance results in a more interesting piece. (Dinah Cyr's work).
Charlotte Whiteley
Pat Wheatley
Marilyn Lundstrum
Betty Locke
Dinah Cyr
Lenore LeMay
Marion Craig Judith Lovell
Gwyneth Evans
Judy Lowood
(October 15-16th 2009)
• • •
Submitted by Lorraine Hoy
After introductions all round, Heather began our journey with pointed nibs and oblique pen holders. We were all given a comprehensive package of exemplars and five nibs (varying in size and flexibility) to start us off. There were three things that Heather wanted to emphasize with us:
1. Learn to control the pen 2. Have good letter form, and 3. Relax and be patient with yourself and you will eventually find your own style.
Wear a fingerless glove on your writing hand to keep the paper clean Don’t cross two thick lines, make one line thin Flourishes should curve back to the letter, not sail off into space
Muriel Heggie
•
Short words look better with less variation in letter style
•
When you have two ascenders or descenders beside one another, vary their lengths.
By four o’clock we had put in a full day and learned a great deal. We prepared our nibs by wiping them with Gum Arabic and began to learn the alphabet as she drew the letter with a pointed brush on the board. The key to success is in pen pressure. When pressure on the nib is exerted the nib tines open and a large amount of ink is released; the opposite occurs when little pressure is applied. So on the down stroke there is pressure and a thick line is created and on the up stroke pressure is light and a fine line is formed. This is the essence of using the pen and this is the challenge. It’s all about thick and thin Heather lines and good form. Each letter of the alphabet was shown in its many forms starting with traditional copperplate hand and then onto several other options which were considered more contemporary.
The plan was to finish the last little bit of the alphabet the next morning.
It seemed to be an advantage to have taken copperplate at some time as the pen action came more readily to those who had some such experience. Alane
Heather gave us several hints to remember when writing:
Submitted by Janice Graham-Andrews Our second day started with the most revealing exercise. Yesterday we wrote a quote in pen, using our own handwriting. These were magically copied and enlarged by Barb Qualley overnight!
Gwyneth Evans
Betty Locke
Lorraine’s name done By Heather
Heather with Leslie Healy
Using our new hand, we traced with pen and panache on top of the quote . The result was a delightful mix of our natural handwriting and everything that Heather has been showing us.
Betty Locke
Whenever we have a letter that opens to the right (c or e), we have space to possibly be used by the next letter.
With the t and h, the horizontal crossbar of the ‘t’ can be incorporated into the ‘h’.
It was noted that the descender of the ‘y’ should be placed on once we see where it sits in relation to the following line….as it might become the crossbar of a ‘t’ that might be below it. We might cross our ‘t’ by the loop of the ‘d’ when ‘dt’ are found in a word.
Heather Lee demonstrates
Heather demonstrates the thick/ thin crossings
As our second day closed, we left with an understanding that as much as our individual handwriting is different, so we each bring our individual style to this delightful alphabet. We had developed great confidence in our ability to pen with panache!
Betty Locke
We spent time mastering the skill of spacing between words, noting that round letters are closer together.
When working with double letters we note that we keep the basic letter form the same, but we want to make them different enough from each other that it looks intentionally done. With two ‘ts’ we can make one higher than the other, and merge the curves.
Submitted by Laura Griffin At the November meeting, Judith Lovell continued the program on the Italic hand, concentrating on ascenders, descenders and spacing. We experimented with graphite carpenter’s pencils, using sandpaper to sharpen them. We saw examples of the variety of different forms possible which she had done in a class given by Diane Von Arx. Judith reminded us that modern Italic has close spacing, no entry or exit serifs, and the ascenders and descenders are shortened, though planning ahead is essential to have space for them. So leave them out until the piece is completely written, then go back and fit them in. The space between words should be the width of the letter 'n'. TIPS: Practice. Attend to good posture and paper placement. Think of calligraphy as drawing not writing. To keep long ascenders or descenders straight, breathe in with pen at the starting point, keeping eyes focused on where the line finishes, breathe out and draw the line.
Submitted by Dinah Cyr With the idea of training more Guild members to do the galleria critiques, Marilyn Silver joined Judith Lovell in discussing the assembled pieces. I think all who put pieces in the November Galleria enjoyed the challenge of using 4 or more substances. It was amazing and an eye-opener to realize how many mediums can be used to create beautiful calligraphy:
acrylic paint art stick chalk crayon gel pen gesso glue gold foil Gouache
ink parallel pen pencil pencil crayon pigma pen walnut ink watercolour watercolour pencil flowers
Judith used the opportunity to talk again about Italic spacing and the need to tighten it up. Thank you Marilyn and Judith for critiquing with humour and pinpointing the best part of each effort.
Editor's Note. Comments regarding the galleria pieces are meant to reflect only the mediums used and I apologize for any errors or omissions. Betty Locke uses wax crayons and ink to create her piece.
Barbara Qualley above created her piece using many layers of pastels, varnish, gouache, pencil, acrylic and other mediums from a technique used by Graham McArthur. Details are posted by Barb on our website. Denise Rothney created her piece using a combination of gouache, gel pens, ink and glue on arches 140# and canson paper. Leslie Healy, top right, used ink, water colour, gouache and pen for her piece. Linda Yaychuk, bottom right, uses pencil, crayon, inks and water colours.
Clockwise from top left this page only: Dinah Cyr used pearl colours and inks. Ida Marie Threadkell uses a stamp with gold ink, inks and paints. Judy Lowood gave us a shadow design of deck chairs in water colours, crayons and pens Marilyn Lundstrom used gold pen, ink and water colours for her galleria piece.
From top left clockwise this page: Gillian Mouat uses water colours, crayon and pen. Pat Wheatley created her piece with walnut ink, watercolours and paper cut-outs. Gwyneth Evans uses gold pen and watercolours with inks. Charlotte Whiteley uses water colours, podgy, dried rose buds, ink and schmincke powder. All these calligraphers used additional mediums that the editor may have missed.
This piece above created by Judith Lovell is a real stand out. She used pastels, inks and water colours. The piece at the right was done by Judy Dearman using inks, water colours, salt, pencil and crayons. Below the piece was done by Marion Craig using her 50 words or more optional category. Marion uses water colours, inks and pencil and pencil crayon
Submitted by Janice Graham-Andrews Were there more people at the party this year, were there more cards on display, was the food more delicious? It all seemed so at this year’s Christmas potluck party. But then after talking with friends we agreed that the food was as always, the cards probably too – no question our numbers have grown. New members were able to wend their way to Barbara’s delightful home…some of the old ones went down the wrong lane, but were determined to find their way. We were told that the reindeer would guide us to the driveway, but Santa must have been going over the Christmas delivery route with them, as we found ourselves deerless this year. It was fun to renew our enjoyment of the gathering through our new members’ comments. Thank you once again Barb for welcoming us into your home. This year I’m trying to avoid carbs……no one would have known that based on the mound of delicious low-carb food that I found. I had to trust others’ mmmms and aaahs when it came to dessert. I hope you all appreciate my sacrifice, leaving more for you. In keeping with our tradition, the party ended with a delightful sharing of gifts............ no-one was left out, right? I don't know about you, but I had a small salad for dinner that night.
Submitted by Brigitte French Making a Christmas card is always a great joy to me (when it’s finished) but the process of getting there is so laborious and frustrating that I always swear never to do it again. This year was no exception and looking back it seems really quite funny. So, for my own amusement I thought of writing this saga down. Maybe it will help me make less mistakes?? During the year I sometimes wonder what one could say about Christmas in an uplifting way in 4 to 6 lines that has not been said before. By November still no inspiration. One morning when my nose was dripping a lot and my eyes were bleary and I was tired I got the first two lines, leaving out the nose and the eyes. Now comes the game of procrastination, doing all kinds of jobs that have to be done other than calligraphy. In the end, one evening around 9 pm I decided to at least start writing. So I assembled ruler, pencil, pens, watercolour, etc. and then tried to decide which pen, what size the script and what colour. Green would be best. Then I wrote it in a straight line, cut it into separate lines, doing this several times in different scripts and pens. Then I drew lines and tried to find out how much space each line needs. The idea was to write on a 8x11 piece of good paper (texwove), reduce it to 50%, which gives me 4 cards on one piece of cardstock, which I can then print and cut apart. This allows me to give lots of cards away. Several people told me that they kept these cards.
My idea was to paint a big Christmas tree with candles and a gold star on top. Christmas needs colour and gold. However, I could not draw a good looking tree and in desperation phoned Betty Locke, who happened to be somewhere in outer space! So I asked Bernice Sutton, who came to my aid, bless her - and we made Christmas trees with a flat brush. After an hour or so, I thought I could do it and tried the rest of the evening painting trees - one worse than the next, until it dawned on me that I could not acquire Bernice’s skill in one evening and I had better get back to my own way of doing things. I wrote the poem down at last. Flooded the first word, but managed a little flourish, and spent a lot of time practicing swash capitals. I was so preoccupied getting the right slant into the A that I forgot the nd (for and). Luckily the paint could be dabbed off - sigh! The last line ought to be in a different script, perhaps different colour?? More agonizing - Blackletter? Too much practicing necessary and too big. Versals? Also too big. The only thing that worked was narrow Romans of my own invention. Different colour? No. Was it OK to have so much green when there were the fir branches to come? The only solution seemed to just have a darker green. Now what? No more Christmas trees, but perhaps I could surround the writing with fir branches and decorations. Whatever I tried did not look right to me. The internet seemed to have nothing but Kitsch, and then I remembered an old German Christmas craft book that I have had since I was a teenager. In the back I found the Friesian Christmas tree which seemed just the thing, and it gave me an image. Friesland is the North Sea shore of Germany where no fir trees grow, and people used to bend a hazelnut branch and anchor it into a board and build a little rack to hang goodies on . I guess now they buy artificial trees.
Spent two evenings doing the board and the fir branches, candles etc., another evening drawing the goodies and agonizing about the colour distribution, until finally I just did it and it looked OK splashed some paint on my work, but managed to dab it off - sigh! The gold star at the top would have to be painted in after printing. Finally the deed was done and I went to Staples to have it reduced and it came out in 4 cards, but rather pale, although at the time it seemed alright to me. In future I would go to the UPS store and have it done properly. The printing at home seemed to get paler all the time, so I asked my computer friend to scan it again, and this time it came out looking like the original and I could send the cards as E-mail. two people asked me if I had done the card with the computer! I did not know whether to be flattered or insulted. Well, there you have it. I learned a lot, like last year - except by the this year I had forgotten a lot of what I had learned. The card to me is the challenge of the year and if I gave up on it I would feel that something important had gone from my life.
Brigitte French
Gwyneth Evans
June Maffin
Mary Nelson
Lenore Le May
Marilyn Silver
Barbara Qualley
Gillian Mouat
Pat Wheatley
Charlotte Whiteley
Anne McDonald Anne Atkinson
Donna Cameron
Alane Lalonde
Ida Marie Th
Trish Peebles
Denise Rothney
Marilyn Boechler
Joyce Gammie Judy Dearman
Marilyn Lundstrom
hreadkell
Leslie Healy
Bernice Sutton
By Janet Peters If you “Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes” (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds – John Lennon/Paul McCartney), then you will find our Lucy! Even the morning I had set aside to do the interview turned out to be the sunniest day we had seen for a long while and I knew while I was driving to her home that it was a match to her warm and generous disposition. Back in 2006, when I took on the role of assistant editor of the newsletter, I had this idea about Exposé and approached Lucy to do the job. She was the first person who popped into my mind because she is inquisitive, endearing, and has a wonderful sense of humour. She was the perfect candidate – and, yes, I had to twist her arm. I hope I can match her skills, especially as I am now doing an article on her! The author of nine Exposé articles, all handwritten, i.e. no computer, we owe her a big round of applause for her time and huge effort. Lucy grew up in the Vancouver area and went to UBC to do her B.Sc. From there she moved to Saskatchewan to attend the University of Saskatoon in order to study veterinarian medicine. It was there that she met Leo, “the love of her life,” later to become hubby, but romance was not top priority right at that point and once finished, she took off for St. Andrews-by-theSea in New Brunswick where she practiced in a local home rather than what we know as a “clinic.” The reception and consulting rooms were on the main floor, the operating room was on the upper floor in one of the bedrooms, and the x-ray machine was in the basement – dirt floor and all – but it was a big, beautiful rambling heritage-style house overlooking the ocean, the family was great, so too were the animals, and a good percentage of the work centered on house calls. As she told me some of the happenings, my mind was moving back to all those James Herriot stories minus the frigid winters of N.B. Following a year of separation, Leo moved to New Brunswick after working a year in Alberta, which he loved , but - and these are Lucy’s words - “I guess he loved me more!” He worked large animal in N.B. for three years, and Lucy continued in her position. When a job opportunity presented itself in 1993 at the Mill Bay Veterinarian Clinic they opted to move, and part of the reason was they wanted to be closer to their families on the Mainland. Undoubtedly another had something to do with the frigid winters of N.B.! Lucy is a mom inside and out. No ifs nor buts, her family comes first, yet still she finds the time and energy to volunteer at her children’s schools. Her oldest boy is attending Cowichan High School,
and her other two children, Anneke and Alex, are at Quamichan Middle School. If you were to pop in during a lunch recess you might well find Lucy tutoring those interested in the art of calligraphy or helping out with a drama production. As well, she spends many hours volunteering at Alexander School. For those members who were not present at one of our meetings in 2008, a group of children from Alexander School attended and recited their poetry for us. This was all because of her dogged efforts to bring a special light to these children’s lives by having their words transformed by volunteer Warmland members into a piece of art they could treasure for a lifetime. As we talked, out of the corner of my eye (left one!) I was trying to make out what was being housed on the bookshelves that run almost the length of her dining room wall. In the end curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask if they were photograph albums. From the photos on display all over her home I should have guessed the answer. This is another of her passions: “Have Camera, Will Shoot.” This also applies to movie cameras. Those school children must have so much fun with Lucy when they’re making movies – she is full of life and good humour, plus the provider of many great props from the vets’ operating theatre. They will miss her terribly when they move on to high school. I was dying to ask her how she found her way to the Warmland Calligraphers’ guild, and here’s the scoop. About fifteen years ago she had wanted to do some birth announcements and needed some guidance/instruction on fine writing – and happened upon a course
being offered by Betty Locke. She studied hard and has used her calligraphy on many occasions for formal/informal purposes, as well as teaching a class on the folded pen. I haven’t told you about her hobby farm and numerous pets. When I arrived, I thought I saw and heard a big, loud dog barking at me from across the property. It turned out it was one of her miniature donkeys! (Do I need glasses, a hearing device or what!) They inherited a couple of lamas from a breeder because of not being up to breeding standards. Then there’s the “world’s oldest and nicest pony,” that they purchased along with their property. Getting back to the donkeys, for a long, long time they didn’t know how to “Hee-Haw,” but finally caught on after hearing ambulances rushing up and down the Trans-Canada Highway with sirens blazing – yes, come to think of it, those sirens do kind of sound like “Hee-Haw, Hee-Haw.” A good thing they didn’t learn from the rooster and the numerous chickens they raise, that would never have done. Having heard that bark from one of them, though, he must have been close to a dog at one time! I suspect you are wondering if she will go back to veterinarian duties after her children have flown the coop, as was I. It seems that humans have won over the animals and she is contemplating a career in education. One thing we can be sure of, she will continue to hand out paper and pens and ink to those interested in improving their handwriting skills. Bravo, Lucy!
lines can be used to enhance vine work. A three petal flower was illustrated and we practised as Judy went along. Barb Qualley created a letter using the traditional styles such as checkerboard backgrounds, golf clubs, vines and the easy trefoil. The variations are endless.
Submitted by Charlotte Whiteley Marilyn Lundstrum and Judy Dearman took eighteen Warmland Calligraphy Guild participants on a road down memory lane in a one day workshop of doodling, colouring and having fun playing. To start things rolling, each member of the class was given a 2 ½ inch square piece of white bond and was instructed to draw the initial of our name on it. Then we were told to take the letter and decorating it with daisies and to colour it as we pleased. See above on how many of us interpreted that instruction From this point we had a quick lesson on versals. Versals are based on the Lombardic style of lettering. They are broad enough to decorate and to flourish. They are often the basis for illuminated capitals. Versals can be created out of many letter forms including Italics and foundational.
Marilyn Silver Gillina Mouat
We had an exercise in simple Roman Versals. Exemplars were passed out and we mimicked the form of the letter paying attention to the 11:00 and 5:00 o’clock position that guides us on the rounded forms. The size of the letters were reviewed as some letters are ¾ width and others full or half widths. These letters are distinct by their gentle “waisted”- ness on the straight lines and straight segments inside the curves. A great application for this style of lettering is posters. We worked on perfecting the roman caps until breaking for coffee at 10:30. Judy continued the workshop with a fun session of artwork that is traditionally used to embellish the decorated capital styles. Often the artwork mimics or enhances the text. Examples were given of vines and tendrils followed with flowers, leaves, and fruit. Double
Barb Qualley
Charlotte Whiteley
More exemplars were handed out to give a greater range of ideas. There were some very impressive pieces. Some of the concepts from the Peter Thornton’s Adolf Bernd workshop lend themselves to creating impressive caps such as leaving a white space around the letter and creating negative space. Simple designs such as vines can be created in a pattern with the lines extended to create drama. The key was to have fun.
Bernice Sutton
This session took us to lunch where we started looking at the progression on decoration uncial Lombardic letters. This was an Italian hand used in manuscripts and was a variation of the roman and uncial hands. The centres are more oval with the letters being “waisted” (meaning there is some tapering in the middle of the straight strokes of the letter). The other defining characteristics of these letters are the Kari Magnuson bowls, ovals, bald spots and the slugs. The letter can be expanded or compressed to get different effects. The letter can be decorated in the inside or the letter can be solid and the outside gets decorated. We did a variety of exercises putting the letter inside a box (rectangle or Square) and then we brought the
box outside the confines of the box. The effect was very interesting buy taking the same letter and playing with it in this manner.
REFERENCE MATERIALS
Other variations on the box theme were to draw the letter and erase Linda Yaychuk the portions that fell outside the box perimeter. At this stage some of us were getting excited about creating Christmas cards and gift tags. Another interesting exercise Judy had us do was after handing out a single letter that had been created in a style, we were to take it and create a word using the letter as the guide for the other letter.
Kari Magnuson sent a great website to check out: www.illuminations.ca/letters.html
The Illuminated Alphabet - by Noad and Seligman – Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. The Bible Of Illuminated Letters - by Margaret Morgan The Encyclopedia of Calligraphy Techniques - by Diana Hardy Wilson
We used Winsor Newton Gold Ink. The bottle comes in a small square box. We mixed it well, and then poured a quantity into our paint pan and let it dry. When we needed to use it we reconstituted with water and had excellent results. On the handout you can see tooling on the gold ink. We used a stencil ballpoint for that.
Barb forwarded this information after the class. See how the learning continues….. As mentioned in today’s class I took this topic at PenUltima 1999 in Lethbridge .I am attaching the handout with the gouache colours we used. I do not recall what the numbers mean next to the colours. I might presume that means how many parts colour and white mixed? I will try to email Valerie Weilmuenster for clarification.
Barb posted this information on the Techniques web page. http://members.shaw.ca/ warmlandcalligraphers/ techniques.htm
Marg Marshall Pat Wheatley
Jane Taylor
Gwyneth Evans Pat Wheatley Barb Qualley Barb Qualley
Marg Marshall
Nov 16th – Dec 21st 2009
Submitted by Janice Graham-Andrews What a magnificent display of talent! It is especially exciting to say this, because all of the pieces on the wall were new to the Telus Lobby this year. More than 100 pieces were on display. Each of these pieces was sorted, catalogued and labeled by Eleanor Harris and Barbara Qualley, then transported to the Telus Lobby. Marilyn Lundstrom sends her thanks to all who were involved in the creation of the pieces, the set-up and the take-down processes. Special thanks go out to Judy Dearman for her support and effort. Judith Lovell’s discerning eye guided the set-up team and they handily created a beautiful display. Both Open Houses were well-attended on Nov. 18th and 28th. Nine of the 110 pieces were sold. As much as this fine display would never have taken place without the artists’ contributions, it could not have happened without those who so readily gave of their time and energy. Thank you everyone!
Editors note: Unfortunately I was not able to identify all Calligraphers from the Telus show. Some of the contributors on these pages are Joyce Gammie, Ida Marie Threadkell, Ria Lewis, Betty Locke, Bernice Sutton and Lenore LeMay. My apologies to those I missed.
Small items were housed in the new cabinet we purchased and donated to Island Savings Centre and it now resides in the Telus Lobby.
Gwyneth played for the opening. Our guild is fortunate to have such beautiful talent.
Submitted by Lorraine Hoy Playtime section Idea created by Lorraine Hoy I have often wondered what” Paste Paper” was all about. One day Anne Atkinson sent me the recipe and the mystery was solved. It's basically a flour-thickened paste to which acrylic paint is applied then used to decorate paper. In hindsight, not much different from kindergarten finger-painting without the fingers...but perhaps they too would make great designs. Arches text wove and 140lb paper were used as you need to use paper of substance. Finer paper would be great for covering book board (when making books) and the thicker for focus in cards or in collages. The amount of paste made in this recipe is more that enough to make all the "arty" paper one would want for many projects. I used cutlery from the drawer nearest the sink and no more that three colours mingling on the page. There are no rules, just have fun and play. The samples in the newsletter, after having been painted and dried, had a very thin glue brushed on the surface and glitter was applied.
Paste Paper recipe INGREDIENTS (makes 2 cups) ½ cup all purpose flour 2-1/2 cups cold water 1 tsp. glycerin (prevents cracking) 1 tsp. dish washing liquid (prevents fungal growth) SUPPLIES Wire whisk Small pot Cheese cloth Bowl Wax paper Air-tight container In a small pot add ½ cup of cold water and ½ cup of four. Whisk. Gradually add two more cups of cold water. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and bubbles. Remove from heat and if necessary strain through cheese cloth or fine sieve to remove lumps. Stir in 1 tsp. of glycerin and 1 tsp. of dish washing liquid. Mix well. Transfer to a bowl and lay a piece of wax paper over the surface to prevent scum from forming. Refrigerate until cool, then transfer to storage container. This should keep for up to 3 days. Makes 2 cups To use for paste paper, divide into smaller containers and add acrylic paint. Mix well; apply paste to dampened paper using a wide brush while paste is still moist. Make designs using combs or wide edged tools, making line images, wavy lines, cross hatching, etc.
Thanks to Janet Peters for finding and forwarding this technique that she found on Lorraine Douglas’ blog. http://wordmarksajournal.blogspot.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZgBkBv8y5s&feature=fvw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy0JG-TEWf8&NR=1
Editor's note: We are hoping to make this a regular feature.
Submitted by Judy Dearman THE BROAD EDGE Fall 2009 Langley. The cover is an Adoph Berndt letter . How to make a Meandering Accordion Card. Workshops by Peter Thornton, Connie Fergason (Lettering on the Dark Side) Zentangles. FAIRBANK SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Sept 2009/ Classes, classes, classes: Lorraine Douglas - Pointed Pen Variations; Kathy Guthrie - Calligraphy Now, Calligraphy in the Autumn, Bookhand Calligraphy; June Maffin - Soulistry; Georgia Angelopolous & Lorraine Douglas - Caps, caps and more caps; Joan Byers - Basically, making a book. Interesting article on the Book Cell. Shareshop: Plaid Paper with Sharron Emerson and Aboriginal Art with Pat Williams. EDMONTON CALLIGRAPHIC SOCIETY Pretty Cover! by Karin Depner. Article by Gail Fournier on Calligraphy in Greece and Turkey. Lots of photos of ancient writing. They've had a workshop with Carrie Imai: 'Play Letters' and 'Big Bad Bone'. LETTER ARTS REVIEW Vol.23, No. 3. features the work of Luca Barcellona that ranges from formal calligraphy (see his beautiful 'O' in Obama) and street-savvy graffiti. Then there is an article by Sharon Zenguin on GHOST RANCH, an annual calligraphy retreat, just north of Santa Fe in New Mexico. And finally, the Japanese calligrapher TSUBASA KIMURA and some of her astounding installations. FAIRBANK SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Nov 2009 Their usual erudite offerings including Georgia Angelopoulos' article on the Calligraphy Symposium in the U.K. The cover, by Fred Salmon and carved by Tanja Bolenz will be included in the Letter Arts Annual edition. LETTER ARTS REVIEW Vol.23, No.4 Commercial brush lettering, new dimensions of calligraphic expression, a collaboration of Japanese and Belgian calligraphers. THE BROAD EDGE Winter 2009 Langley A book within a book! A neat Triangle Book a la Michael Jacob is included, along with instructions for making your own. EDMONTON CALLIGRAPHIC SOCIETY Winter 2009 Chock full of lettering ideas for journals and cards; calligraphy in Greece and Turkey; easy card making.
Submitted by Judy Dearman Warmland Calligraphers were well represented in the Cowichan Valley Arts Council's Verse and Vision show on display in the Telus Lobby from October 21st to November 16th. The show is held every second year and is a joint project between poet and artist. The poets submit their works to the CVAC office, who number them and make them available to artists to read and decide on which piece or pieces they wish to illustrate. The results are hung in the Telus Lobby and the public is encouraged to view the show either when attending a theatre event or by dropping in on Saturday afternoons. Our own Pat Wheatley (our CVAC representative) was co-ordinator and spent many months getting the show together. A lot of work, but worth the effort! The gala opening night was well attended, the walls hung with works of art and beside them the poem from which they were taken. The invited audience voted on their favourite pieces, munched on cookies and crudities, all the while entertained by Gwyneth Evans on the harp and later, by the poets reading their works. Warmland participants were: Poets: Denise Rothney, MaryBeth Nelson and Pat Wheatley
Submitted by Linda Yaychuk Swash capitals are used with Italic lettering. Begin your letter “I” with your pen at an angle between 30° and 45°. Pull down and as you approach the line, lower your pen angle and push to the left making a gentle curve rather than a square corner. Retaining the angle, pull the stroke a short way to the right creating a foot. Relocate your pen at the top of your original stroke but substantially to the left. With your pen at its original angle (30-45°) pull about halfway down slightly to the left so you have a hairline at the top. Starting at the top of your last stroke let the pen go slightly up and then across to the original down stroke.
Galleria critique notes: Denise used this galleria piece to repeat her poem of 50 words. The text probably was within the 20% area but it was decided early on that we would not be doing any more pieces that required math skills. As the text weaves through “time” it reminds us as Denise says “that time is a process not a product” Her trees also represent the four seasons, another sign of time passages.
Submitted by Muriel Heggie Judy Dearman critiqued our first galleria for 2010. Sixteen pieces were displayed - a wonderful selection of small and large displays. The assignment of 20% of the paper proved to be a bit confusing to some - was the 20% just the lettering or also the illustrations that were included. It was decided that perhaps the assignment would not be presented again in that format in the future. Discussion about the pieces displayed included the following suggestions: - the design of articles - either soften it or move it around in a more unconventional way - offset lines - use colours in your work that are in the background of your attachments - use different inks, pens and writing style in your work; different writing styles can change the emphasis of a word - look at changing the placement of your piece on the paper - either up, down or sideways, or using a square or round format - look at your work from afar - can it be read, do you want the wording to be incorporated into the design - look for a focal point
Galleria critique notes: The top piece was done by Betty Locke. Her “debossed piece met the 20% guidelines set for the galleria. The text shown in the upper area of the paper is uplifting as is the message in the piece. Her poetry has been enlarged to show the Italics hand. The lower right piece was done by Charlotte Whiteley. The 20% guideline was achieved. The colour in the piece is meant to evoke the emotion in the piece. The center is a forest on fire and the background was a watercolour wash that went from pink on the bottom to yellow at the top. It was suggested in the critique that by writing the word “with” in another hand in the space above the word consciousness would make a more powerful piece.
Charlotte Whiteley
Galleria critique notes: To the right,: Gwyneth Evan's piece may have exceeded the 20% guidelines. The work is a very good example of a journal page and she did a very good job of marrying and balancing the colours with the text. Below: Judy Lowood killed two birds with one inuksuk stone. The 20% coverage was met. She used the stamp to inspire her colours and artwork in the piece. Bottom right: Pat Wheatley created this calligraphic piece using her 50 words selection.. Her husband helped calculate the actual area of the paper that was covered in text to 17%. It was said this piece was very restful and balanced.
Gwyneth Evans
Pat Wheatley
Galleria critique notes: Above: Lenore LeMay did this piece using two different hands. One was bold and black. Discussion ensued and it was decided that the dark one was like a request and the red one (shown) was of a softer tone. The Art work of an oak leaf represented knowledge and learning. Below: Marilyn Lundstrom created her piece using watercolour and possibly salt or plastic wrap(she left before we could ask her). “The soul lies buried in the the ink that writes”
Galleria critique notes: Above: Marg Marshall created a powerful piece using the red paper, black tiger and gold lettering. This will be the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar. Below: Marion Craig created her piece using pigma pen. She noted the light and dark ink saturations. Using some artistic licence, she had both of the trees shaped to the centre of the paper. And although nature wouldn’t create trees shaped that way, it was discussed that man can! The Artwork was also something the author of the piece had painted and Marion recreated this.
Marion Craig
Design by: Elaine Richards I love the Scriptures and had often thought about doing those particular verses in some type of calligraphic presentation. When you invited me to do a piece, for the February newsletter, it all came together since in February we celebrate Valentine’s Day. I used Canson Mi-tientes red paper, acrylic paint for the heart design and Dr. Martin's Bleed-Proof White for the lettering.
Details to be announced
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On Our Cover by Susan Miller
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President’s Message Editor’s Message
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October Meeting and Galleria - Foundational
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Pen “Penashe”
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November Meeting and Galleria– Mediums
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Christmas Pot Luck Evolution of a Christmas Card
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Christmas Cards
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Exposé
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Decorated Capitals - Judy Dearman and Marilyn Lundstrom
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Telus Lobby Exhibit
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Playtime with Lorraine Hoy
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Newsletter Exchange Vision an Verse
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January Meeting and Galleria - 20% text only
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Back Cover Artist - Elaine Richards Bulletin Board ISSUE NUMBER 46 - FEBRUARY 2010