Issue #61
June 2015
JUNE 2015
WARMLAND CALLIGRAPHERS
Newsletter Team Editor
Barbara Qualley
Proofreader
Eleanor Harris
Front Cover Artist
Laureen Woodruff
Inside Back Cover Artist
Leslie Healy
Newsletter Issue #61 June 2015
Inside this issue
Regular monthly meetings are held on the Second Tuesday of each month from 9am to 12:00pm (no meeting in July and August) Mellor Hall Meeting Room, Exhibition Grounds Duncan, BC (Exceptions are December and June)
Executive Meetings are held on the First Tuesday of each month at Linda Yaychuk’s home from 9am to noon All members are welcome!
Playtime is held on the Fourth Tuesday of each month from 9am to 12pm Scouts Hall, Exhibition Grounds Duncan, BC
Membership in Warmland Calligraphers includes three newsletters. Annual membership dues are C$30 Canadian residents and US $30 for US/International 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. 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 Editor to conferences, papers, speeches and other matters of interest to our readers. The Editor reserves the right to make editorial changes in material accepted for publication. These include such revisions or additions deemed necessary to ensure correctness of grammar and spelling, clarification of obscurities, brevity and conformity to the newsletter style. Contact us at:
P.O. Box 2, Duncan, B C, V9L 3X1 Canada http://members.shaw.ca/warmlandcalligraphers
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General Guild Information / Front Cover Artist
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President’s Message
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17th Annual Loft Gallery Exhibition
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March Galleria - Two Contrasting Hands
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Free Versals with Connie Furgason
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Upcoming Workshops
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March Program - Unusual & Useful Tools
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Warmland Library News
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Tim Botts Workshop on Colour
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Eraser Stamp Workshop - Renate Worthington
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April Galleria - Collage
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10ml Needle Tip Bottles - 2015 Executive
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Warmland Celebrates 20 years
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April Program - Creating Birthday cards
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May Galleria - Blue: Liquid Gold
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Back Cover Artist
Front Cover Artist Laureen Woodruff I have always been very positive and motivated and this quote really spoke to me. I majored in art in school where calligraphy first came into my life. Thanks to the Guild and wonderful classes I have picked up my brushes and pens and returned with passion to a craft I love. Truly, I want to thank the Guild for making me feel so welcome. I joined November 2014.
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President’s Message I think this would be a good time to wish everyone a lovely Summer, and to congratulate ourselves on our 20 years as a Guild. It is also a good time to remind you that the Cowichan Exhibition has a number of divisions available to submit your calligraphy (August 29th deadline for entry forms), and that Ria Lewis is going to be asking for pieces at our September meeting for the Library display. So, if there are some rainy days this Summer, think about creating some calligraphy! And now I would like to write a bit about Island Magic, the 27th International Calligraphy Conference that we hosted at Shawnigan Lake School from July 21 - 28th, 2007. Those of us at the last meeting enjoyed a video and short talk from Barbara Qualley and Eleanor Harris about Island Magic, but I also talked to Liz MacDonald about it because it was her innocent comment after PenUltima 1999 (the only other International Calligraphy Conference hosted in Canada) that started the whole thing. ... Once upon a time there was a group of “young” calligraphers who went on a road trip to Alberta for a Big Conference. The Road Trip involved a van driven by Judith Lovell and her passengers were Joyce Gammie, Liz MacDonald, Marilyn Lundstrom, Marilyn Boechler and Marion Kelbrick. There was also a ‘hitchhiker’ named Peter Thornton. Everyone had a very, very, good time. Connie Furgason had organized this conference and she made it look like Fun. So Liz MacDonald had a Good Idea and said (out loud) “we should have a conference”. Liz was our President from 1997 to 2000, and I think she was full of Enthusiasm and Good Ideas, as were the Calligraphers. Since they were “young” calligraphers, and also Experienced and
Wise Women, the original Plan had been for a smaller Conference, possibly three days. Barbara Qualley was the obvious person to head up this Conference and she had both Enthusiasm and Organization. Luckily for us there was another member, Eleanor Harris, with those two qualities also. I have noticed that “arty” types do not often have that “organizy” ability, and I think that we are incredibly fortunate to have two members who are incredibly organized and also generous with their time. Let me
pause from my story to give a heartfelt thank you to both Barbara and Eleanor. Time passed and in 2004 Barbara found herself talking to the CoDirectors of “Celebration 2003” the 23rd International Calligraphy Conference. There must have been “Magic” in the air because Barbara found herself agreeing that “if you can do a three-day conference, why not a five-day”? I am not entirely sure that the logic is sound in that argument, but, as I said, “arty” types. And since our Guild is full of “arty” types there was a unanimous ‘yes’ vote taken in 2005 that we host the 2007 Conference. In July 2006, Betty, Eleanor and Barbara went to Letterforum, the 26th International Calligraphy Conference in Virginia, learned all kinds of stuff, discovered how much work this was going to be, and went into high gear.
Enthusiasm blossomed and so did Committees. There were Committees for Instructors, for Signs, for Housing, for Food, for Transport, for Tours, for Souvenirs, for Goodie Bags, for Events, for Greeters, for Name Badges, and the list goes on and on. And then there were - The Board of Directors: Barbara Qualley, Eleanor Harris, Marilyn Silver, and Betty Locke. If these women could run the world everyone on earth would have food, shelter and entertainment. I live in hope . :-) Then it was July 2007 and Enthusiasm and Exhaustion were in a neck and neck race to the finish line (Enthusiasm won). And here come the numbers: we had 300 calligraphers, 42 different classes, 23 instructors (from all around the world). We had Shawnigan Lake School for 10 days, two days for set up, one day for registration, five days of classes, one day of Excursions and one day to send everyone home. We were the first International Conference to email out confirmation letters (you can tell that Barbara was determined to drag us into the 21st Century! ) And since a photo is worth a thousand words I want you to go to our website (Google : Warmland Calligraphers and look under Resources for the Island Magic Slideshows) . The slideshow makes you feel like you were there, and is a well spent 15 minutes. Enjoy your Summer and see you in September! - Lucy Hylkema
A sea of black. The still very popular Island Magic tote bags in Liz MacDonald’s garage.
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The 17th Annual Loft Gallery Exhibition
To see photos of all our Exhibitions, go to our website - Resources - Exhibitions
“We had a lot of trouble with God.” Carolynn Dallaire, Marilyn Lundstrom, Debbie Craig, Jim Wisnia and I, hung the exhibition at The Loft Gallery at Valley Vines To Wines in Mill Bay on February 3, 2015. Carolynn led the team in the positioning of the artwork. She had us sort through all the works and group them by types of frames: wood, black, silver, and gold. The next step was to place each picture in front of the wall where it might be displayed, in the order we thought would show off each piece. We sorted and reorganized several times. We then put them up on the wall. Carolynn had us walk away from the wall, keeping our backs to the work. We were then asked to close our eyes and turn back toward the wall. Then she asked us to open our eyes and look at what we saw. “Does anything seem out of place? Do the pieces complement each other? Do we need to shift any pieces?” It is a brilliant strategy. Thank you Carolynn. One of Barbara Qualley’s pieces, which had gold gilding, was about God. We tried hanging it on every wall in every possible position but alas to no avail. We put it to the side and finished hanging all the other pieces. Carolynn then looked at God, and looked at one of the barrels that they have in the Gallery. We helped her move the barrel to the beginning of the show, she placed God on this barrel and voila! It was perfect - a great lead-in to the other pieces. When signing the guest book, Jim Wisnia had written, “We had a lot of
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trouble with God today.” Barbara Qualley came to take pictures of the Loft Show and her response in the guest book was, “God is Great!” Two pieces were sold: “Sunset” by Marilyn Lundstrom and “Tell the Man” by Betty Locke.
Many thanks to the participants and the people behind the scenes. Each year, one Guild member is asked to design a poster for the show. This year Carolynn Dallaire created the great
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poster. Barbara Qualley uses her computer skills to do all the advertising for us (a job which takes her about 30 minutes – for me it used to take three days!) Members deliver their work to Eleanor Harris who keeps all the pieces at her home for a couple of weeks. Eleanor makes sure all the paper work is in order and then gives the titles of the pieces and all other pertinent information to Betty Locke. Duncan Locke runs off the cards, which are placed beside each piece with the participant’s name, the title of the piece and the price. Betty then letters each of the titles on the cards. We thank all of these people for their time to help create a successful event. There were 25 participants who contributed 66 pieces. - Trish Peebles
March Galleria - Two Contrasting Hands
Judy Lowood
Betty Locke
Margaret Kells
Charlotte Whiteley Leslie Healy
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David Carter
Joyce Gammie
Debbie Craig
Ruth Rutledge
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Mieke van der Vliet
Ria Lewis
Judi Hopewell
Linda Lax
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Marilyn Boechler
Pat Wheatley
Marion Craig
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Free Versals with Connie Furgason Seventeen eager calligraphers gathered for this workshop given by Connie Furgason. As a newcomer and feeling somewhat intimidated by the new 'calligraphy language' I was learning, I had no idea what I was in for, but naive and enthusiastic as ever, I felt immediately at ease among the familiar faces of members who had consistently been so supportive of everyone's efforts that any hesitation left me and I plunged head-first into the unknown. Connie has built a solid reputation in the field of Calligraphic Arts. Connie has been teaching calligraphy and other related courses since 1981, and although she lives in Lethbridge, she has a loyal following here on Vancouver Island. Her initial spark of interest came from a penmanship award she received at age 5, and from then she has progressed to earning degrees in Fine Arts and English and to becoming an internationally recognized artist in her field. In preparing this article I looked back at some copies of our Guild's newsletters, and found one where Connie was asked to provide the cover art. In the accompanying paragraphs she discusses the inspiration for her piece and tells how her mother, a farm wife from the prairies and also a prolific and amazing artist, had been a major influence in Connie's life as well as in her art. I am sure that many of us can identify with her as having an important role model whose work has inspired us. Connie's workshop began with introductions, and proceeded quickly to her demonstrating the form of the letters she wanted us to produce. Essentially, the 'free versal' form relates loosely to the Roman capital, but adds a 'block' or 'doubling' of the vertical stroke as well as a 'thickening/shadowing' of the rounded shapes. Letters do not necessarily need to be sitting neatly on a given baseline, nor need to be perfectly vertical. To quote Connie, each person needs to “create their own dance through the letters�, and to develop a rhythm and flow in their
formation. She mentioned that she often likes to work to music in order to enhance the fluidity and movement in her work. Imagine my delight, given this 'freedom' after having just finished a series of workshops on Foundational hand, where precision and spacing are essential. However, I soon realized that there is indeed a certain amount of structure and technique required to make a satisfying result on the paper. The 'thickening' part of the letter needs to be about one third of the letter height, and the letters have short strokes, sometimes straight and sometimes flared, to finish vertical lines and enclose open spaces within letters. Connie's demonstrations provided a multitude of options and reinforced the notion of developing one's own 'style,' and of adjusting and creating letter forms which are appropriate to the sense of the text.
In addition to giving us the 'basic' letter forms of free versals, Connie also showed us a 'multi-stroke' letterform, using the same letter strokes yet providing a distinctive change from the base form. We also experimented with applying colour to our letters,
using either watercolour or coloured pencils, gel pens or metallic paints, or a combination of any of these. We tried working on white paper of varying weight, as well as on black paper. Connie's preference was for Arches Textwove or Canson coloured paper. For work on dark papers, she recommeded using a white charcoal pencil (Faber Castell Pitt Pencil) or a white 'Y&C Gel Extreme'. Towards the end of the session, Connie demonstrated another alphabet using the same approach as for free versals but using a parallel pen instead. This provided a very textured, angular script.
We were encouraged to work at our own speed and using our own 'inspiration' when it came to what to write, and Connie spent time with each individual at some point during the day, critiquing and suggesting with warm and supportive comments. She had a number of examples of her calligraphy work to show on the screen, along with samples of her watercolour artwork which she uses to accompany her writings. Many people present were also interested in finding out about a 'watercolour workshop retreat' she is organizing for this September in the Pyrenees. Comments from those in attendance focused mainly on the 'freeing, liberating' feeling of trying this new style of writing; 'fun, playful penmanship' said one person, and another rejoiced in finding out there were 'no lines!' We were also pleased that Connie included some 'wrong examples' i.e. examples of what not to do. As far as materials were concerned,
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Welcome to our New Members June MacDonald - March 2015 Bonnie Cruickshank - April 2015 Cherrie Waterhouse - April 2015
This is a photograph of one of Connie’s sample sheets. Note how she has labelled all the products she has used. What a great reference tool!
Connie sent us a supply list prior to the workshop, and most of us came maybe too well-prepared in some cases, as we didn't have time to use all of the items mentioned; however Connie did use a number of products which were new to many of us, so we all left with an extensive ‘wish list’. We finished the day feeling quite exhausted by everything we had tried to learn and absorb during a busy day, and yet really enthusiastic to go home and try out some new techniques for our next piece of work.
Having looked briefly at Connie's sketchbooks and journals which she had with her, it was obvious to me that 'free versals' was only one aspect of this artist's vast set of abilities. Her other calligraphy work shows a multitalented and highly creative person, and I feel we were most fortunate to have had an opportunity to share her gifts, if only for one brief workshop. Who knows.... maybe we'll meet her again in the Pyrenees! - David Carter
Upcoming Workshops LORRAINE DOUGLAS September 17, 24/October 8,15, 2015 The Beautiful Letters of David Jones HEATHER VICTORIA HELD November 4-5, 2015 AMITY PARKS November 18-19, 2015 Graphite Techniques CHERRYL MOOTE March 16-17, 2016 Bookbinding
34th International Calligraphy Conference July 25 to August 1, 2015 Sonoma State University in Northern California Congratulations to Georgia Angelopoulos and Connie Furgason who will be part of the talented faculty. Information and registration available at http://www.thepassionatepen.org
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March Program - Unusual and Useful Tools Linda Yaychuk demonstrated a number of ways to use the Rolling Ruler (Staples $21). With this ruler you can draw evenly straight and slanted lines and draw circles.
Judi also showed us a Centering Ruler where numbers start at zero in the middle and run out to the left and the right. This is excellent for layout. Judi showed a site for the iPad where you can practice various hands by tracing on the screen with your finger. Joyce Gammie showed us how to use an air erasable fabric marker (Walmart $4). The lines disappeared over time.
She also showed how to draw lines using a Flexible Curve (Staples $14). A chopstick holder is useful for resting your pen or a paint brush. Judi Hopewell showed us how to line paper using the Ames Lettering Guide and a T-Square which can be found at Island Blue. Judi uses a makeup stand to hold a number of brushes horizontally allowing her to have more than one colour on the go while painting.
She also showed us how to draw lines using a T-Square and graph paper. Place the graph paper on thick cardboard and draw dots on the graph paper to establish the width between the lines. Use the T-Square to connect the dots for your lines. To put an address on an envelope, line a piece of paper the size of the envelope, put it in the envelope and use it as a guide to write your address.
She demonstrated how a piece of Mr. Clean Magic Eraser can repair watercolour mishaps. Use a barely damp piece and dab, not rub, mistakes away. As well as showing us her light box Ruth Rutledge demonstrated how easy it is to cut paper with a quilter's cutting wheel and a cutting mat rather than scissors. They can be found in the sewing section in Walmart. Lucy Hylkema showed us her light box which she enjoys using. Jane Taylor makes her light box with four yogurt cups mounted by a piece of Plexiglas and a light under it.
She also showed a Slash-N-Circle Ruler (Walmart $22). By placing your pencil in the grooves, following the half circle, flipping the tool upside down and tracing again you can create perfect circles in 4 sizes.
Rub wax over the address so the ink won’t smear if delivered in the rain! Ria Lewis discovered that if you place an envelope over a lined piece of paper with the lines extending to the left and right of the envelope your brain allows you to write on the envelope in straight lines. Leslie Healy uses a Fons and Porter mechanical pencil with white lead to draw lines on black paper. (Best price at Kaleidoscope Quilting $14.95 for pencil. Or buy refill leads for $6.95 and use a .9mm pencil (Staples $5.69). The lines can be erased once the work is finished.
Charlotte Whiteley said that another way to create a light box is to open your dining room table, place a piece of Plexiglas over the opening and a lamp under the table. Marilyn Boechler gave each of us a piece of leather to use when removing our pen nibs.
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Always use a black eraser when erasing on black paper.
You can also purchase an Eraser Shield to erase small areas.
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Barbara Qualley demonstrated the
Magic Foil Heat Pen. It comes with coloured sheets of foil which use the heat pen to transfer shiny colours onto your paper.
Some of Denise’s embossing tools
Jane Taylor showed Tombo Markers which have a brush at one end and a point at the other. Using a watercolour brush and water you can blend the colours beautifully. Available at Treasured Memories in Duncan. Heather Held advises not available in North America. Try eBay Australia.
Barb made matchbooks of 1500 grit sandpaper and provided a write-up on how to sharpen your nib with it. Denise Rothney showed us the tools she uses to emboss on paper. Some of these stencil embossing tools may be purchased at a Dollar Store. You can
use commercial embossing plates or make your own from cardstock. To emboss, place paper on wrong-side (preferably 90 lb watercolour paper) over an embossing pattern, put both on a window or a light box and trace around the inside of the pattern with the embossing tool.
- Linda Yaychuk
Warmland Library News I was wondering how to intrigue my readers in this issue of the newsletter – then I took a look at our library catalogue. Barbara keeps this up-to-date with her impeccable computer skills. Calligraphy has such huge dimensions. The “art of beautiful writing” – it is much, much more. The catalogue is numerical and also by topic/subject, this covers 18 categories, and that is not being fussy about detail. Of course, some books fall into one or more categories, and we have DVD’s listed individually. The categories begin with alphabets and general “making marks on the page”. All the do’s and don’ts we all learn from classes. Then come various types of calligraphy – Italic, Medieval, Copperplate, Spencerian, etc. followed by the vast topics of colour and illumination, worlds in their own orbit. Lettering with brush and tools other than pen, and then we
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plunge into layout and design, another bottomless topic. What do we write on (mainly)? Why, paper. Our books run the gamut of making it, folding it, stamping on it, embossing, debossing, tearing it up and making scrapbooks – I could go on. From paper we proceed to creating books and the binding of same – we have experts in this field within our membership. Categories of smaller dimensions include: decorated envelopes, quotations, greeting cards and a rather neglected section under “teaching”, mostly optimistically contributed by Betty Locke! Having written all of the above, I have to say that our library is very well used. I have not even mentioned our two quarterly journals – Bound and Lettered and Letter Arts Review which are avidly devoured. Also, not to be forgotten, our fellow Guild exchange journals, each and every one has something of interest within their
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covers. These are kept in the library, by year, for four years, and then distributed to the membership at a sale for a meagre donation (one coming up this June). Even though the library is only open eight times a year at general meetings, it can be accessed during Playtime (the fourth Tuesday of every month just make sure I will be attending) and by arrangement with the librarian if emergencies arise! We do not “bug” folks to return books, but you are on record and chased down if the item is considered excessively outstanding! Please keep them safely. It struck me while writing this that our library is echoed by our membership – hugely diverse, multi-faceted and sooooo interesting! Happy summer to all. - Pat Wheatley
Colour Workshop with Tim Botts Yes, the title of Tim’s workshop was “Make Your Colours Sing” and achieving that goal alone would have made attending it worthwhile. But who was teaching it, made all the difference. Our own Lady of Letters, Betty Locke, introduced Tim, saying she had taken classes with him years before, referring to him as a “mentor” and a calligrapher of 50 years experience. She also mentioned they had been waiting for one and a half years to have him teach here. Timothy Botts is one of those fortunate few who knew what he wanted to be when he grew up: an Artist. (His slide show included a prize winning poster done in Grade 6. Interestingly, even then, he consulted a Speedball Manual for his lettering style.) He has been honing his artistic skills all his life and we were privileged to share them every time he created a piece. While we watched, he shared his thoughts and decisions out loud as he worked and hearing a professional’s inner dialogue as he ‘creates’ a piece is a rare privilege indeed and invaluable when one comes to their own hurdles the ‘create & reject’ process, it seems, is the same for all of us, whatever the level. Tim was also fortunate to study under Arnold Bank, who he referred to as “his mentor” and the East Coast counterpart of Lloyd Reynolds at Reed College in Oregon. Bank apparently only took the job as Head of Design at Carnegie Mellon if he was able to teach Calligraphy as part of the Graphic Design program. Bank had been Art Director for TIME magazine for 6 years and lived by the axiom, “it has to be clear and it has to be beautiful” (He is well worth Googling). Tim admitted that he was deeply impressed by Bank. He also mentioned his grandfather who had taught him piano every Saturday morning, teaching him that beyond
playing the correct notes, one had to “feel” them. Again something he applied to his art. He began by having each one of us introduce ourselves and share a significant experience we have had with colour. He went first to ease the way, recounting his wife’s gift of a surprise trip to New York and an impromptu visit to Central Park where the performance artist Christo had installed “The Gates” 7500 curtained saffron gates built over 23 miles of park pathways. When Tim went it had just snowed making the saffron pop even more, and the leafless black trees provide a graphic contrast. If you Google Wolfgang Volz’s photos of this installation you will not be disappointed. But I have to say some of our classmates’ memories were equally sensational. Such a question is very useful to meditate on as well as ask other artists, if you are at all interested in heightening your colour sense. Then Tim treated us to a slide show of 37 of his pieces, all very different and all illustrating very different techniques and principles. To list them all would fill this newsletter but some I am going to try for myself were: start with mid-value coloured paper and use black or white letters and progress to colour from there for maximum effect. When using a paste paper background start with lighter value lettering. Use your subtler colours first and your bigger letters first. Ovals are the most pleasing for an outline (I query this). Take a key phrase and make it BIG. It draws an audience in and colour your words according to their meaning or use. If you’re shifting colours in a line, do it in the middle of the line, it jars less. Another of his axioms was “make sure your consonants are readable - if your stress is on the vowels your piece can become virtually unreadable”. Again be aware of the colours of the letters. Keep flourishes soft - they JUNE 2015
are for ‘mood’, using a smaller nib for them often helps and pencilling them in lightly first is a huge help. When brush writing, change your colours from line to line to enhance legibility and eye appeal. His Sheila Waters’ quote that if your flourishes return to centre, they are successful, reminded me of Betty’s, “your flourish should always return to mother”. To quote Tim, “Historically, the tradition of Calligraphy has been to celebrate the text by embellishing it. In addition to that worthy goal, I seek to portray the words so that the Meaning is expressed visually what I call ‘word pictures’.” One of the exercises Tim gave us involved analysis of 2 magazine cuttings for use of colour. He made a list of design principles that kept re-occurring from sample to sample, such as value, contrast, subtlety, texture, symbolism, movement, positive and negative space, mood or emotion, and proportion to name a few. He takes colour to a whole new level of consideration. Another exercise involved choosing a favourite letter in a favourite colour and painting it on many different coloured pieces of paper, noticing how the background colour caused our letter to ‘pop’ or recede. When we assembled our squares of coloured paper the effect was really interesting and worthy of another visit.
I found the painting to music exercise especially useful for bypassing the brakes my mind can often put on my trying anything ‘new’. Trying to paint the sound was a lot of fun. WARMLAND CALLIGRAPHERS
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Tim first demonstrated the five major exercises he asked us to do and then gave us a long 15 minutes to try it for ourselves. He began with a piece on black paper using a different hand and colour for each letter.
layered brush lettered piece, using many sizes of brushes, working light to dark, large to small letters, being
Carolynn Dallaire
Tim is known for his mastery of many hands and uses a wide diversity in many, many of his pieces. Next he did a large italic quote of Alfred Bank’s, emphasizing while he worked that we must have a picture in our heads of the finished work before we begin, so we ‘know’ where to place each letter (years of practice). Also he paid attention to the relative colours of each letter, never cleaning his pen, allowing the change in colour to be gradual and harmonious. The same goes for his palette. It is never cleaned off, so all the colours possess a little of each other = big harmony. (Remind you of any other dearly loved teacher?)
mindful of leaving some negative spaces in your under layers as you will need some white space to allow the top layer of letters to be seen. He showed us how we ‘read’ the tops of letters more than the bottoms so focus on their appearance more, also blotting the bottom layer(s) to fade them can work too. And finally he did a piece whose lettering he tried in several careful mock-ups. It was on a painted paper and its colours had to be accommodated in choosing the lettering colours and areas of emphasis. He began with the centre of the letter ‘o’, several lines down and near the middle of the line, blending several Berol Prismacolours to get the exact shade of part of the background and then intensifying it on the outside of the letter.
Next was the Paradox, two very different value colours on a mid-tone colour paper again. Tim stressed,
Going back to your table and trying to produce a similar result only made me realize just what a consummate working artist Tim is. A natural talent plus the refining and honing of his abilities through YEARS of EXPERIENCE was the example we were all offered as an inspiration on those two days. I must mention that when Tim finished each piece it was raffled off to the whole class so five lucky students went home with a Botts original. Too bad you couldn’t be there, but a visit to his website to get some idea of what you missed is highly recommended. You’ll find tons of inspiration for now and in the future. - Liz Moss
before you begin, decide which colour is going to “win” and how you are going to direct your viewers’ eyes (again, years of practice). Then a
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Watching him work and listening to his choices all along the course of the pieces was worth four weeks in school at least.
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All photos are of Timothy Botts’ work, except as noted.
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Eraser Stamp Carving OK, NOW I'M ADDICTED! Yes, I now find I am constantly planning how to make stamps of everything! Renate came from Calgary to attend her husband’s hockey tournament, and bond with her cousins and Warmland members Lynne and Debbie Craig. It was a definite win-win for the group gathered to attend her class and glean some new skills to add to their calligraphic endeavours. Renate and her "poet" husband Keith have published three books together. She illustrates with paintings and calligraphy, and he writes the poems. Debbie Craig What a beautiful combination. We are fortunate to have two of these books in our Warmland library: "Poet On A Cargo Plane" and "Puffs of Breath". For about 30 years Renate has been making and teaching the art of carving stamps. After getting all psyched up from seeing her many amazing creations, we began our own. First, we chose our designs from borrowed art or our own drawings, and penciled or traced them on to a piece of tracing paper. Using a soft pencil lead (2B to 6B) we were able to transfer the image onto an eraser. We inverted the drawing facedown on the eraser and gently rubbed the backside of the eraser using a bone folder (or our fingernail) and 'VOILA', Pat Wheatley the image was now on the eraser! You can use almost any vinyl eraser. The Dollar Stores are a good place to purchase. Staedtler round eraser refills work well for small stamps like hearts, stars, flowers, leaves etc. They can be cut into short 1” lengths and carved at both ends.
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with Renate Worthington
AND NOW TO CUT: For this we needed : 1) a cutting mat to protect the table surface 2) an X-acto knife with #11 blade 3) Bandages… just in case.
Linda Lax
Renate says to always cut away from the hand that is holding your project!
Here is what she suggested on how to proceed: - Decide what parts will be cut away and what parts you want to put the ink on. - Try to avoid choppy cutting lines. Try for confident clean cuts. - Begin by cutting through the lines on an angle away from your design. That way you don't risk undercutting your stamp image. This makes a stronger and longer lasting stamp. Your cut should be about 1/6th to 1/8th of an inch deep.
Stamp pads are a natural choice and are available in many colours. You can also use watercolours. Now here is where your stamps can become really impressive! 1) BLEND your paints as you apply them to the eraser Betty Locke (you could paint your eraser with stripes or dots, whatever you want.) 2) LAYER your stamps. Put the rabbit in the hat, an owl in the pot , the flower in the vase. Have a blast! When layering the stamps, start with the foreground first, then shield it with paper to cover the areas from the second stamp and then use your second stamp and so on. 3) CREATE A BORDER by repeating the same stamp to form a line.
Lori
- To test that it is cut correctly, put some ink on it and try it out. - Trim away any raggy bits.
4) REVERSE your image if you are carving an initial or name. You can create a mirror image by stamping onto another blank eraser then using that to stamp on your paper.
Linda Yaychuk
5) EMBELLISH your prints with coloured pencils or Gelly markers, even metallic markers would be great.
When you have fine-tuned your stamp you can start having MORE fun.
The possibilities are endless and you will find yourself having way too much fun! The three hour class was too short by at least three more hours. I didn't want to leave. I look forward to using my new skills on future projects and I hope anyone reading this will give it a try. If there is another similar class in the offing go for it!
INK UP EVERYONE! JUNE 2015
- Linda Lax
April Galleria - Collage using newsprint, Kraft paper and calligraphy
Anne Atkinson Judy Lowood
Laureen Woodruff Linda Yaychuk
Ida Marie Threadkell
Charlotte Whiteley
Barbara Qualley
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Judi Hopewell
Margaret Kells
David Carter
Lenore Le May
Betty Locke
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Marilyn Boechler
Marion Craig
Ria Lewis
Judi Hopewell
Ruth Rutledge
Ruth Rutledge
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10ml Needle-tip Bottles Following Yukimi Annand’s workshop, members were interested in owning these versatile bottles. Barbara Qualley found they were available at Vape Shops, but not in the quantity of 120 bottles that we required! She ordered them online from Malaysia. Artwork by Lorraine Douglas
They are super fantastic for so many, things like adding a drip of gum to the ink or gouache mixes and refilling the Parallel Pens ... Lorraine Douglas
Here are a couple of pics showing my little set up. Old coaster holder lined with paper towel for drips, includes mini needle nosed bottles with caps which are great for travel. One with ink, gum arabic, Windex, Palmolive, distilled water.
The two 25 cent candle bases make great ink wells. In the paper towel is a long pin to clear noses that may get blocked on the bottles and a parallel pen cleaner is taped on the side just in case it’s needed... These bottles make excellent refilling cartridge devices for Parallel Pens ... Judi Hopewell
Warmland Calligraphers 2015-2016 Executive President
Lucy Hylkema
lnrinbc@yahoo.ca
250-748-5518
Past President
Joyce Gammie
jgammie@shaw.ca
250-246-2484
1st Vice President
Ria Lewis
blackletter@shaw.ca
250-710-0304
2nd Vice President
Denise Rothney
deniserothney@gmail.com
250-416-0334
Secretary
Leslie Healy Ruth Rutledge
leslielhealy@msn.com drrutledge@shaw.ca
250-701-2433 250-748-6628
Treasurer
Eleanor Harris
eleanorharris@shaw.ca
250-748-1042
Membership
Jane Taylor
janetaylor.taylor@gmail.com
250-748-0051
Librarian
Pat Wheatley
jnpwheatley@shaw.ca
250-748-4159
Newsletter Webmaster
Barbara Qualley
bqualley@gmail.com
250-746-9385
Workshops
Betty Locke Marilyn Boechler
bagladyaug38@gmail.com boech2219@shaw.ca
250-748-6542 250-746-7568
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These are some of the pieces on display recording the history of the Guild.
Members who attended the conference offered amusing anecdotes including a description of the end party which was deemed the best conference party ever. Lucy introduced journals and books which were out on display along with old Warmland newsletters provided by Librarian Pat Wheatley. Of exceptional interest was Sparkles, a newsletter containing reports from our members on their classes at Island Magic 2007.
Our May meeting celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Warmland Calligraphers of the Cowichan Valley. The meeting was attended by founding members Helen Sanderson, Marilyn Clark, Lucy Hylkema, Eleanor Harris and Judith Lovell. Eleanor Harris spoke on the history of the Guild. It was founded in April 1995 after Betty Locke, a new arrival to Duncan, taught a class on Beginners Italics at the Community Centre. The first meeting was attended by 15 people. They created an executive and chose the name Warmland Calligraphers of the Cowichan Valley which was suggested by Colleen McCartney. The first regular meeting was held at the Girl Guide Hall, and our logo was created by Judith Lovell. The banner was designed by Jean Junor and reproduced on silk by Judith Lovell.
Denise Rothney introduced the showing of first and most recent calligraphic pieces from members. Each one discussed their own pieces and related experiences with their earlier pieces. There was much laughter as members commented on their experiences and their reasons for joining the Guild. One theme throughout the discussions was the influence of Betty Locke on every member. We were sad that our Lifetime Member Betty was on holiday and unable to be with us. Thank you for getting the ball rolling, Betty!
The Guilds biggest endeavour to date was hosting the 27th International Calligraphy Conference. Barbara Qualley (Co-Director with Eleanor Harris) showed the Island Magic 2007 promotional video, which impressed everyone. There were discussions about the people carrying out all the tasks to make the conference such a huge success. The conference grew from an idea hatched in 1999 in Judith Lovell’s van, en route from Lethbridge to Calgary/Duncan. Excursions were increased from the usual half day to a full day and were Five original members: Lucy Hyklema, Eleanor Harris, Helen Sanderson, very popular with Judith Lovell, and Marilyn Clark the participants. JUNE 2015
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People mingled and chatted while examining all the pieces on view bringing to a close a very enjoyable and informative celebration. We ate cake! - Linda Yaychuk
Judy Lowood’s earliest and latest work.
Brigitte French talks about how calligraphy encouraged her to write poetry
Pat Wheatley’s latest and earliest works.
Marilyn Boechler’s latest and earliest work.
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April Programme: Creating Birthday Cards The April program was presented by Janet Peters as a demonstration of ideas for making birthday cards specifically for celebrating the birthday of our own Brigitte French who will be 90 years old on July 4th.
beautiful examples of cards for demonstration purposes. The presentation of this card to Brigitte will occur at the June meeting of the Guild. - Margaret Kells
The plan was for Guild members to make 90 cards and bind them together in an accordion format. A similar document was created for Betty Locke's 75th birthday, and Janet used this as a beautiful visual presentation of what can be achieved . We were asked to use 10” x 5” cardstock folded in half (5” x 5”) and to decorate the card only on the inside. Ideas which flowed from the discussion included: • Waterfall cards - Google for great YouTube video instruction • Collage cards using feathers, buttons, lace etc, or including smaller cards within larger one • Paper napkin motifs with the surrounding white paper removed, glued on as decoration • Embossed artwork • Paste paper with calligraphy • Paul Klee lettering (Google this) • Stamp patterns • Cut-out shapes in a pop-up format • Decorative hand or machine stitching As Brigitte loves the colour blue, and is appreciative of all Nature, this information gave further ideas. Linda Yaychuk, assisted by Janet Peters and Shirley Johnson, graciously offered to assemble the cards to create the accordion book. Many thanks were accorded to Charlotte Whitely, Carolynn Dallaire, Betty Locke and June Maffin, for
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May Galleria - Theme for 2015 Cowichan Exhibition " Blue - Liquid Gold: Water & Agriculture"
Ruth Rutledge
Betty Locke
Laureen Woodruff
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Ruth Rutledge
Judi Hopewell David Carter
Ria Lewis
Margaret Kells
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Judy Lowood
Marion Craig
Pat Wheatley
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Judi Hopewell
Charlotte Whiteley
Back Cover Artist - Leslie Healy This piece was conceived for the March Galleria where we were challenged to use two different hands. When it came to the text, I felt it needed tones that depict what we Westerners think of Africa: dry, arid, and "wild"..... I may change my preconceived ideas after October as I will be visiting South Africa during that month.
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