August 2011
Transcription
August 2011
~ newsletter no 177 ~ december 2011 2011 - 2012 Committee President at the NLA Marg Peachey 6231 3210 [email protected] 10am-5pm daily until 18 March 2012 Illuminated Letters Sun 19 February 10am-4pm with Gemma Black Vice President Angela Hillier 6251 1275 [email protected] Secretary Young Calligraphers Sun 26 Feb 10:30am-1pm with Jill Robertson Generative Gothic Sun 4 March 10:30am-2:30pm with Angela Hillier Carol Perron 6262 5096 [email protected] Treasurer Maureen Worsnop 6254 4979 Fri-Sun 24-26 Feb 9:30-4:30 [email protected] CCS at the Royal Canberra Show Editor Sara Rawlinson 6251 0526 [email protected] Librarian Sunday 26 February (note: 4th Sunday in Feb) 1:30-4:30 Lyndell Dobbs 6258 4245 Celtic Angular Capitals [email protected] Marg Peachey Workshop Co-ordinator Sat-Sun 24-25 March 9:30-4:30 [email protected] Christine Wilde 6231 9922 Vivacious Versals Committee Members Reta Gear 6231 4209 Gemma Black [email protected] Fractur & Roman Calligraphy with Angela Hillier Feb-Apr 2012 Lake Ginnindera College http://www.lakenitelearning.com.au/ Uncial Calligraphy with Pam Kemp Feb-Apr 2012 Erindale College http://www.erindalecep.com.au/ Postal Address: The Secretary CCS PO Box 291 Jamison Centre ACT 2614 2 :: Alphabetical Order :: no 177 :: December 2011 Karen Woodhall 6292 5853 [email protected] Jill Robertson 6259 0576 [email protected] Pam Kemp 0408 865 459 [email protected] Marg Peachey President’s Report Dear Calligraphic Colleagues, The end of the year is nigh. Amazing how fast the time goes. Now is the time to start thinking very seriously about doing a piece for the Canberra Show. Don’t leave it until the last minute because the last minute does not have any creativity to spare, believe me I know. You should have received an application form by email. Note that it has to be submitted by 6th January. This year the Canberra Calligraphy Society will sponsor member’s entries by reimbursing 50% of your entry fees. This is to encourage you to enter as each year the Art Show threatens to eliminate the Calligraphy class because of an insufficient number of entries. Once that happens it is very difficult to have it reinstated. We have to enter as many pieces as we can. Please do not leave it to the same few people, get in and have a go. (if this sounds like a lecture it is!!) To make it cheaper your piece(s) do not necessarily need to be framed, just ready to be hung. They can be mounted and have hanging wire/ string securely attached to the back If you want to enter two related miniatures the artwork needs to be no more than 10 x 10 cm for each miniature and the entry fee will be for just a single piece. workshops in conjunction with the exhibition in February. See details later in the newsletter. Recent workshops have been very successful. Deidre Hassed’s workshop was well received, I wish I could have been there, all reports were very enthusiastic. Jill’s workshop on versals was also fantastic, and had the largest number of people ever! The Jindabyne Retreat will be on 5-6 October and we hope that many will be able to join in the fun. Don’t forget to go to the Handwritten Exhibition at the National Library. You will need to book online for a time to go but it is free. Gemma, Angela and Jill are running Thank you: to Wrap Writers Carol, Angela, Lyndell, Sara Our Christmas lunch and card swap was lovely at A Bite to Eat in Chifley. The cards were wonderful, evidence of workshops abounding. Except for Sara who just had to make a gingerbread card!!! I am looking forward to next year already. Hope to see you all in February. Have a very safe and happy Christmas and New Year. Contents Text as Texture ......... 4-6 News from the Library ......... 7 Versals ......... 8-9 Miscellany ......... 10 Workshop Equipment ......... 11 BackPage: Christmas Lunch ......... 12 Alphabetical Order :: no 177 :: December 2011 :: 3 as workshop: Deirdre Hassed article: Carol Perron and Jill Robertson Most participants met for dinner at Sara and Nick Rawlinson’s home the evening before the workshop to welcome Deidre. We enjoyed a very pleasant evening, relaxing on their newly completed deck, eating delicious food, talking and laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Nobody wanted to go home. Thanks for those delectable prawns on the barbie, Nick. :: S a t u r d a y :: Ten keen calligraphers gathered for this eagerly awaited workshop. Jill welcomed Deidre and invited her to share with us any interesting calligraphic projects she had been engaged in of late. These included producing a 30cm x 30cm leatherbound award book, a first wedding anniversary gift with a Maltese cross, a treble cleft and a spiral. In addition she had been inspired by Olive Bull to produce some calligraphy sand blasting on glass. 4 :: Alphabetical Order :: no 177 :: December 2011 Deidre explained the concept of the formal application of text as texture, exploring scripts and providing lots of examples of text and texture in work by herself and other wellknown calligraphers such as Sheila Waters, Dave Wood, and Anne Hechle. Participants received a generous bundle of handouts to use as examples and an instruction sheet for balancing elements on a page. As the groups of text would be coming together on one sheet it was important to decide on themes, such as flowers, herbs, life, etc. Deidre used Floriade as her theme while demonstrating by writing ‘rhododendron’ in different sizes, textures, fine pen, wide spaced, sloping and lightweight, using a finer pen each time. While writing Hydrangea she explained ‘the rule of three’ where you look at your last 3 spaces at a time to judge your spacing between letters. Deidre encouraged us to first enjoy our beautiful white paper before putting pen to paper. Proceeding to plan groups of text with varying contrast, light and dark marks, heavy and lightweight letterforms followed, taking care to mark in the size of nib used so they could later be used on the finished piece. She moved from one person to the next helping out with advice and suggestions. Everyone was so engrossed in the process and enjoying what they were creating that morning tea and lunch were taken on the go. This really was fun, everyone agreeing it was an exhilarating workshop. After lunch is was time to get out the ‘good’ paper and start bringing our morning’s work together into a balanced, eye-pleasing layout; creating a focal point, ensuring sufficient contrast, balancing the design, positioning elements carefully into an approximate 1/3rd2/3rd layout, while leaving plenty of white space to ensure the overall result was harmonious. By the end of day one there were some excellent results and we were all looking forward to day two. :: S U N D A Y :: Everyone arrived on time on Sunday, filled with the inspiration from Saturday and ready to keep going. Some people had even worked on Saturday night and produced beautiful finished pieces of work for us to see. On Sunday, Deirdre concentrated on page layout, using small vignettes or cameo pieces to make up a page. She gave us many more techniques to try out. She emphasized that pieces need to be balanced, with enough white space left so that things are not too crowded, with a reminder of the 1/3-2/3rd rule. With many points of interest on a page of textured text, we need to have something there to unify the page, which may be space, colour, or blocks of colour or lines. The techniques of the day included the following: • Using a ruling pen, write a small letter with the fine tip, then gradually turn the page and add each letter with either the wide or fine part of the pen and starting at the same point for each letter, so that you end up with a circular shape, with flourishes in many directions. Alphabetical Order :: no 177 :: December 2011 :: 5 • • • • • • • • • • • Practice flourishing in the air before committing the pen to paper. The words won’t be legible, but the effect is stunning! Mask off an area on the page, then using a pipette or eye dropper, write with water in the space, right up to, and over the edge of the tape. Then touch the water with some ink and it will flow around the shapes in the water, and possibly make some pleasing colours. Black Quink dries with interesting colour separation. Use a pipette to write in ink and run words into each other making a block of letter shapes – this has a slightly Chinese look to it. Write a block of gothic writing – several lines of text – then turn page through 90° and write on top of the first block of writing. This gives a grill effect. Some spots of colour can be added to the pattern by colouring in some white spaces. Use a toothbrush to write with, only dipping the first third of the bristles into the ink – hold it on its side, and then contrasting this with some fine liner writing. Use a copperplate nib to write some informal italic, varying the angle of the letters and lines. Use a fine liner pen to write a formal script or use your handwriting and then go back and thicken some of the letters, or add ornamentation to the end of some letters – very effective! Use masking fluid to write with, then paint over it and reveal the white lettering later. Use a Brause nib upside down, writing with back of the nib; don’t expect even letters, it is there for the texture effect Draw some pencil guidelines about 2cm apart and then elongate your letters and have almost no space between them so you get a fine picket-fence effect. Play with your normal handwriting with a fine liner pen or a broad edge pen – elongate, condense, slope, spread out. Add touches to parts of some letters to make them heavier. Write with a brush pen – like a Pentel colour brush. We spent some time trying these out but were encouraged to start using a good piece of paper to gradually build up a finished piece of work. Most of us started with the spidery circular technique and then added another feature. That way, we had to work out where to put the next technique, so it balanced with two, then three, then four other features, slowly building up a complete work. We were all thoroughly engrossed with our work and Deirdre had to suggest lunchtime many times before people left their tables! The end results were most satisfying and everyone felt encouraged and enthused to go home and try some more. Deirdre’s handouts to demonstrate the things she was talking about were really excellent, and we will refer to them many times. The feedback from the weekend was extremely positive, with Deirdre’s gentle encouragement and inspiration being commented on by everyone. Thank you so much, Deirdre, for a wonderful weekend. 6 :: Alphabetical Order :: no 177 :: December 2011 Please note that all these featured magazines and books in addition to many others are available for loan from the library. by Lyndell Dobbs Quarterly Quillo October 2011 http://calligraphywa.asn.au/ This society has a show and tell gallery each month. What a great idea to encourage different types of calligraphy –see the picture of this month’s gallery. Also featured this month is a gallery of works from the Royal Perth Show. It is definitely worth a look at this issue to gain inspiration and the appreciation of the works of other calligraphers. Postscript - Victoria Oct-Nov 2011 http://www.calligraphysocietyvictoria. org.au/ This magazine features works from the Royal Melbourne Show. Amazingly one person took first prize in all of the categories she entered in as well as best exhibit award. Most of the exhibits have been reproduced in the magazine in colour! Have a look at all of them when you come to the next workshop. Calligraphers of Kapiti October 2011 http://www.cecilia-letteringart.com/all/ nz_kapiti.htm How fabulous! A whole page of pangrams! If you are tired of writing ‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’ there is a whole page in this issue. Alphabetical Order :: no 177 :: December 2011 :: 7 workshop: Jill Robertson article: Karen Woodhall ill handed out the workshop notes, in red manila folder (each with our names starting with a red and blue decorated initial), and we were ready to begin. We ruled up some lines (2.5 cm wide) and were encouraged to copy first the Versals based on Roman proportions, and then the rounder, less formal Lombardic Versals. There are many styles of Versals, too many to investigate in an afternoon – so Jill decided to concentrate on these two, with one type of decoration. ur finest broad nib pens were to to be used to draw the Versals, and the pen should be held to write “horizontally” because the curved strokes have a slight thickness. If this was difficult for less experienced calligraphers – we could just draw the letters with a fine black Artline marker. We began to get a feel for the shapes of the letters, and Jill advised us to make the oval shapes first, and then add the extra curves on the outside (as in O and Q). Note that there is a slight waisting on the B and I. 8 :: Alphabetical Order :: no 177 :: December 2011 he kind of curlicue decorated Versals we would be learning about, began to appear during the 12th15th Centuries. The first ones were constructed on Roman proportions. They were used to make a page of writing look more interesting, to break it up with illustration. As well as providing a decorative focus at the beginning of the manuscript, smaller Versals were used to start new paragraphs. Sometimes a whole word was written in Versals and it would still be completely legible, even if it was highly decorated. racticing both kinds of Versals for a while, we then progressed to writing an entire word. The curly bits on the bottoms of A, J, K, Q, and R were a little tricky to manage with the Lombardic Versals, when they extended into the space of the next letter. A little planning was needed regarding the spacing. slide show was the next treat, and saw many beautiful examples, including: • an early zoomorphic Celtic knot by the monk Cassiodorus (5th Century) • a heavily decorated initial from the Lindisfarne Gospels • some gorgeously coloured lettering from the Book of Kells • an excerpt from the Book of Durrow • an illustration from the 11th Century Winchester Bible • a Historiated Versal… a whole story was drawn inside the stem of the letter “P” • 13th Century Gregory Decretals (Church Law) • a 13th to 14th Century Rotunda example – where curlicues were creeping in… • a mid 13th Century German Psalter, which showed the appearance of the blue and red, free flowing, alternating decoration. ome other lovely examples The Smithfield Decretals, a “D” with spiraling vines and cross-hatching, and the St Denis Missal (circa 1350) with its’ long hanging doodles. ext we were to have a go at adding tendrils and curlicues to a Versal. We had been provided with an example sheet based on “elements of decoration used in some 12th – 14th Century manuscripts” drawn up by Jill… and now the fun part would be adding the filigree decoration to our own letters. We were reminded that there is always a “moat” of white space around the letter, and that red and blue are always alternated. Then the pressure was on, to complete a mini - masterpiece, before the end of the workshop. ed and blue fine-point markers, Jill mused, could be kept handy to whip up an elegant decorated Versal in no time, and really impress people. A tempting thought…I might just keep the pens, and a notebook in my handbag, for those boring moments waiting for the doctor, or other appointments! any thanks Jill for an excellent workshop, it was very enjoyable ... and one that I’m sure will keep everyone doodling and filigree-ing for some time to come. n closing….Jill had a poster/exemplar on the wall which illustrated the various styles of Versals, there seem to be quite a few…. Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Runic, Byzantine, Modern, Contemporary, Rococo, Baroque, Rennaissance, Medieval, Gothic, Winchester, Lombardic, English Walsingham, Italian white vine…. plenty of material for future workshops. Alphabetical Order :: no 177 :: December 2011 :: 9 Miscellany Our annual exhibition at the Cornucopia Bakery went well. Several pieces were sold and there were many compliments at the Christmas Lunch and beyond. The exhibition in 2012 will be at the Belconnen Arts Centre in conjunction with the Canberra Craft BookBinders Guild. We look forward to seeing many contributions from all members! royal canberra art show Entries for the Royal Canberra Art Show (24-26 Feb) should be submitted by 6 January 2012. The work of art must be ready to hang on a wall, but does not necessarily have to be in a frame. The hanging mechanism may be wire or string or other, but its sturdiness-requirement has been noted, as vthe organizers may not rehang the work if it falls down. Furthermore, CCS will refund 50% of members entry fees. The Calligraphy Society retreat will be at the lodge in Jindabyne on the weekend of 5-6 October 2012, with possible extension to include the Sunday night. If you would like to register your interest or book your space, please contact our Workshop Coordinator at [email protected]. More information and cost will be published in forthcoming newsletters. wrap writing parties annual CCS exhibition Jindabyne retreat Newsletter Envelope Addressing Parties are being held for each newsletter. Any CCS member is welcome to contribute. It will normally occur on a weekend afternoon in the first week of each month a newsletter goes out (Feb, Apr, June, Aug, Oct, and Dec). It takes only 2 hrs for three people and is a fun way to meet your fellow calligraphers! If interested in attending or hosting, please contact your Newsletter Lady [email protected] The National Library of Australia Handwritten exhibition will be on display each day until 18 March 10am-5pm, with extended hours to 9pm on Thursdays from 19 Jan, and until 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays in March. CCS will have three special workshops at Handwritten on 19 Feb, 26 Feb, and 4 March. See the BackPage for more information. 10 :: Alphabetical Order :: no 177 :: December 2011 handwritten: exibition Workshop Equipment at the NLA 10am-5pm daily until 18 March 2012 ::RSVP to: [email protected] :to RSVP:: Illuminated Generative Young Letters Calligraphers Gothic WHOOPS! don’t confuse your teacup with your water jar Sun 19 February 10am-4pm with Gemma Black Sun 26 Feb 10:30am-1pm with Jill Robertson Sunday 26 February (note: 4th Sunday in Feb) 1:30-4:30 Celtic Angular Capitals with Marg Peachey To Bring: • the usual calligraphy gear • watercolour pencils • a fine good quality paintbrush Sun 4 March 10:30am-2:30pm with Angela Hillier The Usual Calligraphy Gear: • pad of A3 bond paper • several broad edged dip nibs & holders • 2B pencil and eraser • 40-50cm ruler (clear and metal) • bottle non-waterproof black ink Sat-Sun 24-25 March 9:30-4:30 Vivacious Versals with Gemma Black To Bring: • the usual calligraphy gear • several coloured pencils • several very cheap Chinese bristle brushes for mixing colour • several <000 sized pointed brushes • A3 cartridge paper • A4 tracing paper • off cuts of good quality fine art paper • extra ruler (20cm, clear) • wide water tub • several colours of gouache or watercolor paint + palatte or mixing containers • medium size glass jar • old rags or towels (for making a mess!) • old toothbrush (for cleaning the nibs!) • masking tape or blu-tak • drawing board just bigger than A3 Alphabetical Order :: no 177 :: December 2011 :: 11 Christmas Lunch On a sunny Sunday lunchtime, we all piled into A Bite To Eat, returning from last year since we liked it so much. With such a large group, the restaurant had requested that we pre-order our meals, so all we had to do was order drinks and have a seat. I and several others again ordered their fabulous squeezed-to-order pint of orange juice. Most of the food came out at the same time, but poor James had to wait for quite a while for his meal! After the lunch, we each picked a number from an envelope that corresponded to each of the handmade cards. The cards were very inventive - using tinsel, a 3D Christmas tree card, a card with a different message with each folding permutation, and one edible gingerbread card. Snipets of each card are on the front cover, and a few of the cards are shown here in full. A fun end to a fun year!