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Announcing a new class: Built-Up Capitals

I am excited to be teaching this 4-week class again. We will explore built-up capitals and some of the many variations. The class begins Tuesday evening, October 29. (The class now in progress sold out and so I’m offering a second chance here.)

Built-up capitals are slow to make, but they allow the maximum control over the letter forms. They also provide a deeper understanding of the shapes and spaces that make up our alphabet. The opportunity for variations is practically unlimited, from Trajan-like elegance to casual flair to playful silliness. And these variations can work together seamlessly.

We will begin with penciled monoline capitals. Then we’ll building on those monoline capitals to built-up capitals, first with pencils and then with broad-edge pens.
Then the fun will continue with variations in letters, layout, and rhythm. We’ll explore how and why these elements are so dramatically different in capitals than in minuscules.

Suitable for beginners and experienced letterers alike.

This class was held 6:30-8:30 PM Mountain Time on these Tuesday evenings: Oct 29 and Nov 5, 12, and 19.

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A colored-pencil insult I love, and a cowboy hat

This turned out to be a fun piece for a difficult prompt. I guess that because the prompt was for a Western theme my mind turned to cowboy hats, and because the prompt was difficult my mind I turned something negative: the worst cutting remark a rancher can make: “All hat, no cattle.” I used the weft lines to provide vertical texture for the colored pencils. I’m going to claim that this was a planned effect.

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More brush Romans – but not your gladiator’s Trajans!

Lao-Tse: We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel, but it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends. Therefore, just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of what is not.

I’m still having a good time with the flat brush and Romans. This was a response to an online prompt – Postive:Negative. I was going to do it in black and white, but I had a leftover palette of gouache. (I always have a leftover palette, and I hate to wash color down the sink.) Kaerell #4 flat brush on some white butcher paper.

Lao-Tse’s quotation seemed appropriate for the prompt as well: “We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel, but it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends. Therefore, just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of what is not.”

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After the Roman Holiday, the daily Trajan Romans practice

Our week-long class at the international calligraphy conference at St. Ambrose University with John Stevens was simply wonderful. My main frustration was that there was so much else to do at the conference that I didn’t get enough time to work in the classroom. Every full day that I’ve been home since then, I’ve been doing three pages of brush Romans. That’s two pages of Trajans and one page of whatever else I want to do. Even though the letters aren’t improving much, I think that my eye is seeing more.

Practice sheets 18″ x 30″ (mostly) July 1-21.

One of the really valuable lessons from John was about how to condition our flat brushes to get them to work at their optimum level. Between July 1 and 21, I was interested to see that, after daily brush conditioning at the end of each session, my Winsor & Newton 995 is now substantially wider than when I started.

All these 18″ x 30″ (mostly) sheets cuts from a roll of butcher paper have reached a certain critical mass: they no longer can be contained by the three binder clips I’ve been using to hang them. So I’ve rolled them up and put them in the corner, but I don’t have a lot of extra space for these. They’ll be seeing the recycling bin before long.

I’m looking forward to creating a new batch of higher-class recycling 🙂

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The amazing exhibit @ Roman Holiday: “artplay: A Rosie Retrospective”

I’ve just returned from the most wonderful week at St. Ambrose University with hundreds of lettering artists and faculty. The first international calligraphy conference in five years was a roaring success. The exhibit of Rosie Kelly’s work was a jewel among the many week-long offerings. Imaginatively and beautifully curated by Pamela Paulsrud (and maybe another person?), it was a delight. Here are some photos from the exhibit.

  • The text from one of Rosie’s artist books was transferred to a decal for the wall.
  • Rosie’s hanging pieces depending from branches mounted to the wall.
  • In a corner of the room, one could sit and browse through this delightful collection of books.

There were a couple of tables in the corners with a chair which encouraged gallery visitors to sit with some of Rosie’s books. And two larger tables in the center of the gallery held several chairs each, with Plexiglas cases containing 15 or 20 more books that could be held and read and delighted in.

I didn’t get a photo of the entrance, a curtain of strings that held printed images of some of her work. It was a magical start to a magical experience.

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Roman Holiday — the calligraphy conference, not the movie

Roman Holiday, the annual calligraphy conference, commences this Saturday, June 22!

At Market Night I’ll have for sale copies of my pencil portfolio, How To Be In The World, now in its 2nd printing.

I’ll also be selling a few small originals. Here’s a preview.

If you’re at the conference, stop by my table and say hello!

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In calligraphy, practice approaches perfection, right?

This week I had occasion to write out a poem in letters of nearly 1/2″ x-height. It had been a long time since I had written anything of any length with a 3mm-wide nib, so I began with my go-to practice page, the alphabetical list of related terms. The first page was of upright italic, and then I tried something with a good slanted. The final piece had a slant that was somewhere between these two, but these two sheets were a good starting point and a great warm-up.

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Lots of fun with Big Sky Scribes and Suzie Beringer

I had a thoroughly good time at our state guild’s spring workshop last weekend. Suzie Beringer taught her “Once Upon A Circle” and was a fantastic experience. Helena’s local guild were wonderful hosts. Deb brought a slice of her store, Queen City Framing & Art Supplies, for our shopping pleasure and also hosted a dinner Saturday night. All in all, a beautiful weekend, and I’m grateful to have had to opportunity to be there.