{"id":2936,"date":"2020-04-02T09:20:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T16:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/callibeth.com\/blog\/?p=2936"},"modified":"2020-04-02T09:20:24","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T16:20:24","slug":"a-good-day-in-the-studio-with-karlgeorg-hoefer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/callibeth.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/02\/a-good-day-in-the-studio-with-karlgeorg-hoefer\/","title":{"rendered":"A good day in the studio with Karlgeorg Hoefer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
On the right, stepping it down to 4.1mm x-height (never mind the pencil, which was wrong) and a 3\/4mm Brause nib with walnut ink on Strathmore Drawing 400 heavyweight paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I am still studying, still enjoying<\/em> the hand Karlgeorg Hoefer used in his “Appel an die V\u00f6lker der Erde”. David Sedaris wrote, \u201cWhenever I read a passage that moves me, I transcribe it in my diary, hoping my fingers might learn what\u00a0excellence feels like.\u201d As a calligrapher, I really connect with that sentiment. The more I get into this hand, the more I admire Hoefer’s sensitivity and understanding of Roman bookhand. I begin to see that this seemingly idiosyncratic hand actually adheres strictly to the classical Roman Trajan forms. His pen angle matches that of Trajan Romans. The finials are a nod to Trajan serifs. He honors the structure that underlies Trajan Romans, the circle in a square with vertical lines at the intersections of the diagonals. The weight is similar to Trajans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Structure upon which classical Roman capitals and bookhand letters are based.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As I copy out the letters, I begin get into his PacMan ‘e’ \u2014 to admire his vision of the classical ‘e’ shape based on the Roman structure, the swing of the foot lengthened to accommodate the next letter. (Because, Trajans or no, this is a minuscule bookhand.) I feel<\/em> his understanding of the classical arch of the ‘h’ and ‘n’, executed so beautifully in the ‘n’ and ‘m’ forms. I kinetically get<\/em> his understanding of the way the bowl of an e leads into the vertical stroke of the next letter, and how the entrance stroke of that next letter is adjusted. I struggle not to turn that connection into a caricature of itself. I delight in the subtle shape of the folded-over endings of his ‘f’ and ‘a’ and ‘J’. I mull over his two-story ‘g’ with the upper-story rounded rectangle (called a “stadium”?). Has he widened and flattened this circle to keep it as open and airy as the rest of the letters? I get into the rhythm of flattening my pen angle for the serifs, and slightly steepening it for the next letter, flattening again, steepening again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent an uninterrupted six hours in the studio today. I discovered a good many things that didn’t<\/em> work, spilled more than one container of liquid \u2014 e..g. acrylic ink, gesso \u2014 and I scraped out and smoothed over more than one lettering error. At the end of the day it looked as though I had pulled out every tool, jar, paper, and storage box. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But … I now have a solution for a difficult problem \u2014 which I will implement tomorrow. I didn’t tramp in too much muddy snow on my newly mopped studio floor. The studio was tidied up quickly. And I have another page of daily lettering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good day all around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am still studying, still enjoying the hand Karlgeorg Hoefer used in his “Appel an die V\u00f6lker der Erde”. David Sedaris wrote, \u201cWhenever I read a passage that moves me, I transcribe it in my diary, hoping my fingers might learn what\u00a0excellence feels like.\u201d As a calligrapher, I really connect with that sentiment. The more … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A good day in the studio with Karlgeorg Hoefer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-something-else"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t