August 2011

~ newsletter no 177 ~
december 2011
2011 - 2012
Committee
President
at the
NLA
Marg Peachey
6231 3210
margpeachey@gmail.com
10am-5pm daily until 18 March 2012
Illuminated Letters
Sun 19 February 10am-4pm with Gemma Black
Vice President
Angela Hillier
6251 1275
antnange@grapevine.com.au
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
mandcnash@me.com
Treasurer
Maureen Worsnop
6254 4979
Fri-Sun 24-26 Feb
9:30-4:30
worsnopmm@grapevine.com.au
CCS at the Royal Canberra Show
Editor
Sara Rawlinson
6251 0526
sara.rawlo@gmail.com
Librarian
Sunday 26 February (note: 4th Sunday in Feb)
1:30-4:30
Lyndell Dobbs
6258 4245
Celtic Angular Capitals
bdobbs@tpg.com.au
Marg Peachey
Workshop Co-ordinator
Sat-Sun 24-25 March
9:30-4:30
cm.wilde@bigpond.net.au
Christine Wilde
6231 9922
Vivacious Versals
Committee Members
Reta Gear
6231 4209
Gemma Black
reta.gear1@bigpond.com
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
karen.woodhall@practicalpc.com.au
Jill Robertson
6259 0576
robertsonjj@optusnet.com.au
Pam Kemp
0408 865 459
pamelamegan@gmail.com
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 cm.wilde@bigpond.net.au. 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 sara.rawlo@gmail.com
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: gblack@pcug.org.au :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!