progress is being made

graphite on hahnemuhle 300gsm eco-dyed paper 718mm x 268mm

I only have a few days to complete my body of work for the February exhibition.
Giclee prints will be available for all of my works so watch out for the announcement for when they are available.

• the framers close on 23 December
• teaching takes me to Queensland until 20 January
• the studio re-opens and the schedule is filling up for that final week in January
• exhibition opens 7 February

There is much to be done!

graphite on hahnemuhle 300gsm eco-dyed paper 718mm x 268mm

graphite on hahnemuhle 300gsm eco-dyed paper 718mm x 268mm

and on to the drawing board

I have started the calligraphy component on ten works for my upcoming exhibition.

February 7 - 28 2014.

I have chosen to use some of my fine eco-dyeing papers with the words of

Otagaki Rengetsu (1791 - 1875). Rengetsu, a Japanese Buddhist nun was a potter, a poet, a calligrapher and a painter

and is believed to have created over 55,000 pieces in her life.

The words of her poems resonate with me and I enjoy working them with my naturally dyed papers.

Work # 1

Work # 2

These are 1/2 a full fine art sheet of Hahnemuhle 300gsm

Out of the pot ...

Today I rushed home from class to unroll my most recent eco-dyeing attempts.

I have entitled this one "dance of the sugar plum fuchsias"

These are pot boiled plants from my garden with iron sulphate as the mordant.

I am hoping some of them will make great grounds for my tiny Roman graphite calligraphy.

This is half of the following full sheet.  I like it!

One full sheet of hahnemuhle 300gsm white

Rose petals 1/2 sheet

Rose leaves 1/2 sheet

Rose leaves 1/2 sheet - mirror image of above

Inspirational people - India Flint

Thanks to some gentle persuasion from friends, more and more I have been reading India Flint's blog, books (on eco dyeing) and messages on her FarceBook page. What an inspiration to help me enjoy my days more. India has just completed an artist-in-residence at the Oregon College of Art & Craft where I taught in Portland Oregon, last year.  You might like to start with this blog post of India's:

Fifty dollars, is fifty dollars!

The other day I gave a talk to the Hobart City Council School for Seniors on my work as a calligrapher and in particular the three Apology documents I created for the Australian Government.

They were an amazing group of intelligent and fun loving people, it was a hoot!

There would have been about 70 to 80 folk in attendance who had to get into the city by 10am. Good for them! The morning took on the format of some housekeeping for the group, introductions, then I was to speak for about two hours taking the group up to their regular lunch time meal. The joint was buzzing as everyone was really happy to see their friends again - a weekly occurrence.

TWO HOURS I thought - oh heck!  Mind you, under normal circumstances I can hold court pretty much for as long as people want to listen but I was caught a little on the hop as I had only paid for 1 hour parking and thought I'd have to run out in the middle of the lecture to feed the meter.  So I decided on the spur of the moment to run the morning as an interactive lecture where we chatted back and forth about all things calligraphy and with the aid of the PowerPoint presentations I had pretties to show.

But, before we got started a lass (possibly 80 years old) got up and shared a joke, a weekly event and here it is:

Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year, And every year Morris would say, 'Esther,I'd like to ride in that helicopter.' ; Esther always replied, 'I know Morris, but that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, And fifty dollars is fifty dollars'
One year Esther and Morris went to the fair, and Morris said, 'Esther, I'm 85 years old. If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get another chance.' To this, Esther replied, 'Morris that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars.'
The pilot overheard the couple and said, 'Folks I'll make you a deal. I'll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and don't say a word I won't charge you a penny! But if you say one word it's fifty dollars.'
Morris and Esther agreed and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers, but not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks over and over again, But still not a word.
When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, 'By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't. I'm impressed!'
Morris replied, 'Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Esther fell out, But you know, fifty dollars is fifty dollars!

Laugh I nearly cried.  This was the most amazing, wonderful group I have had the pleasure to have spoken with. We tossed around all things calligraphy, manuscripts, books, vellum, gilding and they packed heaps of questions into the event.

I forgot to pay the parking meter and I didn't get booked after three hours in a one hour park. How lucky was I.  I came home refreshed and full of life. 


 

Calligraphy Summer Scool

T H E   C O U R S E

Painting for calligraphers: more than fine writing 

A workshop for all skill levels! From the simple to the ridiculous!


USQ Toowoomba Queensland 7 - 17 January 2013
On-campus accommodation, meals included.

Come and share with a friend.

Fabulous value!

Enrolments are open and will be closing early December so it is advisable to book really soon.

For more enrolment details please visit the University of Southern Queensland, McGregor classes.

For a chat about the course content please don't hesitate to contact me.

Some of the painting techniques we will cover in the summer school follow:

Writing in Scrolls & family crests

Painted animals

Grounds

Painting for illuminations

Painted Letters & Size Under gold




Logos & LogoTypes




Logos & LogoTypes 





Logo

Logos

Grounds & letterforms





Painted Letters & graphite wash

Painted letters & graphite wash

Grounds

Grounds 

Grounds

Grounds

Grounds

 Logos

Illumination Painting

Ink Grounds

 Grounds

Water colour painting

A workshop report by Sue Quayle

The September workshop was so exciting - Gemma Black showed us how to have heaps of fun with pencils.

I thought pencils were for notes and ruling lines BUT we found out that there are so many different pencils.  They ranged from 'normal' pencils with hardness ratings of B and H and even EE and F, to coloured pencils that you could use with water and make stunning colours.

We learnt of different effects that could be achieved by hatching, dotting and blending, and of the different lines each pencil grade made.  Then we applied these skills to lettering.  My favourite was 'sketching' graphite pencils on black paper.

 

 

 

 

We spent a lot of time working on random pattern backgrounds with watercolour pencils.

These are just some of the things we did. Two whole days were spent Purely Pencil Playing!!  Such fun.

Day 2 of Purely Pencils

With Gemma Black                                                 Report by Sue Quayle

It's my job to report on the second day of Gemma's 'Purely Pencils' workshop and I'm finding it quite difficult. Not because there wasn't much to do, but because I was so engrossed in it and the new things we were learning.  I've never heard of some of the wonderful graphite pencils available or of the lovely things they help to create.  I've had a collection of watercolour pencils which I've been adding to every time I go into an art supply shop but they were teasing me each time I looked at them. I wanted them to remain in pristine condition because they looked so beautiful but now they have been used and what a lot of fun!

On the first day we had been given the task (not a problem) of choosing a three letter word to draw and then colour with watercolour pencil and wash. Today we were to create some 'doodling' patterns within these words and it was a pleasure watching Gemma come up with the many ways in which it could be done. Once again the 'less is more' rule of thumb was a winner and the swirls, diamonds, circles, dots, anything that our imagination could conjure up were acceptable with some delightful effects produced.  Some people had overlapped their three letters in artistic ways and they looked great!

First 'new creation' of the day was to draw up a grid or fractured design of lines, or a combination of lines and freehand 'wavy' lines.  Next, we coloured the sections in with either watercolour or water graphite of our choice and allowed it to dry, because we were to then write some words or verse along these lines and it was important that our work was perfectly dry.  I loved my patterns so much that I still haven't written on them but am inspired by one or two nursery rhymes! A lovely project that I still feel is worth completing!

We were shown how to use a stylus to drag wet colour in our designs and with care, it can be done without putting a hole in the paper! An important part of this exercise is the softness or hardness of the surface on which you are working because it will determine the width of the effect of the stylus.
Our final project was to be a nine letter verse or quote to be drawn first in dry graphite/lead pencil and then shaded using the water wash technique and graphite (water soluble) pencil of our choice with a 'moat' or space between shading and drawn letter.  We were so inspired by the example that Gemma had shown us that many were hiding it on our tables and attempting to copy each letter! (Well perhaps I should own up and say that I was!)  Some say that one of our esteemed 'life' members was heard to swear when it became obvious that this was not going to be as easy as it had at first appeared.  Sorry Angela, I'm sure this isn't true!  This exercise can also be done using 'dry' colour as well - the important thing to remember is to keep your pencil very sharp so that precise and clean edges and corners can be achieved.

At the end of the second day there were three or four tables spread with the efforts of a very keen group of participants who were all ready to discuss their new skills and talk about which pencils were their favourites.

Anyone who thought this was going to be an easy couple of days was quite wrong!  We were a little frustrated when we realised that the things that we used in kindergarten, which were mostly just for colouring in, could be used in so many different ways. There was a "truly delectable array" of pencils, more, I think, than anyone thought possible.  I heard a number of people say that they had not even heard of 'water soluble' graphite.  I think that Gemma may be responsible for a new group of pencil junkies!

 

 

Sue Quayle - Canberra Calligraphy Society 2013