CANBERRA CALLIGRAPHY SOCIETY
  • Home
  • Member Profiles
  • Workshops
  • Blog
  • Membership
  • Members page
  • Supplies
  • Contact
  • CCS Exhibition
    • CCS Exhibition 2014
    • CCS Exhibition 2015
    • 30th Anniversary 2016
    • CCS Exhibition 2018
    • CCS Exhibition 2019
    • CCS Exhibition 2022
  • Canberra Show entries
    • Canberra Show 2014
    • Canberra Show 2015
    • Canberra Show 2016
    • Canberra Show 2017
    • Canberra Show 2019
  • Calligraphy Classes
Picture

Paper, Ink and Playful shapes

4/3/2017

0 Comments

 
With Pam Kemp
 
When I heard that Denise Lach had released a new book Journeys in Calligraphy, Inspiring Scripts from around the World, I was super excited. When I heard that Pam was running a workshop based on Denise’s new book I knew I just had to go along.
 
At the start of the class Pam handed out the workshop notes and included in this was the exemplar for the Devanagari (pronounced dev-nagri) script. Pam gave an introduction to the class and we began by copying some of the Devanagari characters with a large nib. We were instantly aware of how difficult it was to recreate the characters comfortably, given the slant of the nibs we were using, so we did our best to get as close as we could to the real thing on the exemplar.
 
After this warm up exercise Pam asked us to choose our favourite character and invited us to then play with it. By this she meant that we could manipulate the character and exaggerate parts of it. Perhaps have one of the lines far bigger than shown on the exemplar, or maybe make it much smaller. We had a lot of fun with this and we were able to let our hair down and get creative with expressive strokes using our nibs.
 
The next part of the exercise saw us swapping our nibs over for ruling pens, pipettes a syringe or whatever took our fancy. We had to write the same character to see what effects we could achieve. It was very liberating to work so freely and expressively, and I went through gallons of ink in the process.
 
Pam asked us to choose our favourite design and draw a rectangle on a piece of paper approximately 110mm wide x 70mm high. Using our favourite writing tool from the previous exercise, we had to write one of the characters, extending part of it outside the rectangle and use varying line weights to create interest. She explained that we should be aware of the space in the rectangle—Western tradition aims to try and fill a space whereas the Eastern tradition is to empty the space. We rotated the page clockwise three times, each time writing the character in a different size whilst being mindful of the space created in the rectangle. If we had time we could colour in the spaces created by the lettering and some beautiful pieces emerged as the afternoon progressed.
 
We continued to play with the characters and some interesting designs were created. I especially liked the idea of writing the character once and rotating the page 90 degrees clockwise to write it again, trying to overlap a couple of the lines. Then with a foam roller, roll over the characters using the dirty water from the ink. This created a wonderful effect and Angela’s finished piece was very striking.
 
At the end of the afternoon we pinned our work up on the wall and admired everyone’s hard work. It was great to see all the different styles created in the three hours that the workshop ran.
 
I was so inspired by this class I actually practiced more of it the following weekend and a big thank you to Pam for running this fabulous workshop.

Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Canberra Calligraphy Society Inc.

    Like-minded people with a passion for calligraphy.

    Archives

    January 2020
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    July 2017
    March 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    December 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    Associated Crafts
    Black Letter
    Books
    Brody
    Brushes
    Brushwork
    Calligraphy
    Canberra
    Canberra Show
    Cards
    Carolingian
    Celtic
    Christmas
    Copperplate
    Embossing
    Flourishing
    Folding Pen
    Gesso
    Gestural Writing
    Gilding
    Gold
    Gyounghee (Hee) Lee
    Hee
    Italic
    John Mathieson
    Pastels
    Pencils
    Pointed Pen
    Printing
    Ruling Pen
    Sketching
    Spencerian
    Suface Design
    Uncials
    Yves Leterme

    Inspirational People & Places

    Gemma Black 
    A Letter a Week 2013
    Feathers & Quills
    Paper Ponderings
    Calligraphic Connections


    RSS Feed



©    Canberra Calligraphy Society,  PO Box 291, Jamison ACT 2614



  • Home
  • Member Profiles
  • Workshops
  • Blog
  • Membership
  • Members page
  • Supplies
  • Contact
  • CCS Exhibition
    • CCS Exhibition 2014
    • CCS Exhibition 2015
    • 30th Anniversary 2016
    • CCS Exhibition 2018
    • CCS Exhibition 2019
    • CCS Exhibition 2022
  • Canberra Show entries
    • Canberra Show 2014
    • Canberra Show 2015
    • Canberra Show 2016
    • Canberra Show 2017
    • Canberra Show 2019
  • Calligraphy Classes