A Review

2009, in spite of being a great travel year, provided everyone time for times of practice as well as plenty of time to complete various projects.

From the beginning of the year we explored various hands starting with Foundational with Sheila Waters as our mentor - via book not in person sadly! Her exquisite understanding of the form is inspirational.

We then moved onto Italic which was the main focus for the class in the second half of the year. Together with those calligraphic hands we continued the quest for creativity and the group certainly managed to forge ahead making small hand made books, decorated letters and simple letter weight designs.

We look forward to the break and reconvening in February 2010.

off on Another Adventure!

It's interesting when students don't arrive for a class, or arrive at the wrong time, or simply don't listen and arrive when they shouldn't. It is never their fault and always yours - but of course they become angry, irritated and quite frankly I can no longer take responsibility for someone else's error!

Fortunately this doesn't happen too often and when it does, I simply counter it with humour and of course a tongue in cheek.

I look forward to another adventure - where people are different, situations are interesting and there is a whole new aspect to calligraphy!

Back home for a few weeks.

Trying to keep classes running and stimulating on a stop-start basis is really challenging. However the group was left with the brief to complete a 'creative book' using various calligraphic fonts, Canson papers and collage.

This is always exciting as no-one book is ever the same and creative journalling offers wide scope of materials, pens and colours.

I like to look at the colours presented in nature - the plains of the Mara suggest lime to khaki green, the ocean in Zanzibar is turquoise and azure dotted with the white sand and cream shells.

Nature shows its own canvas entirely.

New Work

Well Carl has left and has left us with a wealth of practice sheets and food for thought.

I hived off to the Herbert Evans sale and stocked up on reams of paper, pencils and paint.

Surely now with this new supply letters will roll off the pen Carl left me. Don't 'they' say that the master's hand guides the strokes of the pen? Let's hope so.

My classes are full and brimming with dedicated students who diligently practice in class.

Carl Rohrs

Well, after all that time we are back again, in the calligraphy mode.

I fetched Carl this afternoon and we spent time making sure that all calligraphers will be cosy as well as able to write. The studio is 2  garages wide and long - which is great for 8 students, but 'tight' for 16. Anyway all are well-fitted and we look forward to a great 3 days of calligraphy.

More about that on Thursday. 

Calligraphy Again

Well we are back to the Gauteng madness. Fortunately we have plans for creative outlet. 

The Calligraphers in the Thursday classes will work on the letterform, working towards completing a book.

I am participating in a correspondence course with Heleen de Haas and although I've been away I've thoroughly enjoyed the interaction and challenge of being led through a new view of calligraphy.

Saturday morning classes will commence after the Easter weekend. 

Penfriends Studio

The Thursday morning group is busy with the Foundation hand which is so elegant and regal. From pencil skeletons to penwritten caps, everyone is working to find that dance of the pen.

Thursday afternoon girls are flourishing with Italic. The charm of this hand is once you have it imprinted there are so many variations.

With Carl Rohrs joining us in South Africa in July everyone is honing their calligraphic skills. The Johannesburg courses are fully booked and we are waiting with pen poised.

New Year, New course, Same group!

The next course begins on Thursday 15 January. I have developed a new course which should be stimulating and interesting, especially for all who have been coming over the past few years.

The course entails calligraphy exercises and beautiful exemplars based on Sheila Waters' new book.

We also plan a workshop in the Free State in April.

Here's to a great Calligraphic year.