Penfriends Calligraphy - 30 years to celebrate

When I first started teaching I was (as we all are when we begin our new professions) enthusiastic and excited. I enjoyed every moment I spent with the little ones I taught. I was soon given the more challenging children and soon discovered that music and creativity was a great way to develop any confidence and enthusiasm which was well hidden.

This stood me in good stead for my own mothering and after my children had out-grown their dependence of me and thought their teacher's knew all and friend of mine and I decided we needed a hobby to move us from nappy changing whizz-kids to people with a little more than a degree in baby-burping. Kirsty and I scoured the Adult Education rosters and enrolled for courses on Chaucer and the Medieval culture, Bach and the Beetles and discovered that we did have brains after all and could converse at tedious dinner parties on more than the latest medication for German measles. Both of us decided that we now required 'creativity' in our lives and skipped cake icing for calligraphy which through the years has been the correct choice.

I discovered a passion for letters. Love the curve of a 'C' and the search for the perfect round 'O'. After a short course (dare I share this?) I was implored by a few friends to 'please teach us too' and so a class was organised and my first group consisted of five friends who sat around the dining room table. I taught with more enthusiasm than expertise, but my next teaching path was set. From these humble beginnings my teaching moved from dining room to studio which now has seen many students who share my love for letterform and who enjoy the challenges set in creative projects and the continued search for the perfect 'O'.

A single bracelet does not jingle - A-MM

Fortunately for all concerned my calligraphic expertise has been assisted by my concerted efforts to learn from the masters who include such luminaries as Dick Beasly, Denys Taipele, Stan Knight, Sheila Waters and her son Julian. Tim Botts, Denis Brown and many courses through the Roehampton College with Margaret Daubney can be included. I have also been fortunate to visit Maryland and Winchester, London and Cape Town to learn from calligraphers of great talent and expertise. Many of these people have stayed with me and I have some exquisite pieces created by them which grace my studio walls.

More recently Yves Laterme, Carl Rohrs and Massimo Pallermo have visited South Africa and left their particular mark on the calligraphers who so adeptly follow their progress. Ewan Clayton was a special visitor who spent hours talking calligraphy as did Beasly, who was so kind to our children.

Of course we have many talented South African calligraphers and Lin Kerr who now lives in England must be named as one, together with Heleen de Haas, Pam Jones and Paddy Balsdon are a few among many, many new and gifted calligraphers.

Thinking out of the Box

In 2013 I celebrate 30 years of teaching one of my passions: calligraphy. The many students who have sat around my studio tables, nibs poised, have enriched my life in so many ways. Thank you for trusting that we can always be creative and thank you for always allowing me to continue to search for that inimitable 'O'. The studio byline: 'Friendship through penmanship' could not ring more true.

One of my favorite quotations is: 'A single bracelet does not jingle'. This is true. Without the support of family, friends and students I would have little to celebrate this year.

So far 2013 has been packed with projects, highlights and of course, calligraphy. Next posting will be projects so far. You will be delighted and amazed.

The Intrepid Thursday morning group 

Projects

I love the December holidays - not because everyone leave Johannesburg and leaves the roads easy to travel on or the restaurants are empty [and closed] but it's the time of year I set aside to re-do notes, re-plan lessons and create some new work - not all of it calligraphy though.

I have a great 'idea-sharing' friend Niki Zipp who owns Paperchain. She is a great 'stamper' [groan] and has wonderful tips for people who feel they are not 'creative'. While I understand the possible concept of not 'feeling' creative I simply do not subscribe to that term.

Most of us have lovely homes, manage to dress and coordinate our wardrobes very successfully and not many of us would [if we use lipstick] wear orange lipstick with a pink dress. So there is a subliminal understanding of design and colour in all of us. Alright, I concede some are more adept at this than others, but understand we can all 'become' creative with the help of sets of 'rules' which of course can be broken, or under the guidance of others.

I go to Niki to do 'structured work so that I experience A to Z instructions and see a finished piece at the end. My personal work is much freer than the work done with Niki, but it is good DISCIPLINE to hear and follow guidelines instead of always giving them and I know that my students can go to her to create an 'art-work' which is satisfying. Niki always says that her work is art for people who think they can't draw.

Because people indicated interest I will briefly talk through the piece below, but if you live in Johannesburg, please contact Niki for a class as she is the expert on this process.

I [obviously] always look at a piece to see if calligraphy can be added. This piece offered a few places to add lettering.

Unfinished piece

• First prime the canvas with gesso [PVA is fine] to even the surface. 
• For the background I mixed acrylic paint, a base yellow - rather like Naples Yellow, Paynes Grey and a bit of Terra-cotta. These mixtures were rather liquid. 
• Allow to dry. While doing that find some beautiful papers to tear. Look at mulberry paper, translucent paper from an old book, tissue paper with writing and so on.
• TIP: when tearing most papers draw a line of water along where you want to tear. MUCH easier.
• Choose stencils which will fit in with your ideas. 
• Paste the paper either just above or just below half-way.
• Choose colours to fit in with the theme. I choose Paynes grey and a yellow - neutral is best and a touch of Burnt Siena for 'depth'. The mixture should not be watery.
• Place the stencil in the appropriate place. Use a sponge to 'dab' the paint after ensuring you have dabbed excess water on a 'practice sheet'.
• TIP: work from top to bottom.
• I first sponged the fine lacy flowers and felt it was too light on the top with the darker 'pebbles' at the bottom of the piece. I added a 'tree' to the top portion which balances the piece more effectively.
• I will add skeleton Roman letters to the top left and bottom right to 'frame' the collage.
• It will be difficult to photograph, but I will try and post the finished piece once complete.

So you can see that there are a lot of processes but well worth the effort. 

Look for beautiful stencils or cut your own. Collect textured papers and be creative

2012 Review - 2013 Goals

It's always exciting to start a new page, a new journey, a new year. But we also need to review the past.
2012 was a year of creativity, colour and expansion. The studio allowed space for new letterforms [Neuland being one of them], colour wheels, color experiments and writing with gouache, writing on black Canson.

Colour - analogous and other

Colour on black Canson - always exciting

Many techniques were used, ranging from pencil and ink. Extending letterform and colour - using both water colour and gouache. Testing colour opacity and which colour may fade before others by making 'stripes' of each colour in the paint box, covering one half of the lines and leaving it in the sun for a few days. Interesting experiments. We had a wonderful creative year, thank you all

Penfriends Studio 2013

This year I celebrate 30 years of teaching calligraphy. Through this craft I have met wonderful people and I am still in contact with many of my past students. Of course a number of 'celebrations' are planned.

Quill Guild

The Quill Guild will meet once a month in Penfriends Studio. Participants will be introduced to various lettering artists, creative book and card makers, story telling and music.  

Workshops

We are delighted that Hilary Adams will present a 3 day workshop on Funky Gothic on Canvas in July

Calligraphy Classes

My ongoing calligraphy classes begin mid-January. With three classes a week the exchange of ideas and growth is wonderful 

Exhibition 2013

An exhibition of work will be held in November with invited artists and calligraphers. A 'Jamboree' of exciting workshops will be on hand ending in an evening of 'performance and environmental' art in the studio garden.

Personal Growth

I continue my community work with the 3to6 School in Observatory which allows refugee children to come to class in the afternoons. There I present art workshops to children who range from 4 - 16. These children have come to South Africa from the Congo, Nigera, Zimbabwe to name a few countries. They are eager to learn and love to use any kind of art materials to create amazing and heart-warming art-works. We look forward to an exhibition of their work in March. 

My  ongoing exploration of  writing, calligraphy, art and fonts continues. To stimulate and enhance my skills I attend botanical art classes with Ann Harris. I also do various calligraphy correspondence courses with overseas 'masters' and have a small writing group which meets once a month.  

New years' resolutions are lost on me, 
but I seldom forget that impromptu fun and laughter 

is essential to life and creativity!

We have beautiful pin oaks in the garden and

 I sometimes feel the need to act 'sprite-like' and a little frivolous.

I hope to continue to update this blog on a regular basis with tips and descriptions of what is created in the studio. All in all an exciting and creative year awaits. 

Colour Continues

We've had a wonderful few creative colour weeks at Penfriends Studio. The students have been exploring colour with great dedication and realise that, like a small child, paper doesn't crumple easily, although once overworked, the paper simply gives up - like a two year old having a tantrum.

We have taken water-colour paper - with 'tooth' so add texture and the challenge of writing on 'rough' paper - and added gouache or water colour which adds texture and covered the wet paper with 'plastic wrap' and allowed to dry.

Complimentary colours are then chosen to add more texture in the form of letters or a word. A challenge but allowing wonderful results and surprises.

Of course the challenge is not to write on the lines created by the plastic wrap but to use the lines as texture and design to enhance the piece.

Next week: writing on black!

 Tina's Sunrise

 Newcomer Cynthia's Laughter

 Lyn's Inferno

Head girl Jill's Bouquet

Visitors and Colour

I love colour work. As calligraphers it is simple to alter colour ways. Black and white are our trademarks.  White paper with black ink. Elegant, simple and 'right'. By choosing another shade of paper we can change the look of a piece easily and simply. But IS it so simple?

Well of course the answer is 'Not at all'. Once the colour paper changes one has to consider the intensity of ink, is the ink dark enough to withstand a deep purple [or light enough for that matter]?

Simple colour wheels and experiments assist in our colour choices and decisions.

Of course, when we have overseas guests, like Maxine we have to work harder and 'Be More Creative'. But we love the challenge and the creativity that explodes when she is around!

At Penfriends we have had two colour classes so far. Experimenting with gouache and paper colors. Adding water, white, black and complimentary colours for exciting outcomes in colour wheels.

Jeannette and Maxine hard at work

Colour intensity using various background papers

Challenging colour wheel

Have we got it right?

The Thursday 'Team'

This coming Thursday, painted backgrounds, writing in colour and anything else that may pop up.

Over the past few months we have been working on various projects.

There is always one continuous project which we work on through the year. This year it has been creating a Japanese bound book with various fonts and styles and several pages.

One project was writing in a circle which has many challenges like keeping the letters vertical, making sure the quotation fits into the circle, what pen nib to choose and should colour be used.

I think the following have been successfully created. Well done.

 Tina

 Ghita

 Lyn

Jeannette

Adding folios

Sometimes I struggle for creative inspiration. I've created 2 folios and wondered what to do next. Poetry of course. Off I go to the bookshelf and page through my poems in Sketch Your Year in Poetry.
I find words that trigger a thought and design.
I used D'Arches paper, graphite, gesso, fine pens.

 Why use only pens?

 A House Abandoned

 Inspiration

Om

Scribble and paint. Splodge and dab. Use graphite and fine pen and quickly complete the next few pages. Not so difficult after all.

Next portfolio? Namibian inspired perhaps.