PICK OF THE WEEKS - 2017
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 Week #1
This work was done by Susan Gale Welch in 2016 in Seattle for the session “ DESIGN: Deconstructing the Grid” in
PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
Here are the particulars.
Type style is "Woodcut Stencil"
Background is one of the stained glass examples from your photo choices
Hot foil Pen gold dots
Punched mat gold paper dots		 Design mounted on waxed paper for repositioning options
Letterforms mounted on 1/4 inch Styrofoam to provide shadow depth.
The typestyle was chosen because of the compatibility with the white line elements in the design.

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Week #2
This work was done by Gayle Waddle-Wilkes in 2016 in Seattle for the session “Primitive to Modern” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
A few months ago I caught the tail end of a radio program that asked the question, “Where do YOU find peace in wild things?” I was intrigued by this question and so I searched for the poem that inspired this inquiry. The poem is by Wendell Berry and is entitled The Peace of Wild Things. I thought it was a beautiful poem with lovely visual images and a touching message, perfect for a piece of calligraphy.

A little while later, while avoiding the Brazilwood and vellum dying homework assignment, I made various sheets of tea-dyed paper. Due to rippling while wet, one of the pieces came out of the dye that I felt suggested a marsh in hazy light. Unfortunately, this piece measured only 6 x 12 inches. Not nearly enough “real estate” to write the entire poem. So I scanned the image, cropped and stretched it so it could be printed on an 8.5 x 14 sheet of paper. I printed the image with my LaserJet printer on a few different kinds of paper. Diploma Parchment had the least color distortion from the fixative (Blair) that I applied after printing in preparation for writing on it.		 I wrote with a “clipped” crow quill pen (tiny broad-edge) with gouache using a combination of raw umber and yellow ochre. The lettering style is one I created based on a sample of an unidentified Carolingian variation that was included in the handouts last year. My intention was to have elongated ascenders and descenders resemble marsh grasses blowing in the wind.

The illuminated “W” is 23k patent gold leaf with a gesso base (2 layers) and Instacol size. The letter’s background was painted with two different watercolors from the 6-well palette of Fin-Tec gold. The silhouette of the crane is the same gouache as the writing but with a bit more raw umber to deepen the color. The outline was made with a ball-pointed nib using gold pearl Schmincke Calligraphy Gouache and the edge of a metal ruler.


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Week #3
This work was done by Kathy Barker in 2016 in Seattle for the session “ DESIGN: Deconstructing the Grid ” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
Concept: The quote: "To create a little flower is the labor of ages" immediately fascinated me.. To contrast the vastness of the universe (the ages)

with the delicate creation of a flower was an intriguing, but very challenging theme for me. To be honest, it pushed me beyond my normal borders as did the

technique that Reggie introduced us to. I was grateful for the opportunity to move beyond the confines of prescribed page limits as the quote and concept seemed to require a dramatically new approach.

Technique: On the first day, as Reggie demonstrated to us, we first wrote out the words in black, using a speedball B nib. Then we explored copying the words at various sizes by reducing or enlarging on a copy machine. Further work was done to rearrange the quote exploring a contrast in sizes and position of the individual words. When this was completed, the final layout was copied onto Arches 90 lb paper. To complete this part of the project, we carefully cut around the words using a # 11 Xacto knife leaving a border of white. By using small pieces of foam core board attached to the back side of this arrangement, the quote could work as a unit that stood up in relief against a background.

The next day we created the background that did open up a whole new set of ways to think about "breaking out of the grid of convention.”		  After creating an image that would work with the quote, we explored gestural lines that would express both quote and image. These were sketched lightly on tracing paper. When satisfied we transferred these to 11" X 17" background colored prints (Hubble images or stain glass abstracts

that Reggie provided for us.) Then came the real challenge as we numbered each area to cut, then cut the lines, spreading the pieces apart to create new areas and shapes, often pushing beyond our original borders. All this was done on heavy weight watercolor paper that Reggie had prepared in advance with a waxed surface. The waxed surface allowed us to re position our pieces until we were satisfied with the final result.

As Reggie explained it was important to keep in mind that this was done for purposes of reproducing the image in different size formats. By carefully positioning the lighting, a very dramatic effect could be achieved from shadows cast by the raised letter group. An important part of our home work for the following month was to get good quality reproductions. This was a whole other learning process;

but well worth the time and effort. As always, we were grateful to Reggie "for helping us get old enough" in our calligraphic life!

Materials: 90# Arches hot press paper for the quote
Many sharp #11 Xacto blades
Speedball B nib, Moon Palace Sumi ink
11" X 17"color prints


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Week #4
This work was done by Gabi Glass in 2016 Austin in for the session “Italic and Variations” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
In the spring of 2016, I was asked to donate a piece of calligraphy to a fall bazaar benefiting a women's guild at my old church. I was happy to do that but asked if there was a particular Bible verse they wanted me to work on. I was given Romans 8:38 - 39.

It took me until our 5th Reggie weekend to find the perfect lettering style for this piece. Earlier in the year, Reggie showed us a piece of his calligraphy on a fig bark paper and I just loved the colors and texture of it so I ordered some samples. It was stored in my flat file for a few months and I couldn't find the right project to use it for.

So when I started planning the layout of the donation piece, I pulled it out and it inspired me. I thought to mix the coffee color paper with purple and gold. I started with layout on a grid paper. I made about 7 different designs and then found the one I like the best. I didn't line the paper because it was difficult to erase. Instead, I used a table light on the back of my slant board (Used it as a light box) with a lined sheet of paper under the fig bark paper. I spray fixed the paper and mixed a purple gouache and decided to gild the word GOD with 23 k gold. 		 About two lines into the project I realized how difficult the paper was to write on because of the individual bark fibers but I was determined to finish it. I lettered everything to the word GOD and then traced that word in next and then finished the verse. Once all the gouache was dry, I applied Instacoll. One letter background was more porous than the rest of the area so it took 12 layers of Instacoll to make it look a bit raised. Then I gilded it one letter at a time. I also applied some dry pigment to the finished piece in a partial shape of a cross. (see attached) When it was all set and done I was happy with the final piece but I realized I missed one line of the verse. It was imperfect but I turned it in anyways. A few weeks after the bazaar, I went to visit our old church and there it was, framed in the hallway. One of the ladies bought it and donated it back to the church. I liked the outcome so I decided to duplicate the piece as one of my homework pieces.

The process was much easier because it was a repeat of the first one and I already knew what I was doing and made a few changes to the process and added the missing line.

Thank you, Reggie, for pushing me to try new surfaces, tools and techniques


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Week #5
This work was done by Jean Ferrier in 2016 in Seattle for the session “Primitive to Modern” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
Oh my goodness, but here is a description. This was the assignment using writing as a border with gold,

and "dots". This is a part of an old speech by Chief Seattle. I tried to create contrast by using large writing on the 		 left, with small writing telling the story and the illustration in the diamond, and writing with gold around the rim.

I used pen with color gouache, and watercolor with brush for the illustration. Size approx. 10” x10”.


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Week #6
This work was done by Leslie Winakur in 2016 in San Antonio for the session “Primitive to Modern” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
This is an accordion book done on 90 lb. Arches cold press watercolor paper. Although cold press is textured, I love it for ruling pen or cola pen lettering. Using a Mitchell nib or a pointed nib is a challenge, but that’s part of the fun! In this book, I used mostly a Mitchell #2 and #6. Perfect lettering wasn’t the goal, but rather turning lettering into art.

The medium used is Parker Quink black fountain pen ink. When water is applied at the edges, the ink begins to move and beautiful yellow, blue, and green colors appear. (Only the black does this.) 		The white lettering is done with Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White. A Glaze gel pen was also used. The lettering exercises are based on the ones in Denise Lach’s fabulous book, Calligraphy. I’ve been exploring how she uses lettering to make abstract art. The text is from an e.e. cummings poem, I will wade out. The accordion fits into a hard cover portfolio, which is covered in Japanese silk book cloth, and which has end papers to match the book pages..


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Week #7
 This work was done by Maggie Gillikin in 2016 in San Antonio for the session “Primitive to Modern” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
This book and box were completed in the summer of 2016 during the Primitive to Modern Reggie class in San Antonio. For the book, I used Arches 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper, gouache for the letterforms, graphite for the drawing portion, and watercolors (mostly Winsor Newton and Schmincke) for the paintings. The letterforms are in Carolingian, a favorite of mine from a previous Reggie class, done with a #4 Mitchell nib. The small Romans are written with a Hiro 111 nib. The images portrayed are from my own garden, my photographic collection, or from sketches done on site (such as the clock at the Musée D’Orsay). The river represented is the Mississippi at dawn.

Loose gold appears throughout, adhered to a single layer of Instacol in each instance.

The book is bound in spring green goat leather and carries a heat-transferred 24K gold leaf image.

The drop spine box is covered in green Japanese silk, with a watercolor leaf image on the front.


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Week #8
This work was done by Gayle Waddle-Wilkes in 2016 in Seattle for the session “DESIGN: Deconstructing the Grid” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
I always have a more satisfying artistic experience when I connect it to something personally meaningful. So when we were asked to bring a simple design to class I took inspiration from my friend Doris. She was planning a trip to Colorado so see the Quaking Aspens. This intrigued me. I imagined clumps of trees huddled together at the foot the Rockies trembling in fear. Research revealed that the common name refers to the shaking of the leaves in a light wind. The poetry of the common name appealed to me and having a “Q" was a bonus since Qs are not very common in English. Research also provided images of the trees and leaves. Since the assignment was to supply a “simple design" I refined it down to 3 leaves. These are the 3 leaves that you see in the upper left of the final piece.

From the beginning the piece was intended for reproduction. The first step was to determine the best size of the design by photo copying it in several sizes onto a transparency, cutting out each size and trying out the placement keeping mind the final size would be approximately 11 x 17 inches. Once I had a rough idea of placement of the leaves I expanded the 3 leaf design by creating more lines that echoed the outside of the leaves and extended the veining of the leaves on a large sheet of tracing paper being sure to make it large enough to fill ½ sheet of waxed watercolor paper that I knew we would be working with. After establishing this part of the design the same process was used with the words written using Reggie’s lettering example with the Latin name in a smaller size for contrast. Once the best size was determined the words were photocopied onto 90# hot press Arches watercolor paper and cut out with an ample border. Tiny pieces of foam core were attached to the back so they words would sit away from the background and create a shadow when photographed.		 Next the leaf design on the tracing paper was transferred onto one of the 11 x 17 color copies Reggie provided in class. Orange and yellow was the obvious choice for these fall leaves. The photo copy was lightly pressed onto the waxed cold press watercolor paper and the design was carefully cut out with an Exacto knife with a new blade along the lines. After completing this task it was "fractured" by peeling up each piece and moving it a bit to let the white of the background create and outline of each piece. The sticky wax made adjusting the placement a breeze. This process was not precise and often small bits of the pieces needed to be trimmed and pieces of the colored paper inserted into the spaces that were gaping. A “happy accident” occurred when I discovered that there was too much white space running down the center of the leaves. By adding a sliver if the lighter toned paper (contrast again) to the middle of the leaves they became more "leaf-like".

As embellishment gold foil pen dots were applied along the outside edges of the original 3 leaves and then scattered throughout the piece. For more contrast and interest, I later added 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch gold dots made by punching them out of gold card stock.

Since the piece was intended for reproduction and not as an original piece art piece it lends itself to multiple uses. I have since made thank you cards by using this back ground and the same process with the words “thank you”.

I’m sure this project could have been accomplished on the computer, but for me doing it “old school” slowed me down and helped me physically connect with the process. I am a firm believer that the journey is as important as the destination….sometimes more so.


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Week #9
This work was done by Lisa Tsang in 2016 in Seattle for the session “Experiencing the Book as a New Structure” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own word:
Looking back at this assignment, the biggest lesson learned is that it's all about "the process." We were shown step by step how to prepare the essentials: coating some of the pages with acrylic medium to add texture, inserting the pages, the binding, reinforcing pages, the final structure, the possibilities. But then we had to figure out the rest ourselves.

The theme, organization, and just overcoming our doubts. The individual steps are too numerous to count. I would say you just have to take a workshop to learn all the secrets but I will share how elated my parents were to receive this gift at Christmas entitled, The Journey of Three Cranes, a metaphor for their 3 children.

The only lettering I did was the title on the back (in pointed pen). I had taken a paper making class prior to our final meeting so I used some of those painted papers, one embedded with string. 		I scanned and printed some iced-dyed fabric paper (piling ice on pre-treated fabric and sprinkling powdered Procion pigment over it-as the ice melts, it stains the fabric) as well as a batik. Some of the shapes were sketched in pencil and cut with an X-acto.

Nothing was thrown away, it could be repurposed in another page! Transparencies combined with cut-outs kept the reader in suspense for what would unfold next. There were many hurdles and technical questions to solve in the creation of this book. I got inspired by walking around the classroom and seeing how different everyone's book was, I borrowed some of their ideas and incorporated them into mine. Don't wait for inspiration to strike, experiment with your ideas, and just do it!


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Week #10
This work was done by Pat Daley in Chicago in 1993 just after the end of the Year Long Course 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow.:
This work was done by Pat Daley in Chicago in 1993 just after the end of the Year Long Course 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. As you can see, Pat brought her wily, left handed sense of humor to homework assignments, as well as the levity she brought to the classroom. Professionally, amongst other things, she rendered story boards for films and commercials. Her works always let us smiling and shaking our heads. Thank you, Pat.


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Week #11
This work was done by Cynthia Stiles in San Antonio in 2016 for the session “Exploring the Book as a New Structure”, in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
 Making this book as our final project in Reggie's Primitive to Modern was more fun and came out way better than I initially thought it would. Because the goal was to get as much of this complete during our time together this was a highly structured exercise, yet within the structure there was a lot of room for creative expression so everyone's book turned out quite different. We also had tremendous fun as a group sharing our creative experiences.

I wanted to present a visual expression of what the given phrase "the human heart is a theater of longing" was saying to me and was surprised by the depth of meaning that came out in using the format and materials available for this exercise. 		The format of this book allowed me an opportunity to conceal as well as reveal the visual imagery and words, pauses the viewer as each image and word are revealed thereby allowing the viewer to participate in the drama and to experience what is being said along with me.

The materials used, whether paper or transparency, treated with a coating or not, with it's colors and lines and the shaping of them allowed me to convey to the viewer curtains, water, moods, and more bringing the viewer inside the theatrical production surrounding the phrase.

Without anymore ado, enjoy the video.

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Week #12
This work was done by Amy Lear in Austin in 2016 for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
Voices

This piece was done on deep red paper with Dr. Ph. Martins bleedproof white. Inspired by the wisdom and courage of Malala Yousafzai and wanting to inspire my two daughters, I created this piece with large letters and a bold layout. I sketched the design on grid paper, with several revisions, before scanning it into the computer for resizing. I was happy with the design of each word, but their placement wasn’t quite right. On the screen, I was able to move the words around to get a final draft. From there, I printed the sketch to use to transfer guidelines to the red paper.

As I worked on the letters, I noticed that the white wasn’t as opaque as I wanted, so I went back and added a second coat of paint with a small watercolor brush.		 And then… I managed to drop my brush onto the table! It fell in the middle of the word “tell” and rolled through the G in girls, and the C below it. I tried all of the traditional ways of correcting mistakes, but the paper just wasn’t having it. So, I dug through all my red paint and managed to make an acrylic one that matched (using a scrap of red paper to test). I carefully painted over the white smears of ink and repaired it.

During class, Reggie commented on the design and suggested that I scan the piece and shrink it to a smaller size. In doing that, I realized that the texture of the paper looked unclean after scanning. So, I traced the whole text to a vector in Adobe Illustrator and replaced the background with a solid red color. After printing these in 8x10 and 5x7, I was really encouraged by how successfully the design translated to the smaller size. And, now that I have it in a vector format, I am able to experiment with different colors of letters and backgrounds very easily.

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Week #13
This work was done by Becky Hughes in San Antonio in 2016 for the session “Exploring the Book as a New Structure”, in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
The text for the book is a quote which Reggie gave to the class from “Anam Cara” by John O’Donahue: “The human heart is a theater of longing.” The text refers to the urgency of this longing.

I decided to use sharp angled lines on the cover and most of the pages. When closed, the book reveals part of a photo of a rocky shoreline with deep crevasses. The photo seemed to express the angst of the quote and also set the limited palette for the book, mostly black, white and grey. 		I also liked the calligraphic appearance of the shadows and texture of the stones in the photo.

In the later pages, the shapes are less harsh, more curvilinear and the transparencies, which were made from Reggie’s stained glass images, lend a somewhat dreamlike sense to the book. I made limited use of colored and textured paper to give some relief to the harsh palette. The overlapping shapes of the pages were meant to conceal and reveal the text which is repeated as the pages are turned.

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Week #14
This work was done by Kate Van Dyke in San Antonio in 2016 for the session “Primitive to Modern” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
This is a small piece to experiment with some of the techniques Reggie taught. I started with an image of an old French paving tile I found that had the basic layout and center shape. I drew the outline onto Fabriano Artistico HP paper and added layers of watercolor, wet in wet, for the blue background.

I then laid the gold center shape and star with Instacoll over several layers of the gesso/glop mixture for a very raised look.		  Finally I lettered in gouache with a B nib, squaring off the ends with a pointed pen.

The star, which marks the end of the text, took over visually, and it's hard to tell where to start reading, so I added the gold dot over the "I" in the center (beginning of the text). Not completely successful, but I like the lettering and the overall effect anyway!

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Week #15
This work was done by Robin Gebhart in 2016 in Seattle for the session “Experiencing the Book as a New Structure” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
This book was the last assignment for our Primitive to Modern class. (sigh) The meeting before, Reggie told us to bring in photo printouts on paper and transparency, but was rather mysterious about how we would be using them. My impression was that he wanted us to bring in images of pattern and color. So when I went home after class, I grabbed the camera, went into my yard and captured some of those types of images. Then I went through my digital archive of photos, to get a better variety.

Armed and ready, we came to class and had a whirlwind weekend of book creation. As I was working with the format and images, trying to pull something cohesive together, it occurred to me that instead of just one main panel in the middle, with throw-away sections to the outside, there was an opportunity to make this a three-panel image. So I worked backward and forward, trying to pay attention to how all three panels worked together. 		As the main panel pieces moved to the side, it created a secondary, reversed, image. That meant every page had an image front and back. And I was really happy with the peek-a-boo effect in the later pages of the book. (The light table was a big help with positioning and designing).

There was not enough time to complete the book in class, so I finished it at home, thankful for the perspective a little time can give a project. But still limited myself to the items brought to class. Calligraphy was added at the very end using a ruling pen, Moon Palace sumi and Dr. Martin’s Pen White.

I’m sure that there are many additional, interesting design options for this book structure, especially when the three panels are taken into consideration. Additional planning ahead of time could produce some surprise elements and bold storylines to the structure.

A big thank you to Reggie for challenging us to bring our best efforts to class

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Week #16
This work was done by Tomoko Zunino in 2016 in Seattle for the session “Primitive to Modern” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow.
In her own word:
First piece

I usually shy away from very colorful backgrounds. Reggie successfully challenged me to step out of my comfort zone.

I put a piece of Frankfurt 19” X 15” on the light box and directly applied gouache to paint the background of letters. When dry, I sprayed fixatives and wrote lettering with GOLDEN gesso twice. Some colors, like red, came through the white gesso. This ended up not being a problem after painting over with Dr. Martin’s bleed proof white. All looked perfectly white. I sprayed fixatives and tried to paint over with gouache but it repelled a lot.

I applied white GOLDEN gesso again, skipped the fixative and painted over with gouache. Phew! It was not perfect but I was able to cover most of the letters. When the paint was thinned out, it repelled more so the gouache was pretty thick, almost like directly out of a tube. 		I used a foam brush and stick sumi ink to draw the line. When completely dry, I wrote the lettering with a speedball C-2 nib. I like the contrast created by the sumi line: colorful above and the last six lines below darker and fading away.

For the heart with wings, white GOLDEN gesso and instacol were used and 24K gold leaf and lemon gold leaf were applied.

Second piece

I am more comfortable with black backgrounds. This idea started forming while I was struggling with the first piece. This was supposed to be my back-up plan.

The white lettering is written with Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White and a speedball B-2 nib. The gold lettering is written with gouache and a speedball C-2 nib. The heart with wings is made with the same technique as the other piece, this time using 24K gold leaf and sulfide silver leaf.



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Week #17
This work was done by Sabrina Hill in 2017 in San Diego for the session “Modernizing a Traditional Calligraphic hand: Blackletter” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
 Among the homework in Reggie’s Primitive to Modern Class, 2017, San Diego, was an assignment to write a short quote in a variation of blackletter script; then create a piece combining two styles of script in one piece. Additionally, Reggie showed us how to invert a piece (reverse it from black on white to white on black). The inversion makes for a much more dramatic effect. In this project, I combined these elements in one piece.

Inspired by the USPS rooster stamp, I had based my homework assignments for the first month on the 2017 Year of the Rooster. For this piece, I wanted to use the Chinese proverb, “If you were born lucky even your rooster will lay eggs.” It made me laugh!

A Barred Rock rooster, distinctive for it’s black and white zigzag patterned feathers, was the model for the piece. The feather pattern looks zig-zaggy. I wanted to make the body with calligraphy that mimicked the feathers. Choosing the scripts was easy. One of the hand-outs Reggie gave us had very bold variations of blackletter scripts from the 1930’s. I chose this squattier, plainer script for the main quote and a more traditional textura for the body of the rooster. Now I just needed an additional quote. I googled “quotes about roosters in Latin” and found this gem, “Post coitum omne animal triste est gallus et mulier.” (Translation: After sex, all animals are sad except the rooster and the woman.) Perfecto!		 Image #1: The first step (after sketching all possibilities) was to create the piece on Strathmore Gemini Watercolor Paper, 300 lb. Cold Pressed (8” x 12”) using Sumi ink.

Image #2: Next, I inverted the image using my scanner and Photoshop. On the initial scan, I didn’t have the cockscomb colored in, so I filled in the red comb with the paint bucket function. (#2) Printed on 8.5” x 11” Arches 90 lb cold press.

Image #3: In playing around with the red, I accidentally hit the paint bucket on the background. I loved the effect of the red background and patches of black. (#3) Printed on 8.5” x 11” Arches 90 lb cold press.

Image #4: Finally, I returned to the original and using Sennelier watercolors painted the cockscomb and eye.

Overall, I like this piece, especially the red version. I use the Strathmore paper all the time, but I had never used it for calligraphy. It has a rough texture, and I was not as happy with the results of the lettering. Next time, I will use a finer surface. I love using traditional techniques and modern technology together—it makes it easy to play with color and layout.





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Week #18
This work was done by Stephanie Chao in 2017 in San Diego for the session “Modernizing a Traditional Calligraphic Hand: Blackletter” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
 One of our homework assignments in the first class of Reggie's Primitive to Modern was to write something in Textura and have it "reversed" at our local copy store.

I chose the German version of the Hail Mary prayer, first writing on graph paper to determine line lengths for centering purposes, 		then onto John Neal Bookseller's 11 x 17 practice paper, using a Speedball C-4 nib and Chinese stick ink.

For the Italicized variation, I wrote the prayer on Arches 90lb hot press paper, using the same nib and ink.

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Week #19
This work was done by Amy Lear in Austin in 2016 for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
Voices

This piece was done on deep red paper with Dr. Ph. Martins bleedproof white. Inspired by the wisdom and courage of Malala Yousafzai and wanting to inspire my two daughters, I created this piece with large letters and a bold layout. I sketched the design on grid paper, with several revisions, before scanning it into the computer for resizing. I was happy with the design of each word, but their placement wasn’t quite right. On the screen, I was able to move the words around to get a final draft. From there, I printed the sketch to use to transfer guidelines to the red paper.

As I worked on the letters, I noticed that the white wasn’t as opaque as I wanted, so I went back and added a second coat of paint with a small watercolor brush. And then… I managed to drop my brush onto the table! It fell in the middle of the word “tell” and rolled through the G in girls, and the C below it. 		I tried all of the traditional ways of correcting mistakes, but the paper just wasn’t having it. So, I dug through all my red paint and managed to make an acrylic one that matched (using a scrap of red paper to test). I carefully painted over the white smears of ink and repaired it.

During class, Reggie commented on the design and suggested that I scan the piece and shrink it to a smaller size. In doing that, I realized that the texture of the paper looked unclean after scanning. So, I traced the whole text to a vector in Adobe Illustrator and replaced the background with a solid red color. After printing these in 8x10 and 5x7, I was really encouraged by how successfully the design translated to the smaller size. And, now that I have it in a vector format, I am able to experiment with different colors of letters and backgrounds very easily.

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Week #20
This work was done by C.J. Kennedy in Boston this year for the session “Basic Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
Homework is more fun less of a drudge with someone else to help. My buddy, Ben Dover, helped with spacing the word “languidly” using the sour pickle method. Ben Dover’s eyesight is better than mine and working directly on the waxed grid, he was able to bring a unique perspective to the assignment.

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Week #21
This work was done by Patti Adams in New Orleans this year for the session “Basic Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
In trying to decide what sort of quote to do for our monoline romans exercise (with the dreaded B2 nib), I found myself looking to this: a wonderful piece of advice from famed choreographer Agnes DeMille to modern dance legend Martha Graham. It speaks to the importance of artists being able to find a way through self doubt; to let go of judgement and allow the work to speak for itself. Great words of wisdom for us all.

In finding my way through this project, I decided I could have a little fun with it by adding whimsical tromp l'œil effects as I worked, painting the things that were scattered about my drafting table, including the yellow "post-it" notes. 		One of the hardest things to capture was my John Neal gridded practice pad! Yikes!The piece is done on a leftover portion of elephant-sized Arches hot press watercolor paper in a variety of values of blue, blue-violet and violet. The wine stain is painted in watercolor and, yes, for authenticity I was forced to try the full spectrum of reds: a glass of pinot noir, a glass of zinfandel, a glass of cabernet…(oh, the sacrifices we make for our art! 😉) But, most importantly, I ended up enjoying using the B-2 nib! A first for me! Thank you, Reggie.

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Week #22
 These works were done by individuals in New Orleans this year for the session “Basic Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In their own words:
#1 & 2 Lisa Devlin

As a graphic designer, I use a variety of tools (including the computer) and appreciate many periods of art and design. I also enjoy generating ideas for make-believe products, creating ads and labels for them and putting them on greeting cards. So it seemed natural to turn Reggie’s letter-spacing exercise into ads. I thought that bubble bath and a wine vineyard would be great for expressing the word “LANGUIDLY,” followed by the registered trademark symbol for that touch of authenticity. Both ads were intended to amuse the viewer while expressing my enjoyment and exhaustion after a full day learning calligraphy.

I began by using the waxed grid paper and letters Reggie supplied, manually spacing the letters on the paper and then photocopying the finished work. Although the letters seemed spaced adequately well on the grid, the photocopied versions showed me this wasn’t entirely the case. So when I brought the letters into Adobe InDesign, I kerned them slightly. Concerned that reliance on a computer might not be within the exercise’s scope, I confess that I held back and didn’t do a complete job. I then copied the text and pasted them into the Adobe Illustrator files where the illustrations were created. The final piece was printed on my desktop printer.

This was a helpful exercise. Because of the deadline realities of my work and the frequent last-minute changes that typically arise, I’d developed some bad habits and rusty letter-spacing skills. So this exercise reminded me of the need to apply more care in that area.

#3 Patti Adams

This spacing exercise took a lot longer than I imagined! As Reggie suggested, after I laid out the word calligraphy on my waxed grid, I left it on a stand in my studio so I could casually glance at it as I worked on other things.

After a few days, I finally decided that there was obviously a Roman Rebellion taking place while I slept; letters were surreptitiously huddling up in my studio overnight! 		I finally arrived at the version you see here. I printed it onto a sepia-toned 11x17" copy of a very large piece I did in graphite several years ago as part of an exhibition at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. It is a drawing of one of our oldest and grandest live oak trees in Audubon Park, aptly named "The Tree of Life”. Displaying some of the most splendid examples of nature's calligraphy, these majestic trees are for me a constant source of inspiration!


#4 Carmel Cucinotta-Harmon

I chose this 'ghost' picture from a Time-Life Book Series I have on the "Enchanted World'. Since all of us were so fearful of diving into the ROMANS, I thought this picture of "fear" was very appropriate. Class mates exchanged many emails saying how frustrated and fearful they were to attempt this very important exercise; myself included.

I used the Palatino Type Face that Reggie gave out in class. I took my picture and my layout to Kinkos (now Fed Ex) and had a transparency made of my spacing. It took some time for the sales person to figure out how to apply the letters to the photo. I was a bit worried because the black letters were so close to the darkest part of the photo. But, I liked the picture and decided to go for it.

I have since learned, through trial and error, that "I can do the transparency and photocopy" at home.

My little ghost still says it all about those lovely ROMANS

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Week #23
 This work was done by Tomoko Zunino in Seattle in 2015 for the session “Brush Lettering” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
In between classes, my husband and I went to Paris on vacation and I wanted to create something always to reminds us of the trip.

The letterform is Neuland written in black gouache with a Hiro #8 nib on Arches Watercolor HP paper.

I also wanted you to feel like you were walking in Paris. I decided to use the map of Paris as a background paper and drew some famous sightseeing spots as decorated letters; “A” for La tour Eiffel, “O” for Tricolore, “I” for Obélisque de Louxor at Place de la Concorde, “O” for Catacombes de Paris and “M” for Basilique du Sacré-Cœur.

Before cutting out the counter spaces with a x-acto knife, I placed the calligraphy piece on the map to see how it would look. It was not as dramatic as I was hoping for. I realized they needed some colors, and added 7 French logos which you might see on Les Champs-Élysées.		 Paper size approximately 10”×25”.

Translation:

At the Champs- Élysées

At the Champs- Élysées

In the sun, under the rain

At noon or at midnight

There is everything you want

At the Champs- Élysées

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Week #24
 This work was done by Sharon Allende in San Diego this year for the session “Modernizing a Traditional Calligraphic Hand: Blackletter” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
I love circles, as you can see. This piece was done at Letters California Style 2017 in Lordana Zega’s “Calligraphy on The Walls” Class. In this class Lordana taught us how to use a dry flat brush to letter in Black Letter or any lettering style of our choice. She taught us how to use 1⁄2-inch up to 4-inch flat brushes to letter and create amazing images. I used a 3⁄4 inch flat brush on Canson Mi-Teintes Pastel paper. The gouache is Winsor & Newton Lamp Black and Permanent White. The Permanent White gouache is mixed with a little Schminke Bronze to give a hint of shimmer. The red contrasting writing is Prismacolor Scarlet Lake colored pencil, and a 2B Graphite pencil was also used. Although it is difficult to read, the words are taken from the Mumford and Sons song “Awake My Soul”, which is how I felt learning this technique. It is very freeing to letter with a brush and paint.

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Week #25
 This work was done by Stephanie Chao in San Diego this year for the session “Writing on Vellum” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
Stabat Mater

One of our homework assignments from Reggie’s second session was to make a small book incorporating vellum pages.

The vellum offcuts I purchased from Reggie were each about 5 X 7 inches. I wanted to write a moderately lengthy text and chose the Stabat Mater, a 13th C. Latin hymn attributed to a Franciscan friar, that I first became familiar with many years ago through the music composed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) at the end of his short life. Scored for soprano and alto soloists, violin, viola, cello, and organ, the duets are some of the most touchingly beautiful music I’ve listened to.		 The hymn comprises 20 three-line stanzas. My first attempt was to write it in 1.5 mm x-height with a Mitchell 6 nib, but even with my trusty Optivisor, I found it too difficult; so I increased the guidelines to 3 mm and wrote with a Mitchell 5 without a reservoir.

Although challenging, I found the entire process to be meditative: I listened to Pergolesi’s music repeatedly while writing, gilding, preparing the book covers, and assembling the book using a single sheet coptic binding technique.


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Week #26
This work was done by Patti Adams in New Orleans this year for the session “Beginning Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
Writing this wonderful quotation of Frederick Neugebauer in plain Romans was another big challenge from Reggie!

I decided to feature a DaVinci Circle as the setting of the quote. There are twenty-four equally spaced points around the perimeter of this circle, each connecting to every point. Interestingly, there are 48 letters in this quote, which would be the next numerical size of a larger circle! (then 96 points, etc) This geometric exercise, which Leonardo had his students do, teaches that the sacred shape of the circle is contained in everything in nature and illustrates that circles can be created with straight lines. The more line intersections there are, the more circles emerge: in the center, and within the concentric layers there are ovals and then more circles. With a larger number of points on the outer perimeter, more circles and ovals...ad infinitum...like our universe.		 I thought this DaVinci Circle the perfect setting for a discussion of Roman capitals. For me, there is an element of allusion to their construction, all based on measurements and movements of the pen that completely defy ones natural inclinations and expectations.

I used a 20” round, deckled paper, handmade by Twinrocker and brown and sepia 1.0 Micron pens for all the lines. It is glazed with multiple light layers of watercolors (all Daniel Smith) in quinacridone gold, burnt sienna, indigo and yellow iron oxide. The calligraphy is done with Speedball C nibs using indigo gouache.

Learning to try and control Romans has been one of the great challenges of my long calligraphic life. Reggie captures it perfectly in his Romans video: “Welcome to Romans, where nothing is natural. A world of contrivances, demanding the utmost from you in skills of eye, hand and mind."

I’ll keep working on it!

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Week #27
 This work was done by Sabrina Hill in San Diego this year for the session “Writing on Vellum” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
May was Month Three in Reggie Ezell’s Primitive to Modern Class 2017 San Diego. Our homework assignment from Month 2 (March) was a book using vellum and some of our newly acquire gilding techniques.

When putting together homework for the previous month, I had looked up ladybugs and found the universe of beetles. The bugs look like show girls or drag queens. I thought they would be the perfect subjects for gilding on vellum.

I started by planning a 3-page vellum book with 3 beetles, but which ones? With so many beautiful choices, I decided to expand it and do a Top Ten Beetles book. Well now I was in a mess. There was not enough vellum for this. I had fig bark paper, and I liked how it looked with the mottled vellum—crisis averted. But now I had too many pages. Add more beetles.
And that’s how I ended up with Beetles: A to Z.

Execution does not always go as planned. The fig paper and a broad nib pen were not the best of friends since the uncoated unsealed paper acted like a wick for the loaded nib. I used a Micron pen for much of the writing. The lyrics to All You Need is Love were written with a Leonardt ball-tipped pointed pen—my new favorite nib.		 Winsor Newton watercolors and gouache were used to paint the bugs and many bugs were brushed with pearlescent pigment for a super-shimmery bug effect. I used the paints with very little water on both the fig bark paper and the vellum. All bugs were outlined with the micron pen and shaded with soft graphite. My first car was a very used VW Bug that I shared with my sister, so homage is paid to that beetle as well. I added the words to a Beatles song to use the remaining extra pages, and finished with a little beetle humor.

This is my first effort in bookbinding. I will most certainly make more; it was such fun! I used book board covered with marbled mulberry bark paper (which is almost impossible to tear) and assembled it using a Coptic binding. The vellum pages were singles, so I used a folded strip of cream mulberry bark to provide a fold to stitch then glued the strip on either side of the vellum after the book was sewn together. I see all the mistakes, but I like my primitive little book. Doing this book did not make me like bugs any better. Beetles are well-styled but still creepy!

NOTE: In the May class, Reggie taught us that the fig bark paper can be sealed with methyl cellulose gel or Knox gelatin (in a special mixture). I love the paper, so I will try sealing it in the next project!

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Week #28
 This work was done by Maria Helena Hoksch in New Orleans this year in for the session “Basic Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
This piece of various capital letters does not make any sense as to legibility, so do not try to read it, as it is only pure experimentation in contrast and color. Materials used: twin rocker paper, moon palace Sumi ink, gray gouache, various pastels and colored pencils, speedball B nib, Mitchell nib, pointed pen.

Since I started my studies in art and calligraphy more than three decades ago, I was always taught that certain colors "go together", in other words, make a pleasant match. In this piece I decided to challenge that idea and prove that all colors go together if you make them. It is your (the viewer's) decision whether the result is pleasant to the eye, or loud senseless cacophony. I am fine and even salute the possibility of it being somewhat offensive to the senses.		 I also took the idea that I learned from one of my mentors, that a piece of art can be too "hot", as consisting of only warm tones. You need something "cold" to cool it down. Here I tried to tie in the hot tones with the cold tones equally, as an almost chemical experience in "temperature in art". Many of my treasured calligraphic friends told me that the colors were way off here, and I only enjoyed the controversy. Why, after all, are we experimenting, if not for making mistakes. Make no mistake and learn nothing!!!!!

The contrast does not end here with color, but is made further "obnoxious" by rudely ending thin lines and starting thick ones right in the middle of a letter. The hole piece is presented as a solid block of lettering on a simply laid out page, just to have the all the various contrasts speak the loudest, and all for themselves.

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Week #29
 This work was done by Amy Lear in Austin in 2016 for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
Languidly

This was done for the spacing homework assignment for Month 1. For the background image, I used a photograph that I had taken and then edited it in photoshop to make it black and white and to add black to the rest of the image. The photograph is of the dried paint left at the bottom of a paintbrush-washing bowl after the water had evaporated. It is a mid-century, pottery ashtray that I found as my in-laws were cleaning out and restoring an old farm. Using an ashtray sounds odd, I admit, but it has a nice depth and the slots originally for cigarettes now keep my paintbrushes from rolling away. I took the photo on a nice, sunny day to increase the contrast of that old paint. The original color was yellow paint in a green bowl. As a black and white, though, it reminds me of an abstract, lunar landscape.		 After I edited the photograph, I extended the image size to fit the paper I’d print it on, and scanned in my properly spaced letters. However, they didn’t quite fit the way I wanted it to. Instead of correcting the letter cut-outs and rescanning, I edited the word in photoshop directly. I can’t recommend photoshop for projects like this enough. To fit the word to the image, I separated each letter into a different layer, and used the “hide/show” feature to only show the three letters I was working on at a time. Then, I nudged the letters right or left using the arrow keys (rather than my mouse) for greater precision. Photoshop does have an auto-arrange feature, which would distribute the space between each letter. But, that only accounts for the total width of the letter, not the white space within the letter itself. The letter L is a good example of where that feature doesn’t work for lettering spacing.

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Week #30
 This work was done by Tomoko Zunino in Seattle in 2015 for the session “Italic and Variations” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
I want to thank everyone for making this book possible. Thank you, Reggie, for being such an inspiration. Thank you, Keiko, for your kirigami flowers. Thank you, Italic, for being beautiful and versatile. Thank you, Cortana, for finding the quotes in between “Sorry, I didn’t catch that.” Thank you, Mitchell nib #3, for your crisp edges and flexibility. Thank you, Blick, for having a BOGO on Canson Mi-Teintes. Thank you, X-acto, for providing such a precise, sharp yet safe knife. Thank you, Winsor and Newton, for your wonderful and perfect flowing gouache. And, thank you, Otto, for being there. Happy Birthday! Tomoko, Winter 2016.

This accordion book is 13” X 9 1⁄4” and has 18 pages.

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Week #31
 This work was done by Carmel Cucinotta-Harmon
this year in New Orleans for the session “Pressurized and Drawn Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
The inspiration for this piece was our garden. It was in full bloom, and as I took in the beauty I knew I had to do a piece on flowers and nature. The quote is from Ralph W. Emerson.

For this piece I had a difficult time deciding on a layout. Actually, I did not like anything I came up with. The only thing I knew was that I wanted flowers at the bottom of the piece. So, this is where I began. I worked from the bottom up; something I have never done before.

After spray fixing the black paper, I began using colored pencils to draw in the flowers (which took forever!). I made a transparency of my pencil drawn letters from my exemplar and began tracing the words on the black paper. My first word was “flowers”. I did not trace the word ‘in’, as I did not like the way it looked (using the transparency). I left space for the word “in”. I continued up the line. When all words were traced in, I under painted them with Acrylic paint mixed with a Matte Medium. I chose the color blue green because I love this color.		 I had to lighten it from the pure hue because it was too dark to show upon the black paper. Painting the letters was very slow and tedious. I could only paint two letters at a time before taking a much needed break.

I still had to figure out what to do about the word “in”. Since it was in between “laughs and flowers” I needed something about “earth” to tie everything together. I decided to draw a little bug for the “i” and a bean plant turned upside down for the “n”. This is what I wanted.

Now I had to figure out what to put at the top of the piece. Originally I wanted more flowers. I decided that would be overkill. I needed something. I chose a little butterfly and a single tiny flower looking down over the piece. They are also done in colored pencils.

One thing I have learned is this... it is a good idea to take a photo of the layout prior to actually painting etc. The photo, for some reason, emphasizes mistakes that the human eye can miss.

I had fun working on this homework. It was very arduous and time consuming. I had such inspiration from my husband’s garden that it turned out to be very rewarding in the end.

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Week #32
 This work was done by Maria Helena Hoksch in New Orleans this year for the session “Pressurized and Drawn Romans ” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
I started this piece for a previous Reggie session earlier this year, but was too embarrassed to take it out and show to others, as it looked ugly and unfinished to me. And, I did not know then, it was only one third there.... A total throw- away, I thought. I have high standards for myself, after all, I reminded myself. As soon as I had decided that it was garbage, a stray misbreed, I decided to "adopt" it, to rescue it, as there was nothing to loose, but only to gain.

That is when I started layering. It was an adventure, a journey, which I did not know where it would lead. First the Mitchell nib in gray gouache on top of watercolor romans. Then lines painted blue and white, drawn with ruling pen and filled in, right between, and even on top, of the romans. Then italic on top of the painted lines. Between every layer I sprayed fixative like a maniac to be able to letter on top of the previous layer.		 Towards the end, I had sprayed so many times that the ink was almost repelling, and skipping. As if I was now lettering on top of plastic. Gum Sandrac did no longer work at that point.

Let's be honest, I ended up with a hot mess. But again, it was too late to throw it away. It had "turned" too busy, too colorful, too much movement, too.... I need something to calm it down, I thought, to give the eye finally some rest and peace. To thank the eye for even looking at it! That is when I added the simple stripes in gilding. Most artwork uses gilding as a main decoration, or precious accent, I used it as the most unadorned part of my work.

Materials used: Arches watercolor hot press paper, Ken Oliver's watercolor bursts, various colors of gouache, Dr. Martin's white, watercolors, WN drawing ink, various sizes of speedball C and Mitchell nibs, pointed brush, ruling pen, 23K gold leaf laid on Instacoll. Overall measurements of the piece: 22"x15

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Week #33
 This work was done by Patti Adams this year in New Orleans for the session “Pressurized and Drawn Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words
In my lifelong obsession with the study of color, I have collected a number of wonderful quotes from creative artists I admire. From Mr. Monet: "Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment". From Mr. Gibran: “Let me, O let me bathe my soul in colours; let me swallow the sunset and drink the rainbow.” But this one from Mr. Chagall is my favorite.

My main challenge was finding the appropriate setting for his wonderful words. In the midst of working to complete a huge stack of Twenty-Six Seeds homework (!), I visited a friend in the hospital. While waiting for the arrival of the elevator to get to her floor, I looked down and found the inspiration I needed! A wonderful star shaped pattern on the tile floor that would feature my color wheel perfectly!

My goal was to lay out the colors precisely as the quote prescribes: adjacents and opposites. The first layer are adjacents; colors which live in harmony with their neighbors. 		The second layer are the lovers; opposites above and to the right of each complimentary color of the first layer. The third layer of the wheel is a mixture of those two opposites, mixed with white to illustrate the beauty of their neutrals.

The piece is done on a white, round piece of 24" handmade, deckle-edged Twinrocker paper. The next challenge was setting off the colors and the quote with a color that would magnify their differences, particularly the neutrals. So, I arrived at ivory black. This color was painted around each color and painstakingly (neurotically!?) painted around the hand drawn Romans caps. The white of the words is the white of the paper. They are the negative shapes of the piece. I loved the idea of the quotation having absolutely NO COLOR AT ALL! :)

Thus is the life of the calligrapher: you get a crazy idea and then can't lay down the brush until you find an end. I could title this piece "Four 00 Brushes Die For A Good Cause!"

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Week #34
 This work was done by Jean Ferrier in 2016 in Seattle for the session “Illumination on Vellum” in Primitive to Modern. In her own words:
I used the computer paper for the lower half of the piece with the plant forms. The upper part with the writing is gouache. I was thinking of my garden, which had a difficult winter with several killing windstorms, but has now recovered and being enjoyed by hummingbirds, and a deer family. They are the intended recipients. The actual assignment was barely in mind, and I just fooled around without benefit of the thought process.

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Week #35
 This work was done by Stephanie Chao in San Diego this year for the session “Illumination on Vellum” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
In our fourth class with Reggie, one of our assignments was to do a gilded piece on vellum, inspired by the Codex Aureus.

I have been studying Russian Byzantine iconography for a few years and wanted to writethe Eastern Orthodox Jesus Prayer or Prayer of the Heart, in Church Slavonic. I don't speak or write Russian, so a day was spent researching and verifying the correct letterforms.

I worked out the drawn letters in pencil on graph paper, printed the 6- inch square design on a transparency, and then traced my design onto both Arches 90 lb. hot press paper and vellum, with the idea of working each step first on paper and then on vellum, as we had done in class for various techniques.		 After the counters were gilded by building up two layers of gesso and clear Instacoll, I drew the letters using a Mitchell 5 nib and WN Venetian Red gouache. Borders were drawn with a ruling pen and filled in with a small pointed brush. I used a circle and scroll template and freehand filled in the smaller designs with a pointed nib.

I like working to music; in this case, the Church Slavonic chant of the Jesus Prayer on YouTube provided hours of inspiration and spiritual support in creating this piece. https://youtu.be/C7-VLJxLEV4



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Week #36
 This work was done by Maria Helena this year in New Orleans for the session “Pressurized and Drawn Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
A year ago I was celebrating my 50th Birthday in China by climbing the Great Wall. I ended almost "dead" of exhaustion from my 10 mile climb. Yet a few days later i went to the main art market in Beijing looking for all things calligraphy. I had seen, and even bought, some great Chinese watercolor art on fabric, so amongst interesting oriental papers, I was also looking to buy some real silk "canvas". I was surprised to discover how rare it was even in China. Silk for artwork does not come cheap nor is it easy to find.

At home it took me almost another year to cut into and try out this scary, curious, precious material. What you see here is my first, and so far, my only try with silk. (No worries, I made an investment, and have yards of it left). The homework assignment from Reggie was drawn roman caps, and I decided to combine them with pointed pen. Yes, believe it or not, I took the needle-like nib straight to the delicate fabric, and it worked almost like writing on butter would. Sensitive and smooth. No spreading, no catching threads on this sharpest of tools! Then I filled in my romans and the green leafy decoration with tiny brush and watercolors, all the while taking advantage of what watercolors can do. As the matter of fact, the only medium used for this piece is watercolor. Including copperplate lettering.		 As I "finished" the piece, it started to seriously rebuke me. I want more, it said. You can see through me, so show something through. Use me! So I cut another piece of silk, marked the area I wanted to show, and covered it entirely with broad edge pen romans, still in watercolor. As my tool was full of ink this time, it bled a little, and letterforms came out somewhat distorted, but after all, it was to be a just a background.

So what you now see is two layers of silk placed on top of each other, playing with each other. Not much planning. After completing, I just ironed the two pieces of fabric to an absolute smooth surface. All crumpling just disappeared. The Chinese stamp with my name in Latin and Mandarin alphabet was custom made for me in Beijing, and gave the final touch.

Some weeks ago, while teaching a pointed pen class called Seastones at IAMPETH conference in Louisville, I donated this piece to the organization.

Exactly on my 51st birthday this July, a fellow calligrapher Jennifer Calvert Cathey from College Station, Texas generously purchased it at their auction.

This story is over, but not my adventures with silk, nor with Reggie's homework assignments.

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Week #37
This work was done by B J Grant in SanAntonio in 2016 for the session “DESIGN: Deconstructing the Grid” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
The pictures of "quilt quotes" was done by BJ Grant in 2016 during Reggie Ezell's Primitive to Modern class in San Antonio.

When we were first given the assignment I was not too clear on how to go about using the 11x17 prints, but since my quotes were focused on quilts I started to cut the print into quilt shapes.

It was like a jigsaw puzzle but the sticky board Reggie provided made it a lot easier. That is one of the great things about taking classes from Reggie -- he supplies more "stuff" than you ever could incorporate!

The quote was calligraphed and xeroxed in different sizes on transparencies to determine which size looked best.		  The correct sized transparency was then selected and copied on to a heavy weight paper and then cut out and arranged on top of the cut out print using mounting tape to produce a shadow effect. The first picture shows the quote on top of the cut out print.

On the second and third photo below I decided to take a white glossy paper to cut all the quilt shapes out with an Xacto knife to allow the prints to be slipped behind the cut out design. That way I could see which print looked best without having to cut the prints up. I could also xerox it larger or smaller. These made great postcards.

The process was fun to do and allowed me to learn about the printing aspects of producing multiple products from original art. Other class members did some extraordinary pieces that I hope will be shown to allow people a better understanding of how unique this process is.





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Week #38
 This work was done by Lisa Devlin in New Orleans this year for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
“Flies” was inspired by the work of Joke Boudens. I enjoy the graphic boldness and humor of her work which she achieves by butting up images and different text blocks of various shapes, sizes and styles. Although she seems particularly intrigued with beetles and other insects, the subject matter for my piece actually was inspired by a swarm of flies that had infested my house. I found this disturbing as I recalled a passage in the Bible (Exodus 8:21). Perhaps I, too, was being punished. Or maybe I’m just sloppy.

Artistic expression helped me cope with these feelings. I started by exploring the subject through online research and sketching. I sketched and played with many ideas and, because of limited space, many of them wound up on the “cutting room floor.” It’s interesting how such profound insights can be made and expressed by comparisons to something humble or overlooked. Flies can be playful, a nuisance, evidence of dirt or incarnations of evil (i.e. Beelzebub). I liked the idea of portraying the humble fly with references from poetry (e.g. William Blake), comedy (Groucho Marx), movies (Psycho) and everyday expressions. I thought it would be fun to explore the word “FLIES” itself by writing the first two letters and then repeating the letter “i” or “e” and even drawing eyes to create the word.

I chose a process that, although time consuming, was familiar and forgiving. I first hand-lettered the Neugebauer text blocks on grid paper, drawing the letters so the lines of text touched each other. 		I particularly enjoyed how the ascender of one letter could merge with the descender of another with the dot in the letter “i” adding another contrasting and playful element. I extended some of these lines into adjacent letters and added “fly hairs” to various letters in the William Blake text block (thus echoing the legs of a fly). I created a carbon by tracing each text block with tracing paper, turned the paper over and traced it again with a soft lead pencil, taped the paper to a sheet of Canson paper and traced each letter yet again (phew!). Then I drew over each letter with Micron and Sharpie markers. It was a laborious process, but one that gave me a feeling of control and allowed me to make adjustments where necessary. Using a similar process, I drew graphic flies of various sizes, traced, transferred and redrew onto the Canson sheet.

Design decisions were made by considering contrasts in size, weight and balance within the layout. But as the work progressed, I noticed that it really didn’t have the wonderful feeling of Joke Boudens’s piece because the text blocks and images were placed too far apart. A patterned background would help create unity. Thick lines were drawn in Prismacolor pencils and then erased in areas to create subtle texture. These lines echoed the design of the larger flies and generated a sense of movement. Conceptually, my goal was for the viewer’s attention to move here and there around the page—much like the movement of a fly.

“Am not I a fly like thee?”

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Week #39
 This work was done by Gail Robichaud in Boston this year for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
In doing the same quote by Albert Einstein in three different Roman lettering styles, my objective was to make "Logic" appear solid and "Imagination" appear fluid and colorful.

The first piece that appears to be fragments is done in sumi with a half-ruling pen. My objective was to use the entire quote but to make the quote illegible. In this way the reader may use their imagination as to the meaning. The color is colored pencil and there are three gilded circles.		 In the Neuland rendition, the lettering and lines are done in sumi ink with the logic part colored in graphite. The imagination portion is done in colored pencil to suggest liveliness.

The third piece is done in watercolor and sumi. Different watercolors were applied to one brush and then dragged across the page. Sumi was then used to write the logic portion so that it appears more solid and the imagination section more free flowing.





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Week #40
This work was done by Nancy Kloos in Seattle in 2016 for the session “DESIGN: Deconstructing the Grid” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
This piece came about as a result of Reggie’s “Deconstructing The Grid” Primitive to Modern class. It measures 21” x 26”. It was a collaborative effort with my friend, Lisa Tsang. The inspiration for this piece was the picture of a stunning quilt we’d seen on one of Lisa’s postcards.

We selected three sheets of coordinating paper and stacked them together making the initial two cuts. Then, one sheet was taken for the top, another for the middle, and the last for the bottom.  From these pieces random cuts were made and each piece was glued in place on black paper with a pebbly texture. 		It felt almost as if we were assembling a jigsaw puzzle and it became more exciting as each piece was laid.

The lettering was done on Arches watercolor paper with a Speedball B2 nib and the corners were sharpened with a micron marker. It was then cut out with an X-Acto knife to play around with the positioning and glued in place with raised double sided tape.

This was one of the few pieces I did in class. Our year had one class left to go and had I realized how much fun this could be, I probably would have waded into the water much sooner!

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Week #41
 This work was done by Maria Helena Hoksch in New Orleans this year for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
This is my third time to take Reggie's year-long class, but my first time to submit to what has become to be known as his signature homework assignment - mono-line, somewhat rustic caps, very recognizable. Some know them as Neugebauer caps, others as a play on Tom Perkins take, either way they are just one of hundreds of variations on Roman caps. Why are they so good for beginners, I'm not sure, but everyone always loves them and tries them out. Everyone in class brings some homework! Goal achieved !!!

From the beginning of my limited time and planning on this assignment, I knew I had to make these caps my own, somehow. I used the speedball B series mono-line, clumsy, nib yes, but that was about it. I squared the ends with pointed pen. I decided to play with spacing between letters, different line heights, "weird" letter forms (literally making them almost mutilated), and adding color. After adding varying degrees of color to letters, I also added it to the background, making it all look one twisted texture, as one mess of a memory. Instead of painting the insides of seriously exaggerated round letters, I left them empty to symbolize the holes in our remembrance. Dalai Lama's quote about childhood relationships following us as inexplicable fears into adulthood made perfect sense as my text, and I used it by abandoning any word spacing into illegible whole rectangular center.		 Now, I had picked a special paper for this piece. That gave a certain quality to everything I did on it. If I'm not mistaken, it is no longer made fabulous Fabriano Italia. It has heavy textured laid surface lines. It makes the letters, gilding, and even delicate brush painting look like traces left by a tractor tires in wet mud. I very much chose, enjoyed, and used that effect to add another dimension to this piece. Something my human hand could not have created on its own. The decorations amidst the letters are like little kites of hope floating around, with no care paid to their exact placement. Randomness is their message.

As I by now know about myself, I am an accidental artist, not a careful planner. Ideas, colors, and solutions come to me as I work and create. I have to decide when to stop. And I don't always know when to stop. After the gilding, I decided the piece lacked some finer, more delicate quality. To take away some of the childishness of it all. That is when I added the same quote once more in more refined and sensitive "small caps" going around the "messy center", in much

more skilled, smaller, and delicate version, this time totally legible. The uniform color of these small caps is to calm down the eye before it finally leaves the piece.

Size 18.5"x14" . Tools and materials used: speedball B nib, Mitchell nib, pointed pen, ruling pen, fine brush, various watercolors, gold leaf over Instacoll base.

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Week #42
 This work was done by Carmel Cucinotta-Harmon in New Orleans this year for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
I had this piece of vellum for a few years. I never had an inspiration to use it. However my husband, Butch, is always reading about Native American Indians; and Reggie recommended a book called “Many Winters”, by Nancy Wood. This was all the inspiration I needed.

My quote is one of many by Chief Dan George. I used a Thunderbird to indicate the “T” at the beginning of each phrase. I used gouache in Red Ochre, Oxide of Chromium, Cadmium Red and Indigo to write the quote.

The Indian Shield is done in Colored pencil; I layered many colors to achieve the slight variation in color. The ‘ring’ around the shield is soft pastels. My attempt was to mimic the old writings and ‘winter counts’ made by Native American Indians to record their history. I became fascinated with the designs the Native American Indians painted on their horses. I used colored pencils to create the designs on the horses running across the page. A B-6 nib was used to write the Neugebauer Caps. I used the Monoline practice sheet to write the Tom Perkins letters. I then traced them onto the Vellum. At first I tried to write directly on the vellum with my nib, which kept pulling. 		I think the vellum was not prepared enough. After tracing the letters on the vellum, I filled in with Red Ochre – using a 10/0 spotter brush. I like this brush for its size, but more importantly for its firmness.

I used Extra Heavy Gel Gloss to build up “Soars” and then gilded with gold leaf. For the gold horse at top I built up several layers of the Extra Heavy Gel Gloss; and then gilded with gold leaf. I had to use “activator” to fill in the crevices where the gold leaf did not adhere. I used a pale blue colored pencil to delicately outline the gold letters and gold horse.

The bottom section of the vellum was straight cut. I cut the bottom to match the top curves. Using a soft cloth I smudged soft pastels around the edged to give the look of age. As usual, I do not do well planning a layout. I never follow the many ‘thumbnails’ I work up. For this piece I began with the shied and worked down. Everything just fell into place according to my whim.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this piece and want to thank Reggie for ‘pushing’ me to do more with ALL of these homework assignments!

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Week #43
 This work was done by Patti Adams in New Orleans this year for the session “Pressurized and Drawn Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
“Don't Go Back To Sleep”

Every calligrapher prays for the moment when the proverbial light comes on; that moment when you can finally see the piece. For me, those moments are illuminating, in every sense of the word. So, when trying to find a way to capture the essence of one of my favorite Rumi quotations, I decided I had to do pressurized Roman caps on a lamp!

The first order of business was to find the right lamp. It had to have a shade of equal sides, at least 5" wide and a height of at least 10" or more and a narrow, square, dark wooden base. To my amazement, I found one online! I also went to my local florist and bought some dried willow branches with the idea of attaching them to the four corners of the shade. (Don’t you love a good glue gun?!) I thought this would be a way to draw the light out of the lamp.

Now, how to write on the fabric!? I quickly had to rule that out since the shade was made out of linen. The obvious solution was to attach the calligraphy on the inside liner of the shade. Now came the really tricky part: In order to be able to read the lettering on the outside, it had to be

written backwards on the inside: the ultimate Reggie spacing exercise! So, I did pressurized Roman caps (Mitchell nib) on 140 lb Arches HP WC paper, using van dyke brown qouache, adding flourishes (Hunt 101) to echo the movement of the branches, backwards. Now that was fun! :/

The poem’s title and main message that is repeated three times in the brief poem is repeated on two of the four sides (and no, I didn’t just run it through the copier, although I was tempted!), with the two other most important lines of the poem lettered on the other sides.		  These lines are only visible when the lamp is switched on. After the lettering and flourishing was all done came the scariest part: attaching the paper to the lampshade. I sprayed adhesive mounting glue onto the back of the artwork and oh, so gently guided it down into the lampshade, praying that it didn’t attach itself to anything on the way down or worst yet, get attached at a crooked angle. OCD calligrapher that I am, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when that was done!

So, now to work on the outside.
I wanted the lamp to be equally attractive when in the off position so I needed to create some drama. The lampshade, which was a dull cream colored linen, needed some depth of color and textural interest when unilluminated, so I took my van dyke brown (acrylic paint this time) and glazed color at the corners, along the

bottom and top and painted “branches” coming out of the sides, again, to mimic the willow branches bursting out of the top.

The parallel message here for me is the way I can feel when practicing Roman caps or italics or copperplate or fill-in-the-blank hands. While still concentrating on the task, it can sometimes feel very uninspired. (As a professional musician, I do understand the importance of practicing my scales but seriously, there are days, right!?) But then, often after these long practice sessions, I can pull out a delicious piece of Roma or Arches or Fabriano or BFK Rives paper out of my file and the “lamp” comes on. It seems as if the artwork has simply been hiding out in the drawer all along. I just had to bring enough energy to the work and then, in turn, enough power was generated for me to be able to see the piece. Don’t go back to sleep...the breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you...you must ask for what you really want...don’t go back to sleep...

This lamp now sits in my art studio overlooking my calligraphy table, reminding me always about the work, the process, and, hopefully, the illumination.



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Week #44
 This work was done by Ann Rabinovitz in Memphis this year for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
I was not going to take Reggie’s last year long class this year but somehow found myself doing just that. Looking through my old papers and possible designs never finished, I found this outlined alphabet that was flush right. I decided to make a mirror image of the alphabet and that left a top round empty space and a bottom round empty space, which I thought was really cool. Little did I know how hard it would be to come up with a design for those spaces.

Once I got the letters properly drawn and fitted into gridded lines, I began to fill in the back ground around the letters, mostly going from a light tint in the middle of the piece to the actual color and then having the darkest color on the outsides.		 I wasn’t sure that I liked the W/N primary gouache series of colors, but when I painted them in the order that I arrived at, I was amazed at how well they all blended together and the color just sang.

But the piece did not look finished so I added lettering in the top empty space using a B2 nib. On a separate piece of paper, I then made several different designs for the bottom area but was not happy with them, so I moved onto creating the side borders. I wanted them in grays, but after several test tries of various colors and shapes and sizes of the shapes, realized they dulled the colors in the original middle part. So, I went back to using some of the original colors and that seemed to work. Then I went back and made several more designs for the bottom area, combining some lettering and the color design. My vow to do simple smaller works this year had gone by the wayside. Though this piece is only 9” X 7” it got more involved than when I first started it. I rarely name my pieces, but this one I am calling “More than Rainbow Colors”.

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Week #45
 This work was done by Sandy Hanower in 2016 in Seattle for the session “DESIGN: Deconstructing the Grid” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
The easiest part for this design assignment was finding a quote that I wanted to use:

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." Confucius

When I found a celestial background it seemed to tie in with 'wherever you go," and a heart was just the perfect symbol for the quote.

BACKGROUND: I started with an 11 x 17 inkjet print with a celestial background.

LETTERING: I wrote the quote out on a grid sheet with a Speedball B-3 nib and sumi ink in a RAUCOUS alphabet format. Then I reduced and enlarged the words in various sizes --- +75%, +80%, +150%. I cut up my words and repositioned them on a waxed grid sheet for a desirable layout. After arranging my words, I further experimented with the size of the text by reducing my words by 85% and enlarging 120%.		 Then I cut around the final quote with a Xacto #11 blade, leaving space around the letters -- approximately 1/8."

With the lettering copied onto a transparency, I determined the ideal placement of my quote.

IMAGE - DESIGN ELEMENT: On tracing paper I sketched out a heart and added some abstract lines to expand my heart. Then I traced the final design on the back side of my color xerox background. The lines and heart shapes were cut with my Xacto. On my waxed grid sheet, I laid out my design and separated some space between each of the lines.

I then attached the text to my piece.

With a hot foil pen, gold dots were randomly added and more heavily in the middle of the heart.

Now my image was ready to be photocopied.

I particularly enjoyed working on this design project.

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Week #46
 This work was done by Rose Smutko in San Diego this year for the session “Blackletter: How to Modernize a Traditional Calligraphic Hand” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
I was intrigued by discovering Nietzsche's quotation, not only in English language, but in German. I loved the challenge of using two languages in one calligraphic piece.

I initially began the project by spritzing water onto Arches 140 Lb. Hot Pressed paper. While the paper was still quite damp, I dropped in grey and blue-greencalligraphy ink onto the paper. Moving quickly I placed plastic wrapinto the ink & pulled tightly in two different directions. I uncharacteristically was patient and left the plastic wrap in place until the following morning. 		After peeling the plastic wrap from the paper, the right side of the paper was exactly the lightness of color that I'd hoped for; the left seemed too dark.

However, I decided to use this contrast to my advantage. I used Black Letter for the German translation. I started with a very light value on the left, graduating to dark on the right. I also added metallic silver foil in the middle of each letter. Finally, I used graphite pencil for both the shadows on the Black Letters and for the English translation.

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Week #47
 This work was done by Lisa Devlin in New Orleans this year for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
The idea for “Hungry Caterpillar” began with an illustration I had drawn of a caterpillar in an old sketchbook. I found a playful poem online and thought this stanza would be perfect for an image of a caterpillar munching on some leaves.

The calligraphy designs of Marina Soria inspired me for this project. I particularly like the way she emphasizes abstract shapes between letters and thought it would give the impression of the caterpillar chewing on leaves, creating holes that become letters or the white spaces between them. For the lettering, I thought David Jones’s variation on Romans would give the piece a wonderfully quirky, organic feeling. To create a sense of unity and prevent needless distraction, I thought it was important to make the piece monochromatic. Various shades of green—from brightly saturated shades to duller tones —would also, I believed, give my drawing a subtle, organic quality.

I started by drawing the letters in graphite on grid paper and arranging the lines of text. I then transferred the letters to Arches text paper by creating a carbon with transfer paper. I created four shades of green with gouache and drew the letters using a Mitchell 3 nib. A different shade of green was selected randomly every few letters to enhance the organic feel.		 I then penciled in an outline of the leaves and transferred the caterpillar design. As I colored in the leaves with Prismacolor pencils, I changed my mind about the color of some of the letters—deciding it would be more interesting to have those letters appear as negative shapes inside the leaves. So I painted over the green with Dr. Martin’s bleedproof white directly on top. Having pieces of letters oating down as if partially eaten by the caterpillar also was a last minute decision.

This was an important project for me because it introduced me to the calligraphy of David Jones. I’m new to calligraphy and working with nibs. His letterforms seemed more forgiving and accessible to me. Although the piece was a stretch, I approached it with a level of con dence (no doubt aided by the hours of practice on Romans). I really fell in love with the David Jones variation on Romans during this project and de nitely will use it in the future.

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Week #48
 This work was done by Lee Thurston in Boston this year for the session “Carolingian snd Variations” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words
With our manuscript book assignment coming during the peak of summer, I couldn't help but take inspiration from all around me: a wealth of sun, lush plants, good times with family and friends, and vibrant energy all around! Along with several quotes about the season, you'll find my own list of favorite summer blessings, which are unpacked along the bottom of each page.

The result is a book project titled “Summer.”

Bound with a Japanese stab stitching technique, the cover is made of paste paper and the end papers have real wildflowers incorporated in them.		 The manuscript pages are Arches Text Wove, which I cut and folded in half, providing two clean writing surfaces. I then created each page individually before binding the book.

As assigned, all the summer words and quotes are in the Carolingian alphabet. I chose Mitchell #2, #3 and #4 nibs and gouache, using Winsor & Newton indigo, chromium oxide, red ochre, and ivory black--thank you, Reggie, for the color recommendations!

Simple drawings in watercolor pencil complement the words to finish off this personal summer sketchbook.

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Week #49
 This work was done by Rose Smutko in San Diego this year for the session “Writing on Vellum” in PRIMITIVE TO MODERN. In her own words:
My initial inspiration for this assignment came from a powerful
quotation by a Jewish prisoner (anonymous) during the Holocaust.  "I believe in the Sun, even when it is not shining. I believe in Love, even when I cannot feel it.  I believe in God, even when He is silent." 

These juxtapositioned phrases seemed to lend themselves perfectly to alternating between one page of "light", followed by one page of "dark". I used vellum with gilding on each page of "light" alternating with eco-dyed paper for each page of "dark".

Eco-dyed paper is created by placing plant materials onto paper, bundling them over rods and immersing the bundles into hot water.		 The string used to secure the bundle onto the rod, created horizontal lines that seem to resemble barbed wire. In order to enhance the feeling of barbed wire, I drew barbed wire with black ink at the bottom of each "dark" page. I also shaded the Gothic letters, as well as the barbed wire, with graphite pencil.

Creating the book itself presented a challenge, since I had never actually made a book before. Enter DIY instruction of Bookbinding 101 on You Tube. After re-charging my iPhone's battery, I was able to complete my project. I used black paper on both the front and back cover to convey a somber feeling. And, I used twisted black twine to complete this small book - again to resemble barbed wire.

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Week #50
 This work was done by Maria Helena Hoksch in New Orleans this year for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
TROUBLES

This pic of the week “describe” request from Reggie reached me while I was traveling in Egypt. So I try and tie this fact in, even though I had created Troubles several months prior.

While visiting the ancient temples in Luxor, my guide told me how the temples were built from inside towards outside, so the first and oldest part was in the middle, and every next ruler had to go around, further out, to add to the temple complex. No ruler had an idea what the next one would do, add or eliminate. So that is where I found out that I thought like Egyptian, which is of course a joke!

When exhibiting Troubles at IAMPETH this summer, someone asked me - where do you even start a “complicated” piece like this. My answer was: in the middle, with no real idea what I was going to add later, when I had time to come back to it, if ever. All I relied on was my intuition, knowledge of some basic layout rules, and no real care of what was going to turn out, if anything. It was not to be a serious piece. (This really is not what I said, I just mumbled something perhaps much smarter that I cannot recall.)

The first things I did were naturally the large drawn and painted-in Roman caps. I did plan the layout of these a bit, which means I had a really rough draft. A month later I added the foundational hand. Then weeks after that, the delicate leaf design and the faces that appear to be on the background. Some of the leaves I later gilded. 		The last script to add was the lace-like flourished copperplate. I added it with a light touch but with abandon. To complement, not to compete, with other hands.

At the beginning of the year Reggie had stressed to the class: bring to the homework what is unique to you personally. I had always realized - being part of the wider calligraphic society, divided mostly into two somewhat opposing schools - that one of the rather rare qualities I possess, is feeling equally comfortable with pointed OR broad edge pen. Not at all the same for every calligrapher, I had found long ago. Most prefer one OR the other.

Starting the year long class, I set as my personal goal and mission to bring these two different tools (and schools of thought) together as often as possible in the very same pieces of work. To reconcile them in my creations in unexpected ways. I can now say I kept to my goal. I created rather several pieces that way. One of them, rendered on silk, was pic of the week couple months back.

Materials and tools used: pencil, Mitchell nibs, fine brushes, pointed pen, loose leaf moon gold, watercolors, gouache, pastels.

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Week #51
 This work was done by Lisa Devlin in New Orleans this year for the session “Variations on Romans” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
Like many Louisiana image makers, this state is my muse and I’m driven in my own way to portray its culture and tell its stories. Although born and raised in New York City, I’ve lived most of my life in southern Louisiana. Perhaps moving to a different region with its own unique culture has inspired my interest in how our environment shapes our identities.

It occurred to me that the experiences of Cajuns and the local Native Americans are very similar to the Jews in the story of Fiddler on the Roof. Because of coastal erosion brought on by climate change, oil drilling and river levees, many local people have been driven from Louisiana’s southern-most areas. is has threatened their livelihood, their sense of community, their culture and way of life. In other words, their struggle to hold on to tradition is as precarious as a ddler on the roof. Whether driven from the land by cossacks or by coastal erosion, the challenge is the same. However, in my drawing, the ddler has been driven to his roo op by the rising water—much like many New Orleaneans during Hurricane Katrina.

I drew A Cajun Fiddler on the Roof before starting Reggie’s 26 Seeds course. So it was originally drawn without text at the bottom. My process begins with an idea, followed by research and a little sketching. Typically, I develop a composition by creating individual drawings of different elements in graphite and move them about the rectangular background and re ne until I achieve the nal composition. I then lay a large sheet of tracing paper over the collage and trace it with pencil. e tracing is turned into a carbon and transferred to thick illustration board. Although it might seem that the drawing is locked in at this point, there is much opportunity for improvisation. While coloring it with Prismacolor pencils, I see new things emerge in the composition. ere’s a kind of push and pull as some areas are emphasized over others, new shapes evolve through color and texture can be created by erasing and blending.		 The completed artwork was sent to an imaging center where a high resolution scan was made and a le provided in pdf form. A er opening the pdf in Photoshop, I extended the bottom to make room for calligraphy, giving it a torn edge to echo the feel of spanish moss (I think I probably went overboard on blurring the bottom).

The pressurized Roman calligraphy was created with a #2 Mitchell and brause nibs for the serifs. A er hours of practicing how to control the pressure and the pen strokes, I drew the letters on a separate sheet of paper which I had scanned, brought into Photoshop and added a reddish texture taken from the drawing. e attened Photoshop image was returned to the imaging center and an inkjet print was made.

A word about materials: Some people have asked if using Prismacolor pencils on such a large image is time consuming and expensive. I’ve found good prices online. Although I apply heavy layers of pencil, a single pencil covers a lot of space. ey’re high quality and interesting shades can be created by combining different colors. It does, indeed, take some time to cover a lot of ground with such a ne point, but I like the control it gives me and the ability to do ne, detailed work. Heavy layering almost gives the appearance of paint without having to spend time on paint set up and clean up. So if I only have 15 minutes here and there to work on a project that day I can quickly pull out my pencils. It eliminates the expense of paint brushes. And nally, colored pencils are very portable, so I’m not con ned to my studio. While I would like to include other materials such as watercolor and collage in future projects, I think colored pencils will remain a favorite.

I never intended for the original A Cajun Fiddler on the Roof image to contain text. But the addition of calligraphy has added another dimension to story telling which I hope gives it, and future work, a deeper, more meaningful experience.

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Week #52
 This work was done by Patti Adams in New Orleans this year for the session “Variations on Romans ” in 26 Seeds: a Year to Grow. In her own words:
One of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver, has written a wonderful book of exquisite essays: “Upstream”. These lines I share with you are from the chapter entitled "Of Power and Time".

For me, it captures precisely what I feel when struggling with a piece of artwork, be it calligraphy, a drawing, or a painting; that indefinable agitation that can be there as you realize yet again that the laundry is not going to get done, the groceries are not going to buy themselves and all the dust bunnies in the house have now multiplied. And it doesn’t matter. You have done the work. You have gone through the struggle and now you have a visitor in your studio. It is as palpable a feeling for me as having had the idea in the first place. Call it your muse, your angel, the creative spirit...it is there! And I will do anything to keep it there with me. Everything is easier. The hand feels guided. But only after the work has begun in serious earnest. Total commitment.

The piece was done on a piece of 16x20" BFK Rives paper, using gold leaf, acrylics and gouache. I covered the paper with a base of ultramarine blue and then applied 23K patent gold leaf to the entire surface.		  After lightly rubbing the gold leaf with fine dental pumice, I then applied many light glazes of alizarin crimson and indigo blue.

Next came drawing out the angel and deciding where the text would go, planning everything on tracing paper before making a mark on the gilded surface. The angel is by Raphael, drawn from a huge street banner I have hanging in my house from a show on that artist at the The Morgan Library. I created some contour on the angel using molding paste and gesso, building up different planes using a palette knife. The angel was then gilded in 24K gold leaf and tooled in a variety of spots to create texture. (I told Reggie the title of this piece could be "Two Books of Gold Leaf"!)

The pressurized Roman cap variations were done with a Mitchell nib (taking great liberties with the structure of a variety of words!), using naples yellow gouache for the body of the text and Finetec silver for the wrestling with the angel sentence. Finally, I took a deep breath, put diluted naples yellow on a battered old toothbrush and flicked it all over the piece. I like to think the angel was holding my hand the whole time!

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The End:  Happy 2018

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