I am extremely humbled at the fact that my
“Pancreas” was “Pic”ed. I am fairly new to
calligraphy (1 and a half year). Roann Mathias, my
first teacher, suggested the year-long class. I
mostly took this class to destress from a busy
lifestyle and found it to be one of the most
rewarding experiences of my life. I thank Reggie
Ezell, my mentor and teacher, for his patience and
guidance and also thank every single classmate that
made this endeavor less intimidating. The “Pancreas”
piece was done as an assignment where we were asked
to submit three short quotes using Carolingian
variations. This piece was a work of love that I
gave to a prominent surgeon in Memphis, Dr. Steve
Behrman, as an expression of gratitude for saving my
mother-in-law’s life. Dr. Behrman is a surgical
oncology professor at the University of Tennessee
and chair of the Surgery Department at Baptist
Memorial Hospital. He heads the Kosten Pancreatic
Cancer Research Endowment Fund. After giving him
this piece, I found out that he is one of 13
examiners in the nation that administers the oral
surgical boards for all surgeons in the U.S. that
are being certified by The American Board of Surgery
(I am so thankful I did not know this fact while
making the piece for I would have been paralyzed by
fear of making a mistake). Dr. Behrman’s primary
area of expertise is pancreatic cancer.
My mother-in-law suffered frequent small bowel
obstructions that engendered unbearable pain
culminating in multiple monthly hospitalizations
over the past year. These obstructions were
misdiagnosed in Nashville as stemming from adhesions
secondary to a previous gynecological surgery. No
one wanted to operate for fear of creating more
“adhesions”. Dr. Behrman, however, agreed to take
her as a patient and operate. Rather than finding
adhesions, Dr. Behrman found a tumor blocking her
small intestine. Fortunately, the tumor was a
carcinoid tumor which is very slow growing and has a
good prognosis. Without Dr. Behrman, she would have
never been diagnosed and properly treated.
The “Pancreas” was done on a 22.5 x 15-inch Arches
Watercolor Hot press paper. The color tones
surrounding the diagram were done with a combination
of Tim Holtz’s Distress Inks (top left corner:
Peeled paint, old paper, and antique linen; bottom
left corner: wilted violet, blueprint sketch, and
hickory smoke; bottom right hand corner: Black soot,
hickory smoke, and antique linen; top right hand
corner: hickory smoke, old paper, and antique
linen). I used Reggie’s technique of placing
removable masking tape to delineate the borders of
the sketch and used Tim Holtz’s mini blending tool
to achieve blending between colors (there are
several fun YouTube videos on different ways to
utilize these inks). Purple is the color for
“pancreatic cancer awareness”. It was important for
me to use the color purple in a corner for this
reason. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading
cause of cancer related deaths in the nation.
Surgical resection for early cancer detection is the
mainstay of treatment and involves a lengthy 7-9
hour operation called a “Whipple” procedure
(pancreaticoduodenectomy) where the gallbladder,
duodenum, part of the jejunum, and head of the
pancreas are removed, after which the remaining
organs reattached. The color green in the shading
represents the biliary system (comprised of the
gallbladder and biliary enzymes produced by the
pancreas) that is removed. |
For several weeks, I
diligently studied Frank Netter’s “Atlas of Human Anatomy” to ensure
proper anatomic drawing and labeling of structures. Frank Netter is a
celebrated medical illustrator who was also a surgeon. After being
satisfied with the look and size of my sketch (10.5” x 8.2”), I traced
it to the Arches paper with the aid of our calligraphy light box. The
diagram shading effects were accomplished by hatching and
cross-hatching using a combination of Staedler Lumograph pencils (H,
B, and F) and different-sized Sakura Micron Pens (thanks to Reggie for
introducing them!) I wanted the pancreas to stand out and thus used a
“Sunburst Yellow” Prismacolor pencil. I shaded the vessels using a red
Pilot Precise V5 pen. I spray fixed (learned thanks to Reggie) the
piece prior to labeling all organs to prevent smudging.
In this piece, I envisioned representing
the past, present, and future of my learning different writing styles.
I labeled the Roman variations in the organs as a continuation of
exercising what I had just learned during the previous classes.
Calligraphy has very little room for error, and I decided to pencil
the letters first and then used a 08 and 01 micron Sakura pen for
lettering and 005 and 01 micron pen for the serifs on the Romans. The
“pancreatic duct” was lettered with a white Uni-Ball Signo pen after
coloring the duct black with a 08 micron pen. I made each letter a
different width and height to give the pancreas an undulating and
three-dimensional appearance. The Italics seen were made with a Pigma
1.0 mm pen and chosen to represent the “future” of my learning
process. Unfortunately, it was quite audacious to use Italics without
first learning them. I am ashamed to say that everything I was NOT
SUPPOSED to do, I did! When the homework was due and Italics
simultaneously being learned, all I could think for two days of
classes was how every single “anatomical” stroke of my letterforms was
wrong. Perhaps I can redeem myself in the future.
Most medical terminology is derived from Latin; thus, my first quote
not only represents one of the oldest languages spoken (700 B.C.) but
follows the tradition of using Latin in Medicine. I used the Roman
Uncial (Middle Ages) style for the first quote. I ground a red Chinese
ink stick (Hukaiwen brand bought on Amazon) and used a 2.5 mm Mitchell
nib for a 6 mm size letterform. Spanish, my native language, is a
“vulgarized Latin” which was developed in the 6th century A.D. I used
the classic Carolignian manuscript learned in Reggie’s class. The
letterform was a 4 mm height and made by grinding a Chinese ink stick
that was given to me. English, the “bastard language” (mixture of
Germanic, Latin, and Romance languages especially French and spoken
around the 10th century A.D.) is represented by the modern/Humanist
variation and was done with Sumi ink and an EF 66 nib. I used a 005
micron Sakura to draw in the serifs.
This has been a particular difficult write up to do as our classmate
and friend, Nancy Bolton Grable, recently passed away with late stage
pancreatic cancer that had been diagnosed just last year. She was a
sweet soul that impacted each of us in a great way. None of our
classmates knew she was ill, and I am amazed that she always had a
smile on her face, a great attitude, and made the five-hour trip from
St. Louis, MO to Memphis. I pray that she did not suffer. We will all
miss her! Godspeed, Nancy! |
