Calligraphyz and Circus Banners
This entire past week I've been obsessed with calligraphy and color.
It all started a little over a week ago, when I took a Calligraphyz class with the lovely Sheila Grube (learn more about her class here). I always felt that I had a reasonably OK handwriting, but after her class, WHAT A GAME CHANGER! The whole class was done with a simple Micron pen, NOT a fountain pen.
Sheila gave us an “assignment” for after class, to use the word Gratitude in our work. I started out using it in a few ribbon banners:
I also incorporated the word Gratitude in one my one of the pictures I made based on the Double Ratoon, you can see it there in the corner.
The banners suddenly converted into a Circus theme — I feel that it perfectly describes the times we are living in, something completely surreal.
I wasn't quite happy with them — needed more and more banners, more color and the circus theme took a life of its own, incorporating not only Sheila's Calligraphyz but also tangles that we know and love: Crescent Moon, Mooka, Zenith, Aah and Knase (all Zentangle). Also Footlites (Carole Ohl). NOW I'M HAPPY, I LOVE THIS!
I liked this second batch so much that I'm making this into a lesson for my Art Clubbers on May 29th, 2020, at 10am PDT. I used colored pencils over tan tile, also a red inking pen, white gel pen and blue marker.
As usual, all my online live classes are available for all Art Clubbers. Video recordings are made available for those who cannot participate. Learn more here
This picture was made largely adapted from a fragment of Gothic architecture I found in Richard Glazier’s Manual of Historic Ornament (archive dot org). I combined three primary colors with black ink, and shaded and colored using inktense pencils.