Spring Floral Flourishes

 

Last night the Westcoast Calligraphy Society put on a marvelous Zoom program taught by Heather Held in Toronto.

Our project piece was an Easter egg but I was also thrilled with my practice sheet (below).  Too bad you can't see the shiny Stickles!

I had such fun, and I'm with Heather when she told us how she found this much easier than lettering.  After a false start with a falcon nib I found a Hunt 56 in my box, which further research today tells me is closer to the Hunt 22 that she was using.  Sometimes I come out of these evenings glad that I tried, but feeling ham-fisted and wondering if calligraphy is for me at all.  It is a rare treat to do so well the first time.  (By no means are these perfect, but for a first time attempt, they aren't too bad.)

I was reminded of a similar session presented by Wendy Cowley in 2014 (pointed pen mandalas) and how pleased I was with my results from that evening as well.  

Midnight Madness

 

I'm still playing around in my journal at midnight.  Last night my toys included a parallel pen, gel pens and watercolours.

Spatters

Walnut Ink on Canvas Paper

You can get some lovely spatters with a folded pen if you use textured paper, press hard, and write fast.  I took a sheet of canvas paper and played around last week, but more practice is definitely required. 

Toto the Toilet

Graphite and Watercolor on Gesso
Calligraphy - Pointed Pen and Walnut Ink

Meet Toto, my new toilet.  I've learned more about toilets in the last week than I care to, but at least I've not been so preoccupied with the pandemic!  We didn't have our pick of toilets - our house is so old that my tub and sink are almond/beige.  It's a little hard to find toilets in that color, apparently. 

And yes, I will draw anything, including mops and toilets.  Whatever I'm thinking about!

Silver Linings

Watercolor on Gesso
Calligraphy - Walnut Ink with Pointed Pen

During these difficult times, I find it useful to look for the silver linings that are found in every cloud.  I belong to an ethnic United Church in my neighbourhood; our English congregation is quite small.  Larger churches are recording their services and broadcasting the videos.  We are small enough to meet on Zoom and the participation and interaction is so much better than just passively watching a video.

"Was I deceived? or did a sable cloud

Turn forth her silver lining on the night?" 

- John Milton, Comus, 1634