Our next meeting will take place on Monday, June 13, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM in the meeting room at the Cold Smoke Coffeehouse just off 19th and Oak.
Our members shared some very interesting creative projects. Rod shared his watercolor landscapes. Donna shared some garden stakes that were a calligraphy/wood-burning collaboration, Diana shared a book she made with the Art Girls in Las Cruces. Gloria shared her art journal.
There was discussion about organizing an art exhibit in town. Diana and Gloria had some ideas about venues. If we can find a venue, we’ll work towards getting enough pieces together for an exhibit about a year from now.
In the coming month, we’ll be working on a sampler of italic variations. The idea is to present a collection of connected quotations or texts on a particular subject, using as many variations of italic as you can come up with. I described the one I had done in 1992, on the subject of chocolate. You can find it attached to this post as a PDF.
If you’re not into straight lines, perhaps you’d prefer to make something more free-form. I’ve made “scribbles” since high school, way before I was a calligrapher. The second page of the pdf shows the latest one I’ve made, titled “Presidential Premonitions”; there is a small image of the work in progress so you can get an idea of how to start out. I usually begin with a few penciled curved guidelines for the first quotations. I begin with the longest quotations, work my way down to the shortest ones, and then fill in the holes with single words. They don’t have to be round. In fact, they can be any shape you wish.
On June 13, we will share our sampler and/or continue our study of the italic hand, changing up various aspects of the hand to get some variations. If you missed the May meeting, no worries. Feel free to jump in this month.
Bring a 2mm pen, ink, and practice paper. I’ll provide fresh guidelines. We’ll leave italic variations that are all 5 pen-widths high and venture further afield.
And don’t forget to bring any interesting projects you’ve been working on. We want to see them!
