February 2012

Logo designed by Judith Lovell

ewsletter Team

EWSLETTER ISSUE #52, February 2012

Editor Charlotte Whiteley (chaw@shaw.ca) Co- Editors Linda Yaychuk Ria Lewis Photo Editors Jane Taylor Alane Lalonde Proof Readers Denise Rothney, Martha Fraser Regular Contributors Gwyneth Evans, Lorraine Hoy Distribution Muriel Heggie Judy Lowood Covers Front - Ria Lewis Back - Lorraine Douglas Headings - Times New Roman 26pt Printers Copy Cat

Copy deadline for next newsletter submissions is April 15, 2012

Inside this issue: 2

General Guild Information

3

President’s Message, Front Cover Artist & Editor’s Message

4,5

Martin Jackson Workshop

6 6-9

October Program October Galleria

are held on the First Tuesday of each month at Marilyn Lundstrom’s home from 9am to noon All members are welcome!

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1ovember Program 1ovember Galleria

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Christmas Social & Bulletin Board

Membership in the Warmland Calligraphers guild includes three newsletters usually published in February, May and October. Annual membership dues are C$20 for Canadian residents and US $20 for US/ International

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Christmas Card Exchange

19&20

Exposé

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Just for Fun

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Debbie Thompson Wilson - Medieval Flowers and Insects

Warmland Calligraphers of the Cowichan Valley (the Guild) is a non-profit group formed to facilitate the exchange of information between calligraphers, and to promote interest in and appreciation of calligraphy as an art form within the community. Membership is open to calligraphers at all levels of expertise as well as those with a love of beautiful writing.

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Medieval Jewels with Debbie Thompson Wilson

23

Playtime Tips and Tools

24

Jottings From The Library

Contents of this newsletter are copyrighted by the authors/ artists. Requests for permission to reprint any part must be made through the Editor. The views of contributors are not necessarily those of the Editor or of the Guild.

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Our Friends

26 27-29

January Program January Galleria

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Words, Words, Words

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Calligraphers Traveling & Back Cover Artist

Regular monthly meetings are held on the Second Tuesday of each month from 9am to 12:00pm (no meeting in July and August) Island Savings Centre (Exceptions are Dec. and June) 2687 James Street Duncan, BC

Executive Meetings

Members are invited to submit concise pieces for publication as well as to alert the Editor to conferences, papers, speeches and other matters of interest to our readers.

The Editor reserves the right to make editorial changes in material accepted for publication. These include such revisions or additions deemed necessary to ensure correctness of grammar and spelling, clarification of obscurities, brevity and conformity to the newsletter style.

P.O. Box 2, Duncan, B C, V9L 3X1 Canada

http://members.shaw.ca/ warmlandcalligraphers

Note to Members only: A copy of the full newsletter, in colour, is posted on our members only website. Only a partial newsletter is posted on Public site.

This newsletter is produced using Microsoft Office Publisher 2003

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President’s Message I’m amazed at how fast these two years have gone by, and am very much aware that it is due to the organization and hard work of the executive.

A thank you to Janet Peters, Pat Wheatley, Judy Lowood, Denise Rothney, Pat Wheatley, Barbara Qualley, Linda Yaychuk, Muriel Heggie, and Trish Peebles who have kept the minutes up to date, paid bills, booked programs, sent messages, enrolled members and watched over our library.

All our amazing workshops were due to the hard work and worry of Marilyn Boechler and Betty Locke, who coordinated with other groups, kept the finances straight and arranged the care of the instructors.

Joyce Gammie and Marilyn Boechler took over the responsibilities of the Loft Show and sale. This includes writing out a comprehensive outline for future committees

as a guideline. The poster was artfully done

by Pat Wheatley.

The newsletter Team continues to soldier on and we are going to get three issues published this year. Good for you.

Thank you all. Marilyn Lundstrom.

Front Cover by Ria Lewis I came across this quote by William Massey when I was perusing one of the guild’s library books and instantly fell in love with it. The art of writing, expressed in such lovely verse, for me also includes the art of calligraphy.

This resulted in many attempts to create a calligraphic design that would do justice to it.

The front cover is a black and white version of a piece done in rustic colours. The letters used for “The Art of Writing” are based on a typeface designed by Rudolf Koch, the “Wilhelm-Klingspor-Schrift.”

I am sure this will not be the last time I will use this quote in my quest to become a calligrapher. The words express my feelings toward calligraphy perfectly.

Editor’s Message On behalf of myself and the newsletter team, we wish you a very happy new year and trust you are ready to start creating. We hope you are enjoying the newsletter and thank everyone who has contributed by writing articles, taking photographs and sending us suggestions for articles.

Without all of your contributions, this would be a very static newsletter.

Our team has put in many long hard hours of planning, training, chasing down of information, proof reading and compiling for the production of this newsletter. Please give them a pat on the back and your continued support.

We hope some of the changes we are making will make it easier for more people to be involved in reporting and writing. We feel this can only make for a more varied and interesting newsletter. For example, the workshop

reporting will follow a standard format. It is intended to cover a few specific points, some observations, etc. and then is compiled into a Word document. Please consider writing one of these articles when asked.

I know I have introduced most of the newsletter team at the meetings in the past but here we are: Charlotte Whiteley, Linda Yaychuk and Ria Lewis are your publishing group. Send all your articles and article ideas to Charlotte for now. Jane Taylor and Alane Lalonde are our Photo Editors so if you have any interesting photos about workshops or activities, you should send them to these gals. Denise Rothney and Martha Fraser will be the proof readers. Martha will be the person assigning writers for workshops.

She will be the person you will send the finished “Word.docs” to for initial proof reading before they are put into Publisher. Denise and Charlotte are

also trainers for anyone who wants to get involved in the newsletter production. Muriel Heggie and Judy Lowood are our distribution people whose job it is to arrange for printing, collecting, pasting in playtime items, mailing and distributing at the meetings.

Regular contributors are Gwyneth Evans for her “Words” column and Lorraine Hoy for “Play Time.” Also, Linda Yaychuk has been doing “Tool Talk”; we would like to make this something called “Tips and Tools” and ask everyone to send in their suggestions, so if you have a great tip or know of a great tool, please put something together, take a picture or two and send it to Linda.

Look forward to more great newsletters brought to you by this hard-working team.

Charlotte Whiteley

Martin Jackson Workshop: One Man’s Fish is Another Man’s Poisson Submitted by Elizabeth Moss I realize we all attend workshops in the hope that we will increase our skills and be able to create a better piece of calligraphy and Martin’s workshop was full of techniques. But with a teacher of Martin’s experience we also got a perspective on calligraphy that doesn’t fit under the heading of technique.

Martin Jackson

Twelve of us assembled on October 5 and 6 for Martin Jackson’s Fishy Project Workshop- a privileged number considering Martin’s long calligraphic career and well-honed competence. And we thoroughly enjoyed this access to Martin’s huge store of experience and hard-earned solutions. He kept assuring us there wasn’t a calligraphic mistake he hadn’t made at one time or another.

A fishy project

He began by reminding us that it was our demographic that was keeping calligraphy alive at the moment– a unique thought– but were those Irish scribes in their dark cold towers any more aware?

He also reminded us of Steve Jobs’ love of calligraphy and of the huge effect it had on all computer printed matter – another subtle reminder that we all affect one another by our daily choices.

He urged us to hone our skills and to introduce others to the beauty of a fine hand; to write letters and decorate envelopes to remind others what a pleasure it is to receive them. Many of us have grandchildren that may never forget such an introduction! He personally loves receiving letters.

without the ink bleeding as it can with watercolour washes. He never uses acrylic inks for lettering as they do not give as crisp an edge as gouache or sumi inks. The colour washes must be done before the embossing and debossing.

He introduced us to our ‘fish’ by telling us about “Gyotaku” or the Japanese art of fish rubbing. (It is worth googling the word to see what other artists have done with the concept.) He gave each of us a Letterpress print of a rockfish he’d made on 90 lb. cold press paper in a vertical format, fish dead centre. I found it a huge challenge! He also gave us two work prints to experiment on first. Then he described and illustrated with various examples and layouts. He gave us some very good quotes about fish and then it became all about making that first mark on the ‘fish page.’

Using his samples, he illustrated various techniques, beginning with colour washes. He uses acrylic inks as they allow us to write over them

One of Martin’s examples

He showed us various ways of making forms to emboss on: saving any clear, heavy acetate packaging windows, he will cut them up, laying the design one layer on another not forgetting to mark the edge with indelible pen so he can see it. Cardboard is a poor choice for embossing forms as it softens at

the edge over time and you will lose definition. But if you have to use card, run acrylic medium over the edges to preserve them. He also reminded us that embossing is always done on the wrong side of the work as it can leave a ‘shiny’ impression on the paper. In using the ruling pen for beautiful, coloured, fine lines, he reminded us to make sure our ruling design was glued on another layer so the ink couldn’t bleed under it onto our work. To

maintain control of our ruling, or embossing lines, always pull the pen/tool towards you, a little at a time.

Next he demonstrated mixing gouache and writing with it. He digressed to impress us with the necessity of a quality pen holder, urging us to test them in our hand before buying and being prepared to pay $10.00 for a good one – it will pay dividends he insisted. He also showed us how to lay a light grey chalk ‘carbon’ down to letter from – easily removed afterward and an indispensible guide. Removal of a mistake by careful excision was also shown (hmm?). He uses blades from disposable razors for this. To restore texture in this excised area he cuts a small piece of the same paper and working from the wrong side puts it over the area and burnishes it – it will raise the texture on the front.

Then came gilding. Suffice it to say, Martin knows more than my capacity to tell you in a newsletter article. He makes his own Gum Ammoniac from crystals, white lead, fish glue and was it eye of newt? He told us we could leave this mix for two years or more on the area to be gilded, return and breathe on it with our straw and the gold would still adhere! He also puts a bit of cotton wool in said straw to prevent dribbles (this is the Martha Stewart of Calligraphy – that lady that puts a marshmallow in the base of kids’ ice cream cones?); however, you would be grateful you did when you are paying for real gold. Martin also burnishes with a hematite tool as it

doesn’t generate the heat an agate can, working of course over glassine and working from the edges towards the centre. However he did say: “When using transfer gold use glassine, but for loose leaf old, burnish directly on the gold,” and always burnish on a hard surface.

Liz Moss discussing her project with Martin (it has been commented upon as to who has the funkier shoes!)

If you have actually read this far, I will try to reward your persistence by passing on the pithiest nugget a gilding instructor has ever imparted to me – I failed to complete my piece in class time because I wasn’t yet pleased with my concept and Martin, reassuring me that I would finish it at home and not to hurry for no good reason, said, “We don’t gild guano.”

Amen and thank you Martin!

An attentive audience

October Program with Lorraine Douglas Submitted by Linda Yaychuk We were pleased to have Lorraine Douglas as our program presenter at our October meeting. She introduced us to a hand created by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959). Wright was a well known graphic designer and architect who developed his own calligraphic hand. Fonts based on this hand are called Eagle Feather, Terracotta and Exhibition.

This hand is one of Lorraine's favourites as it lends itself to a wide variety of uses and tools and is easily adapted to accommodate spacing. The form of the letters can be varied. The words can also be varied by expanding letters, joining them, shrinking them and placing decorations such as dots between them. In other words, if you're looking for an alphabet that you can fool around and have fun with, this is it.

And have fun we did as we each decorated the front of an envelope using this hand. We were amazed at the individualized creations.

Lorraine demonstrates how to hold the pencil.

Thanks Lorraine. This was not only a super learning experience but an enjoyable one as well.

October Galleria Submitted by Denise Rothney and Jane Taylor Topic: This month’s galleria challenged us to use our own quote to do a piece using two hands, one in the foreground, the other in the background. Betty Locke critiqued the lovely pieces displayed on these pages.

Marion Craig used a 1euland hand to do a gospel song. Every line has the word “hand” in it. Betty thought Marion’s piece had a wonderful feeling of rhythm and she loved the different shades of colour. She suggested that Marion try to meld the words and colours together for a stronger effect. This piece took Marion 28 hours to produce!

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Judy Lowood has used a denta-stick to create her piece using Rotunda and Italic hands.

Betty commented on the nice colours and contrast of walnut ink. Judy talked about making a mistake in her piece and Betty discussed ways of fixing it including using a razor blade, wetting and blotting it and scrubbing gently with a brush.

Judith Lovell used three hands in this piece: Romans, vertical Italic and Copperplate. Betty liked the complementary colours she has used and the way the eye is drawn down to the message. Judith used a brush and waited for the paint to dry between applications. She covered it in hairspray before she wrote on it.

Betty loved Ida Marie Threadkell’s gentle piece, but wanted it not so gentle! She suggested more strength to the lettering. Ida Marie said she had difficulty using a copperplate pen on rough-surfaced paper. She had to iron the finished piece.

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Leslie Healy’s piece is a song done in Cursive and Uncial hands, with a beautiful background in brushwork. Betty suggested she do a final repeat line to pull the piece down a bit. Leslie would have liked the words “Learning to forgive” larger.

Anne Atkinson emailed us this lovely piece with a quote about fish.

The background is a list of various types of fish.

Trudy Kungold Aamann used 1euland and Copperplate hands in her piece. Betty loved the way the fish overlapped the cutout letters and embossing. The background of Trudy’s piece is full of information about fish done in walnut ink.

Betty Locke first thought of doing her piece in Blackletter but told us it “morphed into something else”! She did the Roman letters on top of the piece with a brush, but was not happy with the size. She felt it should have had smaller Romans.

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Betty was exuberant about Lorraine Douglas’ lettering which was her own variation on many hands. Lorraine told us this was a demo piece in Winnipeg showing “denting” in paper. She varied the weight of her letters, not making every letter the same way and added some very exciting cutouts. Lorraine said she tried a spray bottle of purple and liked the results. So did we!

Shirley Johnson used a postage stamp from Westminster Cathedral in her piece and matched her gouache to go with it. The picture is a gift to her brother-in-law, as Amazing Grace is his favorite song. Betty loved the texture and shading of grays and how the gouache lettering shades from strong to soft .

Linda Yaychuk has used Half Uncial and Italic hands for her piece. She loved the idea of using a textured background. Her piece grows more autumn-like as we move to the left. Betty liked the repetition of the pattern and the wonderful textured area. She suggested Linda use a smaller pen size for the quote and perhaps position it in the upper register of the page.

Pat Wheatley has given us the story of Sequoia, the 1ative Indian who struggled to create a written language for his people. Betty commented on the nice feeling of depth Pat has created. She suggested deeper shades of greens would add more contrast to the picture. Connie Furgason wanted Pat’s diagonal lines to be less straight.

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ovember Program with Trudy Kungold Submitted by Lucy Hylkema Trudy did a truly fabulous and informative program at the November meeting on 9 different watercolour techniques for backgrounds. She also sprinkled handy hints throughout her presentation. Her “take home” message was - do not throw anything out!

And she stressed the idea that we should have fun and play with these techniques. To quote her, “You are mucking about….it is only paper…this is not something to be afraid of….”

-words of wisdom that could be used in many situations.

cleaner bottles are ideal). If the paper gets too wet (puddles or unabsorbed water), use a paper towel to blot off the extra water. What you are aiming for is a damp, not sopping wet, piece of paper. For a darker background you would put the watercolour onto a dry piece of paper.

Trudy makes a "puddle" of watercolour to dip her brush in. She wets her brush and then squeezes it out before putting it in the puddle. You can also dry a brush by stroking it on an almost empty paper towel roll. The puddle is made by adding water to the dry watercolour palette so that it reconstitutes.

Trudy uses a large (1 litre) water container to keep her brushes clean between techniques. She also likes reusable (washable) blue workshop towels that she uses interchangeably with paper towels. They are available at most hardware stores.

The second set of techniques are usually done on dry watercolour paper, but you can try them on wet paper to experiment with different effects (remember to label you experiments so that you can reproduce them!).

Splatter & sponge

ot A Wash Techniques 7) brushes 8) sponges 9) toothbrush 10)stim-u-dent sticks 11)tissue paper (the kind you wrap presents with, NOT the blowing your nose kind)

Trudy demonstrating colour washes

She mentioned ATC, Artists Trading Cards, which are a standard 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches, and are a good way to repurpose “mistakes,” or to store samples of techniques and colour combinations. You can get plastic display sheets (much like slip-in photo album sheets) at comic or dollar stores The nine techniques are split into two groups.

The first 6 techniques are different ways to do a “wash.” You create a wash by dampening your paper with water and then loading your brush with watercolour and painting it onto your wet paper. You can wet the paper with a large soft brush; Trudy uses a watercolour mop," or she will spritz the paper with water (old eyeglass

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Effects of saran wrap

Crumpled paper

Wash Techniques 1) crumpled paper 2) paper towel or Kleenex ( NOT toilet paper ) 3) saran wrap 4) lines in wet wash (blunt tools or brush) 5) dropping colour into colour 6) sprinkles of salt or rice

Different effects created in class

Thank you again Trudy for a most enjoyable program and sharing your expertise.

ovember Galleria Submitted by Pat Wheatley and Alane Lalonde Topic: a piece in which a simple stencil of your own making must be used in both a positive and negative way to accompany a quotation. The critique was done by Judith Lovell.

Lenore Le May created a negative for her shapes by spray-painting a darker colour over a lighter one. She used actual maple leaves for her stencils. Judith thought it was a very successful piece– Jack Layton would have been proud!

Marilyn Boechler achieved a lovely negative in her work by using the texture of her paper. She has created an eye-catching negative leaf that is very effective.

Judy Lowood used a lovely combination of colours and beautiful letter shapes.

Judith suggested she vary the angles of the fish. Judy thought using a wavy text would have enhanced the piece.

Gwyneth Evans used a lovely Bookhand and filled her background with beautiful shapes. Judith suggested that if she tried it again, she could explore the use of positive and negative shapes.

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Judith liked Joyce Gammie’s lettering choice and thought her design worked well. She also thought her use of colour was good. She suggested Joyce might “loosen up” her text next time.

Judith liked Pat Wheatley’s good use of colour with nice positive and negative shapes of the sea. Pat was concerned with the “messy bit” at the bottom of the page, but we liked her beautiful script and verse.

Judith thought Marion Craig had a wonderful story and good positive and negative work. Judith suggested she might vary the line size and length to bring the text more into the illustration. Marion intends to redo this piece at a later date using suggestions from Judith and the guild.

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Anne Atkinson sent her picture by email and so missed the critique, but it is always fun to see what she produces!

Betty Locke’s beautiful piece was a tribute to Steve Jobs– he would have been proud of his quote! Judith commented on the nice use of a backward “S” for the negative.

Shirley Johnson used some interesting shading to produce a very nice piece.

Judith thought her use of positives and negatives worked well. Although Shirley was critical of her lettering, Judith thought it effective.

Photo Editor’s note: Thank you Denise for all of your help with the galleria write-ups.

Judith liked the nice balance and good use of positive and negative shapes in this piece

by Ria Lewis. Ria said she chose Uncial script because it was appropriate with the balloon shapes, and Judith felt her text was well reflected by the background.

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Bulletin Board Submitted by Charlotte Whiteley Upcoming Warmland Workshops: Barbara Close will be doing two workshops– Textured Letters and Mono-line Magic Lettering taking place at the Cowichan Exhibition Grounds on February 28, 29 and March 1. Submission of application is to be postmarked no earlier than January 25, 2012.

Other workshops will be announced, posted on the web and emailed.

Activities: Make sure you get to the Loft to enjoy the exhibit.

Gallerias: February: A piece using the following quote: “Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.” by Plato. As there are 3 ‘thoughts’ to this quote, you could use all or part of this quotation.

March: A piece which includes three quotes all on the same theme presented in a suitably designed format.

April: A piece done in a circular format May: A piece which expresses an old-fashioned idea and is done in tones of sepia or brown to try to emulate the quality of elderliness.

Meeting programs not to miss: All of them!

Poster by Pat Wheatley

Christmas Social submitted by Alane Lalonde Christmas evokes a time of peace, family and friends sharing. Our Christmas potluck this year did not disappoint. It gave us time to mingle and get to know one another, offering cheer and good will outside of our monthly meetings. A time to reflect on how fortunate we are to have such a wonderful membership made up of so many talented people from all walks of life.

Everyone’s homemade cards were strung up for all to enjoy, each one an original. A basket of cards was left at the door for each of us that did the card exchange to take home a surprise, to be opened later. The food was incredible. Several tasty dishes prompted requests to share the recipes, which have been put on our website.

A very grateful thank you goes to Barb for her hospitality in opening up her home to us, decorated so beautifully with warmth and love.

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Brigitte French

Christmas Card Exchange by Jane Taylor and Alane Lalonde

Linda Yaychuk

Sharon Emerson

Betty Locke

Ida Marie Threadkell

Gwyneth Evans

Marilyn Boechler

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Anne Atkinson

Hans van der Werff

Anne Atkinso

Leslie Healy

Bernice Sutton Denise Rothney

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Janet Peters

Alane Lalonde

on

Judy Lowood Pat Wheatley

Charlotte Whiteley

Liz Moss

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Trudy Kungold Ammann

Gillian Mouat

Trish Peebles

Shirley Johnson

June Maffin

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Marion Craig

Exposé

Submitted by Ria Lewis of Neil’s did the officiating. Lorraine did not know it then, but she already was a budding calligrapher as she wrote out all of her wedding invitations by hand.

Lorraine Douglas, née Queau, was born in Winnipeg in 1949. She grew up with an older brother, Bryan, who still resides in Manitoba with his wife, Careen.

After spending her formative years in Winnipeg, Lorraine moved to Edmonton in 1974 where she attended the University of Alberta School of Library Science. After completing her studies there, she moved back to Winnipeg. Lorraine’s post-secondary achievements include a Certificate of Education from the University of Manitoba, a Bachelor of Library Science from the University of Alberta and a Certificate in Visual Arts from the Vancouver Island School of Art. Something most people don’t know about Lorraine is that in the 70s she lived in a kibbutz in Israel for three months. The kibbutz was situated on the Sharon Plain on the Green Line, on land which previously had been Arab territory. At Christmas time that year, Lorraine went to Jerusalem and Bethlehem with another volunteer from the kibbutz. They met a Lebanese man in the old city who enjoyed showing them some of the secrets of this jewel of a city. He took them to the top of the old walls where they walked around and over the gates. There they could see the whole city of Jerusalem in front of them and the hills beyond, all of which left a memorable impression on Lorraine.

In 1975, Lorraine met Neil Douglas at a Winnipeg Jets hockey game. They were married in September 1976. It was a small, home wedding where a friend

Lorraine’s career path led her to the Winnipeg Public Library where she worked in various branches, but particularly enjoyed being a children’s librarian at the Centennial Library in downtown Winnipeg. It was, in her own words, “the perfect job.” Her time was filled with puppet shows and story times along with recommending and writing about children’s books.

Lorraine loved this job because it was so much fun and very rewarding. The children would love the books she had shared with them and, even as adults, would remember how much they enjoyed story time at the library.

Lorraine worked for a total of 30 years as a librarian. Her last position was a Coordinator of Youth Services where she was in charge of programming and materials selection for children and teens.

tour promoting handwriting instruction in schools. She signed up for the weekend course where she was instructed in Versals, Italic, Foundational and Gothic, no less. At the end of the weekend, people’s names were taken and asked if they were interested in forming a guild. Thus the Calligrapher’s Guild was founded. Lorraine was an active member who taught calligraphy for the guild and the Winnipeg Art Gallery Studio Programs. The Art Gallery hosted many of the guild’s meetings. Since moving to the Island, Lorraine has returned several times to CGM to teach.

Lorraine’s uncial work

Lorraine’s interest in calligraphy goes back to her time in Manitoba where she was a founding member of the Calligrapher’s Guild of Manitoba. She had taken four calligraphy courses at the YWCA where she started off with one fountain pen and a pad of paper.

Little did she realize that she would end up with a room full of art supplies, tons of different papers, rulers, books, inks and so forth.

Lovely uncials

In the late 80s, Lorraine saw an ad in the paper for a calligraphy workshop with Scottish calligrapher, Tom Gourdie. Tom was on a crosscountry

In 2005, Lorraine and her husband Neil moved to Vancouver Island.

Neil is an avid photographer and enjoys both digital and traditional photography. He is a member of the Crossgrain Photographic Society in Victoria. Both Lorraine and Neil have taken several photography courses.

They took two courses together at the Luz Gallery. Lorraine and Neil are looking forward to taking a three-day Miksang photography class this spring. Miksang is the art of contemplative photography in which you allow the subject to reveal itself.

Lorraine is a member of the West Coast, Bow Valley, Fairbank and Warmland Calligraphers’ guilds. She enjoys teaching and coming to the meetings in the Cowichan Valley. She particularly enjoyed experiencing Island Magic. Lorraine felt lucky to have been in Yves Leterme’s class for the entire week working on Gestural Writing and Built Up Capitals. She discovered that she loved the built-up caps with pencil because it was like

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Lorraine has been involved with print making since she first took etching in Winnipeg in 1987. She has taken a course in relief printing and several workshops at Ground Zero Printmakers in Victoria. This spring Lorraine and Susan will be working with the Luz Gallery to offer print making classes for children. The Gallery is planning two weeks of art and photography classes for children and teens, something Lorraine and her partner are very excited about.

drawing. She loves taking classes for the inspiration and how it affects her art. She has done pencil lettering in several of her pieces since then.

Calligraphy is not the only art form that keeps Lorraine busy these days.

Together with her partner, Susan Underwood, she has a printmaking studio. They own a full size Takach etching press and they enjoy water soluble printing and etching. They have had a studio in the Old Burnside School for just over a year.

The creation of one of a kind books is another passion. One example is making boxes to house created books.

Lorraine has taught clamshell box workshops for CBBAG (Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild) of which she is a member. She looks after the email announcements for this group for anyone who is interested in book arts.

Other hobbies she enjoys are swimming, yoga, aquafit, cycling and particularly reading. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry is her favourite book because of the author’s message – that life is a fine balance – so poignantly told through his sympathetic portrayal of the characters. She also loves the writing of the poet Pablo Neruda whose writing is visual, metaphorical and romantic.

The richness of Lorraine’s life reveals itself through the accounts of her experiences and activities. Many people, myself included, have had the pleasure of attending one or more of her classes and being the beneficiaries of her generosity.

Thank you for sharing a bit of yourself with us, Lorraine.

Good Example of a Brain Study.

Why Character Spacing is Important 7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 7O PR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5!

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P47 YOUR53LF ON 7H3 BACK IF U C4N R34D 7H15.

Did you figure it out?

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African Elephant

We who have taught, or love children that have been taught, know this is funny!

From the diary of a Pre-School Teacher: My five-year-old students are learning to read.

Yesterday one of them pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said, “Look at this! It's a frickin' elephant!”

I took a deep breath, and then asked..."What did you call it?"

“It's a frickin' elephant! It says so on the picture!”

And so it does...

Debbie Thompson Wilson Workshop Medieval Flowers and Insects Submitted by Linda Yaychuk yellow arsenic sulfide. (I suspect many scribes did not have a lengthy life under those circumstances.)

Later as the various classes became wealthier, patrons provided scribes with gold coins which were hammered down into fine gold leaf to be used in books for the church and private homes.

Debbie shows the class some of the pictures she uses from medieval illuminations.

Many of our workshop leaders are professionals known throughout Canada and the United States. Our own Betty Locke is one of them. How lucky we are to be able to take advantage of their skills and learn new methods and techniques.

Debbie Thompson Wilson has been self-employed since 1992 as a calligrapher, cartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer and artist. She started painting miniatures in the medieval style around 1999 and since 2003 has taught illumination and gilding throughout Ontario and on Vancouver Island. Debbie will be spending 2012 as the Folk-Artist-in-Residence at the historic site of Joseph Schneider Haus in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.

During this time as painter/limner she will give two exhibitions, a lecture series as well as workshops and demos.

Medieval illumination was the art of decorating books with colour and gold. The earliest books were intended for religious use and later, as with The Book of Hours, for private devotion.

The Book of Kells and The Lindisfarne Gospels are two fine examples of sixth and seventh century illuminated books.

The books were illustrated with flowers, insects, animals and humans.

Not only were they used for decoration but also contributed to the information within the text. In the earlier works gold was scarce and so the scribes used a yellow pigment called orpiment which was made from

The history of illumination is a fascinating story full of facts too numerous to go into in this article. Suffice it to say, it is worth taking a peek into the books in our library.

Our days with Debbie Thompson Wilson were filled with historical facts, humorous anecdotes and tidbits of techniques.

outlined the characters with pigma pen.

Our second illustration was gilded with twenty-four carat gold leaf. We brushed the area to be gilded with a fixative, allowed it to dry and then carefully applied the gold leaf. It was then burnished and the edges tidied up with a knife. The watercolour was applied last since gold leaf sticks to almost everything including paint.

As mentioned earlier, Debbie was a fount of information and tips such as using a ruling pen loaded with fixative to create a straight line when gold leafing and which colours are best to mix with reds, blues etc. to darken them.

Any concerns with our work were eliminated as Debbie showed us how a flick of the brush or a dab here and there could turn our projects into masterpieces.

The two days passed quickly due to the enjoyment we experienced and the inspiration we received from Debbie.

I'm sure we all felt pride in our achievements and went home eager to apply these new techniques to other projects.

We chose some pieces to do from a selection of illustrations of flowers and insects. These were transferred onto good hot press paper.

On our first piece we used gold gouache rather than gold leaf.

Debbie's favourite is Talens Deep Gold Gouache #803. The areas coloured in gold were first painted with a yellow ochre wash to help the gold paint adhere. Medieval illuminators loved to use red, blue and green so these were the colours of choice.

Debbie showed us how to establish light sources in order to create shadows. This was done by mixing the colours with brown or grey.

Once the painting was done we

Leslie Healy puts finishing touches to her miniature.

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Medieval Jewels - a “line fillers” workshop with Debbie Thompson Wilson Submitted by Shirley Johnson

Strange dragons, golden-scaled fish, hybrid oddities and a wealth of intricate floral and geometric designs are all to be found in abundance in gothic manuscripts. From the Carolingian era to the 1500s, scribes disliked blank space on manuscripts, so, much to our joy, the style was to fill in and decorate all empty spaces.

With left margins invariably justified, the blank space was usually on the right. However, sometimes creatures and vines and bugs were known to delight the eye by creeping down the “gutters” of text lettered in two columns, and to twine their way into and around various illustrations.

We learned that the Luttrell Psalter, a fourteenth century British manuscript completed on the eve of the Black Death, contains some of the finest examples of line fillers and illustrations. Housed at the British Library, a miniature sampler from their “Treasures in Focus” series can be ordered through bookstores or The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, England NW1 2DB. (I have one, a gift from a dear friend, and treasure it!)

The colours used in line fillers were jewel tones of reds, blues and greens and of course, real gold.

Debbie reminded us that gold leaf sticks to anything! While Rolko gold size is very reliable, gold leaf will adhere, for example, to PVA white glue which has been watered down a little.

This example shows a work in progress and one that is complete.

Trish Peebles concentrates on the small details.

Liz Moss and Marilyn Silver

Debbie explained that the scribe doing the lettering was a specialist, who passed his lettered page on to the illustrator. The illustrator in turn passed his completed page on to the specialist in line filling. One result of this assembly line was that the art in the line filler bore no relation to the content of the text. Perspective and scale meant nothing– a ladybug and a lady might be the same size.

Decoration and delight were all.

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Remembering that the line filler artists were decorating pages that had already been lettered, we are well advised to do our lettering first. Using tracing paper, transfer your design on to 140 lb. hot pressed paper. Paint the gold size on to areas that you want to gild. Wait five minutes or more, until the size looks shiny but not wet, and gently apply a little strip of gold. Press with your thumb. Gently burnish. Use a fluffy dry brush to brush off the

excess gold, brushing toward the gilded area. Block in colour areas with a light watercolour wash. Build up layers of colour, brushing in a different direction with each layer. Fill in details in darker pigment and highlights in white gouache. Use a sepia fine line marker (black may be too harsh) to clean up outlines and define areas, keeping in mind a stained-glass window effect.

Samples of line fillers

The day flew by, thanks to Debbie’s terrific pacing—theory introduced just as we needed it—and I believe we were all completely thrilled with our miniature masterpieces. This was a tremendously satisfying workshop!

Play Time Submitted by Lorraine Hoy 2.

Origami can be amazingly and beautifully complicated, but not this piece of origami. We would like you to try it and hope that you find the whole process fun. It’s about seven folds. I have added two tiny folds not included in the instructions, just to make the heart more rounded...simply turn back (just a little) the two pointed outer edges. Check the sample to see what I mean. “Hearts” are versatile, used for Valentines, thank you notes, get better or any happy message...enjoy and give it a try.

3.

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Instructions Things you'll need: paper, scissors and a flat work surface.

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1.

Origami Hearts

Tips and Tools

Fold a square of paper in half diagonally to make a large triangle. If you are using origami paper that is colored on one side, fold the paper with the colored part on the outside and the white on the inside.

8.

Unfold the paper and cut along the center fold line to make two triangles. You can make an origami heart from each triangle.

Fold one triangle in half.

Crease the fold well, then unfold the triangle.

Place the triangle on your work surface with the long edge facing toward you.

Fold the top point of the triangle down, about 2/3 of the way across the triangle.

Fold each of the side points of the triangle upward, so that the edges of the folds line up with the center line of the triangle. The paper should now look like a diamond with a slit down the middle.

Turn the paper over. Fold each of the two top points down and to the side, so the edge of the fold lines up with the top of the back paper.

Make a second heart from the other triangle of paper, if desired.

Submitted by Linda Yaychuk

Debbie Thompson Wilson introduced us to the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and the ways it can correct mistakes. By breaking off a piece of the sponge, moistening it slightly and dabbing lightly on ink or watercolours, you can remove errors. They can be found in the cleaning aisle of Safeway at $4.59 for a package of two.

Titanium scissors are a wonder.

Nothing will stick to them including two-sided sponge tape. They can be purchased at Staples for $9.92 or $12.92 depending on the size.

Fiskars has put out a new Exacto knife. It fits on your finger. I found that it has the same maneuverability as a regular Exacto knife. This small and capped knife is easier to store.

Editor’s note: Reports regarding the safety of magic erasers can be found by visiting the Snopes website.

Reports of dangerous chemical burns are unfounded. Read the warnings and decide for yourself.

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Jottings from the Library Submitted By Janet Peters Congratulations to both.

There is also an article on a collaborative exhibition of works by Miles Lowry and Georgia.

One marvellous aspect of being librarian is the opportunity to review newsletters, books, and other sources of information and not having to wait to borrow. I do so enjoy researching “this and that,” and during my term I have attempted to infuse different formats (i.e. DVDs) and more contemporary styles of calligraphic work into our library. As you know, we have Yves Leterme’s recent publication, as well as Pat Williams’ The Art of Life - Pamela Barlow Brooks 1943 - 2008. On order is Gillian Hazeldine’s recently published Contemporary Calligraphy.

Here is her link: www.gillianhazeldine.co.uk I will be stepping down from this position in March (perhaps a good thing) because the next item surely would be the purchase of a larger book cart to house all that I would like to order as well as recent donations by Barbara Qualley, Betty Locke, June Maffin (see below), and Laura Feduk.

Royal City Calligraphy Guild, Fall 2011 issue, contains an interesting article by Debbie Thompson Wilson on “True Confessions of Calligraphy in Public.” Also of interest was a collage using Japanese Chiyogami Papers pasted onto a black background.

The artist had used a white gel pen to delineate borders in and unstructured manner between the lovely papers.

Lovely idea for card making. Heather Held enjoys Diane Townsend Pastels for embellishing calligraphic artwork as they do not contain chalk or fillers and are close to being pure pigment.

There is a link in this issue to www.goldenpaints.com/just paint/ Check the link if you are into paints truly amazing!

Every time I read the BVCG’s newsletters I am mesmerized by those talented members, and the latest newsletter is no exception. Superb ideas and artwork. I am considering joining BVCG so that I can have my very own collection.

Issue 164 of the Fairbank Calligraphy Society features works

by Georgia Angelopoulos and Lorraine Douglas to be included in the 2012 Letter Arts Review Annual!

I believe you know of my love for IAMPETH. Here is a link from their website (www.iampeth.com/links.php) listing countless sites. Check out Heather Held’s blog!

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And let us not forget our own June Maffin who formed the Yahoo group called CBCO (Calligraphers of BC Online) and also the Facebook group “Cyberscribes,” where you will find endless posts by artists, calligraphers, and guilds. June has kindly donated a signed copy of Soulistry-Artistry of the Soul. This wonderful book is a great resource for calligraphers, and the Soul-Questions that accompany the quotations are a great source for anyone wanting to deepen their journey through life.

Illuminations, Edmonton Calligraphic Society, Fall 2011 issue, celebrates their 25th Anniversary. Informative article on their Back to Basics workshop, covering texture, lines, letters, watercolours and ingenuity.

Also included is artwork from Exhibition of the Society.

Several issues of Capital Letters from The Calligraphy Society of Ottawa have been passed on to me via Trisha Klus, a former member of Warmland. Unfortunately, I do not remember from which issue I noted these panograms, appropriate for any calligrapher: (1) Calligraphers see fine words as exquisitely moving, subtle thicks & thins, zigzags and joins.

(2) An inspired calligrapher can create pages of beauty using stick ink, quill, brush, pick-axe, buzz saw, or even strawberry jam.

ewsletters

Another favourite site of mine is www.strathmoreartist.com — especially their free online classes.

Oh, if only there were 48 hours in a day to allow for this travelling through cyberspace and the brain power to absorb it!

Practise Practise Practise 11” x 17” practice pads are available for only $8.00 At the Guild Library

Editor’s note Janet Peters advised us of the following Errata in Issue #51 Names incorrectly spelled were Kathy Milici and Yves Leterme. Apologies to both.

Our Friends Jointly submitted by Linda Yaychuk and Anne Atkinson

Guild member Trudy Kungold Ammann was part of a three-person art show held at Portals from November 30 until December 10, 2011.

Her works were framed and unframed pieces of cast paper with calligraphy.

This was the largest presentation of her work (twenty-seven pieces) in a gallery setting. Trudy and her fellow artists received many positive remarks and she especially appreciated the support of the members of the Warmland Calligraphers. She found it to be a wonderful experience. You can visit Trudy at her workshop The Hen House in Lake Cowichan.

Another Great Workshop at Elder College with Betty Locke Thank you to Anne Atkinson for this article.

Betty Locke continues to be a leading advocate/champion of all things calligraphic. Last fall she taught a Foundational class to a full house at Elder College. Most of the students were Guild members plus a few from the community. Betty’s classes are always fun with a lot of other stuff thrown into the mix. Betty explained that there are many names for the Foundational alphabet: Bookhand,

Humanist, Roman Minuscule. It is a round hand with a width of an “o” between words; pen angle is 30 degrees.

Edward Johnston chose this alphabet as his life’s work as a calligrapher. He is considered the father of modern calligraphy.

As always, Betty provided handouts at each class, explaining the different width groups, spacing, “B” nib Capers, pen twisting, and holding the pen at 90 to 0 degrees. Some flourishing was introduced and of course, tons of homework assignments.

Betty is a great teacher and is always inspiring her students to do better in their calligraphic journey.

Warmland Calligraphers of the Cowichan Valley welcome new members to the guild.

Mike Lourim from Salt Spring Island

Editor’s note: We don’t always report on Elder College activities but Betty is so generous with her time and devotion to the community. We are so fortunate to have a renowned artist/teacher/instructor giving classes at Elder College at the Island Savings Centre..

Manuel Erickson from Mill Bay and Laurel Blandin from Duncan Betty reviews homework assignments of the students.

Websites of interest: http://lateralaction.com/articles/creative-block-fear-of-getting-it-wrong/ This article is light and interesting. It tells you that mistakes often lead to great results.

Joan Merrell shares: For those who keep asking about information on papercasting, who have sent messages about wanting to come to papercasting workshops at conferences but couldn't, who can't get their guilds interested, who attended workshops but want a refresher, etc. etc. - here's the first in a series of lessons step-by-step. It might take quite a while, but eventually everything will be there! http://blog.letterdesignstudio.com/?p=77 if that doesn't work go to www.LetterDesignStudio.com and to the blog

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January Program– PPP of the IAMPETH Conference by Janet Peters Submitted by Lucy Hylkema Janet Peters made a power point presentation on the 62nd Annual IAMPETH Conference for our January program. After attending the conference this past summer, she wrote an article in the last Newsletter (# 51, November 2011) about her experience. To say that she is enthusiastic about this conference is an understatement; she is already making plans to go to the Milwaukee IAMPETH Conference (August 6 - 11, 2012), and is hoping that the 2014 one will be close to Seattle (this woman believes in planning ahead). The 2013 conference will be in Albuquerque.

Pointed Pen drawing of Hummingbirds by Jake Weidmann.

were very willing to help. When I spoke to her about this short article, we decided that I should focus on the www.IAMPETH.com website, and encourage people to visit it and become members. There was an email from Janet on November 5, 2011 to all the members about this.

Membership is $35 ($25 for people over 65 years old) and goes from July 1 to June 30. It entitles you to register at the conference. There were only about 220 calligraphers at the last conference, which adds to the “family” feel, but does mean that you need to register on time.

Master Penman Certificate and frame created

by Jake Weidmann (age twenty-five)

Working at a station in the Round Robin of Heather Held’s class

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I wish that I could do a better job of expressing Janet’s excitement about this conference and calligraphy style.

She was thrilled to be able to talk to

The conference is only open to members but the website is open to anyone, and has an incredible amount of information.

This website has many links to instructional videos and downloadable PDF files, and it is full of beautiful work to look at. The membership fee does give you access to a membersonly site (much like our Warmland web page) and the quarterly Penman’s Journal.

IAMPETH stands for International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting.

The name seems a little intimidating, but Janet says that the group at the conference had some of the most welcoming and generous people that she has met. There is something for all calligraphy levels, and she found that the more experienced calligraphers

This picture shows work by Barbara Close using embossing as well as ink sketches. Barbara will be one of our guest instructors in February and March.

they are all free. Janet says Joe Vitolo is incredibly supportive and enthusiastic, and this attitude seems prevalent in all the instructors she met at the conference (and there were a lot).

There is another website, www.zanerian.com, run by Dr. Joseph Vitolo, which is also highly recommended by Janet. (The IAMPETH site has links to this.) There is a treasure trove of instructional videos, exemplars, and guidelines, and

our group about her experience, and her photographs of the conference added to our understanding of all the different pointed pen styles that fall under “Penmanship.” I found it interesting that Contemporary Pointed Pen was also taught alongside Spencerian Ladies’ Hand.

The fact that the newest Master Penman is a young man of 25 years makes me realize that the IAMPETH group is probably as open and welcoming as Janet says. Her presentation has definitely got me thinking about 2014 too!

January Galleria

Submitted by Jane Taylor and Alane Lalonde

Our challenge in this galleria was to create a piece not lettered on paper. Members shared their stories on how their pieces were created. There was no critique of their work. We just enjoyed the wide variety of creativity we are so fortunate to have in our guild.

IdaMarie Threadkell - These lovely covers are for a commemorative 90th birthday book for Becky. She used silk fusion which is overlapped like shingles. The front was then embellished with silk ribbon, fresh-water pearls and lace.

Betty Locke loved the markings on this gourd and wanted to be sure to maintain the integrity of it. She sanded her gourd in preparation for the writing but found writing on it was not easy. She put a very thin coat of gesso on it to create the writing surface and used walnut ink..

Susan Miller completed her project using material left over from the Lisa Engelbrecht workshop. She used FW red ink and green acrylic paint. It was a revelation to her when the mixing of colours created brown. She used a sponge brush to create the block letters. She found the fabric held the paint well.

Otter was Jim Wisnia’s name while working at an outdoor camp. The artwork was taken from a novel ‘Ring of Bright Water’. He would make the ‘t’ differently now. The original piece was his camp name tag.

Marion Craig’s piece is comprised of two different quotes. The first relates to inches and yards, thus the use of the wooden rulers. The second quote, which she found on Amazon, is about ‘wall quotes’. She used-stick on letters for both. While she did the planning and layout the day before, she completed the actual piece in less than 3 hours; the fastest piece she has ever done.

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Shirley Johnson’s first piece was done on vellum. It can be read from both sides and each has a different quote. She used various collage papers to create her picture including some from a workshop with Lorraine Douglas. She enjoyed seeing the different effect created on the other side as she glued the pieces on. Shirley’s other two pieces were done on wooden blocks using some of the same papers as in her first piece. After completing this she felt she didn’t want to put a quote on them; there wasn’t really room.

Linda Yaychuk’s idea for this project came to her at about 2:00 am. She printed copies of pictures of her dogs and ironed them onto the fabric. The quote was done with permanent marker and paw prints were stamped with permanent ink. Her trim fabric has the words woof, bark, yap and arf on it.

Janet Peters created her 'off the wall' piece on a handmade diaper, of which she has made over a hundred. The lettering was done before sewing the diaper, and a basted seam allowance sewn so that letters would not disappear into seams. She used watered-down Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleedproof opaque watercolour and a B5 nib to do the initial layout of lettering. Due to the nature of the fabric (PUL), she found she could erase errors by dabbing at the ink with a wet cloth - in her words, "a miracle." Once happy with the layout, she used a tiny brush and acrylic paints to build up on lettering, and pointed out that acrylics are very forgiving and allow for multiple layers to be applied if dissatisfied with

Barbara Qualley’s piece is done on a deerskin drum crafted by Cowichan Tribe member John Crocker. The lettering around the circumference of the drum reads: Salmon is a symbol of abundance and prosperity. The Pacific 1orthwest Coast people believed that Salmon were actually humans with eternal life and if the skeletons of the fish were returned to the sea, their spirits would rise again. In this way, the cycle could begin anew. The lettering was done using watered down acrylic paint in a pilot pen. Barbara painted the salmon as well.

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Judy Lowood drew "Merry Christmas 2011" on the beach in Maui last year. She had to wait for the wind to blow the palm leaf so she could get its shadow in the picture. People walking by were not too sure about her!!

Charlotte Whiteley’s piece was done in the sand at Rathtrevor Beach in Parksville. Using a board, JOY was written in Old English text. Unfortunately the tide came in more quickly than Charlotte expected but she did manage to take some pictures, while perched on a ladder. Charlotte quite liked the way the text looked under the water.

Leslie Healy’s ‘dammit’ doll accompanies a cute quote about what to do when we are frustrated. It fit perfectly into the Pringles can she used as the base for her quote. The doll and quote were a gift from a friend at Christmas.

Denise Rothney - Her first challenge was to find an object that she felt suited her quote about life’s twists and turns..

Writing on the pinecone proved difficult as well. In the end she wrote on pelon (interfacing) with a pigma pen and attached each word with double-sided tape. Each seed scale was painted with white acrylic paint and outlined in gold.

Gwyneth Evan’s quote is from the opening line of Finnegan’s Wake. She has never managed to get beyond the first page of the book. The stones are from the Cowichan River. It seemed appropriate that she use Half Uncial since it is Irish. She tried it with both a 1/4” and 1/8” brush but ended up using a round brush. Her medium is gouache.

Trudy Kungold Ammann's piece was created using an arbutus branch. She said it was an extreme challenge.

The branches were very brittle and kept breaking. She wiped off more letters than are actually on the final piece. To prepare it, she washed off the branch with a damp cloth. She wrote facts regarding the arbutus tree in a loose script using Winsor 1ewton white watercolour. Her original idea to write in copperplate proved to be too difficult.

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Words, Words, Words Submitted by Gwyneth Evans Following on from the subject of the last column, the Book of Kells, this one will describe another very early manuscript from Britain which survived for well over a thousand years, even through times and owners where such hand-produced books were not valued at all and cut down, broken up, and used as scrap paper or to stiffen the bindings of newer books.

First, however, A Few More Words about Writers and Cats: Some of our Warmland members have done lovely pieces about cats, which seem quite a popular subject. Last time in this column, I mentioned the white cats which appear in illustrations of the Book of Kells, as well as in an early Irish poem. A great twentieth century writer and doctor, Albert Schweitzer, was also a great cat lover.

Although left-handed, he sometimes wrote prescriptions with his right hand so as not to disturb his cat, who liked to take a nap lying on the good doctor’s left arm. Schweitzer was not the only sage or saint who had a fondness for cats: Mohammed (570-632), founder of the Islamic religion, was said to have cut off the sleeve of his robe so the favourite cat lying asleep on it would not have to be moved.

Does your cat ever disrupt your calligraphic work by lying on your paper, or batting at the end of your pen? If so, at least you probably don’t have the problem of mice eating the corners of your books, or making a nest of your hoarded sheets of Arches Textwove.

Cats were introduced to Ireland in the fourth or fifth century A.D. (C.E.) St. Molig of Ireland was upset to see his cat catch a sparrow. He decided to use his saintly powers to restore the sparrow to life, and was startled to find his powers so great that on returning to life the sparrow regurgitated a fly which had been swallowed and was now restored to life as well! There is also a cat legend about St. Francis of Assisi, a great animal lover and author of the beautiful poem which begins:

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Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is injury, pardon . . .

When he was about to be attacked by a horde of hungry mice (?? that’s what it says), a cat sprang miraculously from his sleeve and saved him. Perhaps these legends about holy men and their cats are so widespread because cats were the only pets allowed to monks and nuns in the Middle Ages. I haven’t discovered any stories about literary nuns and their cats, but will report back if I do so.

Britain’s Oldest Book—Now For Sale Although the (illiterate) Vikings destroyed many Irish and Saxon illuminated manuscripts during the period of their marauding in Britain, educated but intolerant zealots during the English Reformation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries also had no use for the beautiful paintings and decoration of medieval manuscripts, which they saw as idolatrous and often ornamentation for papist texts. The later seventeenthcentury antiquarian John Aubrey describes sadly how “In my grandfather’s days, the manuscripts flew about like butterflies. . . And the glovers at Malmesbury made great havoc of them and gloves were wrapped up no doubt in many good pieces of Antiquity.” Only a tiny fraction of England’s medieval manuscripts remain; for example, of the 646 books (mostly hand-written) in the priory of Malmesbury in 1536, only eight have survived.

One of the most remarkable survivors is the small Cuthbert Gospel of St. John, a book about the size of an adult’s hand and not remarkable for the artistry of its illumination, though written in a pure, late seventh-century Uncial script. It is the oldest book in Europe to survive in its original binding, and it is believed to have been kept for 400 years in the tomb of St. Cuthbert, a bishop of Lindisfarne in the seventh century. As token of his sainthood, Cuthbert’s body, though moved a number of times during the period of Viking attacks, remained in a remarkable state of preservation until his tomb in Durham Cathedral was despoiled during the Reformation.

The little book, however, was taken from its place at Cuthbert’s head and preserved; it is now offered for sale to the British Library for nine million pounds, making it the second most expensive book ever sold. As Britain’s oldest book, “the urge to protect and preserve it comes not from what its text or binding tell us, but from a sense that it is history incarnate, a testament that books and endeavours can endure.” (Alex Burghart, Times Literary Supplement, Sept. 9, 2011) I do hope the British Library buys it.

Calligraphers Travelling: Betty Locke shares with us some of her artist’s travel journal.

She writes, “When in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) I was very taken with the Singhalese script. This script is very round and decorative and I was told that there were 54 letters in the alphabet and that anyone learning this language would find any other language a piece of cake. I tried to emulate it but of course had to make it readable.”

Sample of the Singhalese script.

Back Cover by Lorraine Douglas Lorraine Douglas writes this about her cover design inspirations: The inspiration for the cover is a class I took with Thomas Ingmire at the Black and White Conference in 2006. The work that week was based on Drawn Capital Letters and Thomas always has imaginative ways of teaching!

The first thing we did in the class was look at past examples of geometric

letterforms. Then we used one word and divided up the gridded space into black and white areas.

I used French curves, pigma markers, sumi ink with a brush and circle templates to create the interlocking design.

I hope that these almost abstract letters enhance the meaning of the quote: “Love is a serious mental disorder” from Plato.

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WARMLAND CALLIGRAPHERS OF THE COWICHAN VALLEY NEWSLETTER ISSUE #52, February 2012