David Jones Lettering

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

By Anne Rita Taylor

I won a Scholarship in 2012 from the Houston Calligraphy Guild. I knew I had to do a meeting presentation at HCG within the year which is a requirement of winning.

By David Jones

While I was working full time I found an online class from an Australian Calligrapher, Gemma Black, on David Jones Lettering, which I had never attempted. David Jones (1895-1974) a poet and calligrapher from England, wrote a page of calligraphy as if he were painting a picture.

By David Jones

David Jones combined Latin, Greek and English. “Exit Edictum" comes from the account of Christ’s birth in St. Luke’s Gospel. Along the left side: “I am Redit Apollo” comes from Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue (selection). Jones preferred colored backgrounds and lettering in colors.

Gemma’s workshop consisted of three lessons, the first two had four exercises each. My letters were written with colored pencils and nibs. Annotating what I wrote with and wrote on was a new experience for me to record what worked and what did not.

We emailed back and forth. Gemma gave me good suggestions on my first attempts and I had hope that I could improve with more practice. Writing on a ground of white acrylic paint was a fun learning experience!

For my Houston Calligraphy Guild presentation I penned my own Exemplar (A to Z) of David Jones Letters. I did not present any of Gemma’s calligraphy since attendees were taking photos and I wanted to preserve Gemma’s copyright protection.

My calligraphy on the cover of the 8 page books I made for each person at the Houston Calligraphy Guild presentation on May 2013. It was a full house with about 60 people attending!

A more recent alphabet I wrote in my journal.

I highly recommend Gemma Black’s teaching! I was lucky to meet her in person when she taught at the Legacies Calligraphy Conference in Dallas during July 2014. We had a lovely time at The Marriott Renaissance Hotel.

Please leave a Comment if you liked learning about David Jones Lettering!

Creating Roman Lettering

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

When I saw Roman letters I thought of capital letters I learned in elementary school. A famous example of Roman lettering comes from the inscription on Trajan’s column, a sculpted Rome pillar marking the triumph of the emperor Trajan (AD 98-117). 

I learned about Roman calligraphic rules by taking a Peter Thornton workshop several years ago. Each letter can be grouped according to its width. Below: Playing with Prismacolor pencils.

I have also learned from Sheila Waters’ book: Foundations of Calligraphy. 

And Annie Cicale’s book: The Art & Craft of Hand Lettering is another guide I follow.

Starting with monoline letters is easier. Within a Parent Box, O and Q fill up the space. About 1/4 wider is the M & W. The C, D & G fill up 7/8 of the Parent Box. Then you have the letters that fill 3/4 of the Parent Box: A - H - K - N - T - U - V - X - Y - Z.

B - E - F - J - L - P - R - S fill 1/2 of the Parent Box. The letter "I" stands alone. And spacing between letters can take years of practice! Some say spacing between words is equal to the small letter “o” yet others say spacing is between the stems of the “H."

omans are necessary 






for my White Vine calligraphy click here: https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/03/creating-white-vine-letters.html also my Checkerboard calligraphy:  https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/02/coloring-checkerboard-calligraphy.html

Alternative ways to write variations of Roman capital letters are fun! 

Playing around with calligraphy placement.

Fun experimenting with different kinds of paper and ways of writing! Writing on Strathmore Parchment Paper and bouncing the letters, writing every other letter above the line, gives a certain lightness to a quote.

This is the book I made in Peter Thornton's class with my notes and calligraphy exercises.

I enjoy the practice of calligraphy! Please send me any questions in the Comments section.

Creating White Vine Letters

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

In the Summer of 2013 I was thrilled to have an article I wrote published in the magazine, "Bound & Lettered" about book-making and calligraphy. In Volume 10, Number 4, sold through John Neal Books, most of what follows appeared in the article.

ortunately White Vine Letters are easier to make than they appear. Basically a Roman Capital overgrown with a vine. While the white vine resembles ivy, it is a stylized version of acanthus leaves which were used as a decorative motif as early as the 3rd century in a Roman mosaic floor. Also used in architecture in the Doge’s Palace in Venice during the Renaissance.

Even though this style of decoration can be seen in manuscripts coming out of monastic scriptoriums as early as the 9th century, it was not until the 15th century that the white vine initial letters were widely used, such as in the Book of Hours, circa 1406. The Roman capital was often in gold.

The upper left corner of the text block would have a white vine initial for the first letter of the first word in the paragraph. The position could change if the section or paragraph started in the middle of the page. 

summer study program on illuminated manuscripts was my introduction to these initials with their intertwining vines. I was able to share my joy for these letters during a mini-workshop I taught for the Houston Calligraphy Guild in 2010.

When making these initials, you can carefully render the vines filling them with multiple flowers and leaves, or you can go for the more informal look in my examples. 

1. After you draw your one inch high Roman Capital letter in pencil, go over it with waterproof ink, let the ink dry, then erase the pencil lines. I use the Sakura Pigma Micron Pen - Size 01. 
2. Draw - lightly in pencil - a box around the letter with maybe a quarter inch of space on all sides.
3. Draw a circular swirl (FIGURE 1) in pencil, more circle than oval for your main vine.
4. Add shoots coming out of your vine (FIGURE 2)
5. To give dimension to the vines, double the lines around the vines and shoots (FIGURE 3).
6. Using your pencil, draw some buds and flowers at the end of the shoots, trying to get the buds and shoots to touch so you can add color (FIGURE 4). 
7. Go over your pencil ivy and outer box with the Micron 01 Pen. Erase pencil marks as needed. Then using only three colors: red, blue and green; or purple, pink and turquoise; or brown, orange and yellow; color in the spaces, alternating the colors so they are spaced evenly.  Either watercolors or Prismacolor pencils work well depending on the quality of your paper.  
8. Optional - Color the inside of the Roman Capital letter in gold, either flat gold or metallic gold. Prismacolor pencil, metallic paint, or acrylic metallic ink work well in gold.

After my trip to Paris I colored these white vine letters for bookmarks.

Fabric Book of Intentions

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

I took a workshop from Lisa Englebrecht during November 2012. The workshop was called: Book of Intentions: Hand Lettered Fabric Book. The supply list included these instructions: Also bring a sense of openness and a loosely composed list of what you’d like to have happen to you artistically in the future!

I brought photos from a trip Kevin (husband) and I took to the Grand Canyon which truly warrants the word: AWESOME. These are the pages from my Fabric Book of Intentions. My intention was to have adventures inspiring creativity.

In the workshop we painted smooth cotton canvas - 10 by 20 inches for the pages that we bought at Joann’s. A yard of fabric was also included in our materials fee. The fabric cover was 12 by 24 inches, so I needed several yards but at $6 a yard, it was OK.

I had bought Lisa’s paperback book in 2010, Modern Calligraphy & Hand Lettering which remains an exceptional resource for me; it includes lessons in various hands (fonts) of calligraphy, information about spacing, how to hold a pen; and shows examples of lettering on fabric including a few pieces from Teesha Moore.

In the workshop I also bought Lisa’s DVD, Hand Lettering on Fabric which has recently reminded me how much I learned in Lisa's two day workshop.

I brought a purple heart I crocheted. Supplies included: FW Acrylic Ink, brushes, pins, scissors, etc. What I did not have already, was a purple disappearing  ink pen for fabric from Walmart or Joann’s. Lisa demonstrated her calligraphy, photo and foil transfer techniques.

Lisa’s handouts had about 20 pages with techniques and lettering samples, plus a sheet called 12 Ways to Wabi-Sabi which included “cultivate imperfection” another way to say, embracing flaws; and “cultivate craft” meaning to provide a tactile meditation.

When I went to the Visual Art Journaling group a few weeks ago I mentioned Lisa’s workshop to Cori, who had also attended. I was sad that I had not finished sewing the book. So, over the last few weeks I worked on finishing touches and putting this book together.

The book is sewn with a 5 hole pamphlet stitch. I made the holes with a Japanese Screw Punch. I used 2 colors of embroidery thread from Michael's on a Size 18 needle.

I started sewing at the top of the book from outside, in and out going down the 5 holes and then going up again in and out to arrive back where I started and I tied a knot up at the first hole. I also added beads, making a double knot on each side of the bead to hold it in place - of course a dragon bead since 2012 was The Year of the Dragon!

Also sadly, the beautiful, encouraging, talented Lisa passed away on November 10, 2014. Lisa’s blog is still active at lisaletters.blogspot.com Visit her blog to have some sense of how magical and inspiring she was! 

  

Happy that I finally finished this book! Please - if you make one of these fabric books, please post a photo - Comments section. I would love to hear from you!

Coloring Checkerboard Calligraphy

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

When I was in Paris I bought a calligraphy book at The Louvre Museum Bookshop called The Bible of Ornate Letters, the 2012 edition.

The book describes 4 alphabets with different calligraphic styles for each letter. The 104 different styles of letters span the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Here is one of the alphabets.

Each letter is given a page or two for a total of 190 pages in the book. This week I chose to focus on a lettering style from the 17th century, called a Checkerboard Letter. 

I make my own coloring pages with lettering. First I draw the letter, then I use an outline, drawing either a box or circle around the letter. Coloring with my Prismacolor by Sanford pencils, there is no waxy glow.

En damier = Checkerboard; Variation de couleurs = Color change. This checkered R is extracted from an Ordinary Usage of Orleans (L’Ordinaire) in the17th century kept in the municipal library of Orleans, Loiret. Oddly enough this book was made of parchment paper that was imprinted beginning two centuries earlier. L'Ordinaire is a liturgical book that contains the prayers said every day at Mass.

To paint this initial, start with the colors of the pattern; involuntary overflows will be well covered with body paint of the letter. - I also used three colors for the checkers.

I had fun copying my colorful ABC / XYZ page into black and white, outlining the letters and adding Italic calligraphy, still practicing... Not sure if I will work on the other 103 styles of letters, but I have enjoyed playing with this Checkerboard style. 

It has been a fun book! Here is the back of this pretty book. Please let me know if you try these letters - they are a challenge too!