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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 are held on the First Tuesday of each month

at Linda Yaychuk’s home from 9am to noon

All members are welcome!

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

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. 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. 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.

Contact us at: P.O. Box 2, Duncan, B C, V9L 3X1

Canada http://members.shaw.ca/warmlandcalligraphers

Linda Yaychuk Jane Taylor Ria Lewis Jane Taylor Alane Lalonde Denise Rothney, Martha Fraser Gwyneth Evans, Lorraine Hoy, Lucy Hylkema Muriel Heggie Judy Lowood Front - Trudy Kungold Ammann Back - Janet Peters Headings - Times New Roman 26pt Copy Cat

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Inside this issue: 2 3 4 5-7 8 9 10/11 12 13 14 15 16/17 18/19 20 21 22-25 26 27

General Guild Information President’s Message Executive Photo President’s Message Our 2012-2013 Executive February Galleria February Program Newsletter Press Gang Barbara Close Textured Letters Workshop Barbara Close Monoline Workshop Playtime / Tips and Tools Words, Words, Words Bulletin Board March Program March Galleria Loft Show Jottings From the Library Illuminated Letters Kitchen Workshop April Galleria April Program Letter From the Editor Back Cover Artist

Newsletter Team Editor

Assistant Editors

Photo Editors

Proof Readers Regular Contributors

Distribution

Covers

Printers

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

Newsletter Issue #53 June 2012

Friendship. Inspiration. Creativity. Knowledge. Enthusiasm These are the words that first come to mind whenever I think of the Warmland Calligraphers’ Guild. I feel privileged to belong to this wonderful group and extremely pleased that you have placed your trust in me to serve as President for the next two years. Hopefully, I will live up to your expectations.

Three Executive members have ended their terms and I would like to extend thanks and appreciation for their dedication. Marilyn Lundstrom has acted as our capable President, Janet Peters as Guild Librarian, and Charlotte Whitely has put in countless hours as Newsletter Editor. Kudos to all of you!

A special welcome to our brand new Executive members. Lucy Hylkema takes on the position as First Vice President and Pat Wheatley will be our Librarian. Linda Yaychuk, as half time Secretary, and Marilyn Silver as Past President, are not leaving the

Executive but merely changing positions. For the coming term, Linda has stepped up to the plate to take on the job as Newsletter Editor and Marilyn is filling the vacant position of half time Secretary. The ongoing positions are Muriel Heggie, Treasurer, Trish Peebles, half time Secretary, Judy Lowood, Membership Chairperson, Barb Qualley, Webmaster, Denise Rothney, Second Vice President in charge of Programs, and Betty Locke and Marilyn Boechler, Workshop Chairpersons. As you can see, this is a powerful group of people and I look forward to working with them.

It has been a busy time for Warmlanders since beginning this new year. We staged a very successful month long Show and Sale at the Loft Gallery in Mill Bay. In February, Barbara Close traveled from California to share her expertise and knowledge with several of our members at a two day Workshop

focusing on “Textured Letters”

followed by a one day class on “Monoline Magic.” Several of our members attended an Elder College course, “Calligraphic Challenges,” given by Betty Locke. This class had the added challenge of being filmed by Shaw Cable for a program to be aired on Channel Four sometime in the future.

Our current Membership stands at eighty-four, a far cry from approximately thirty when I joined the Guild in 2000. This shows that we must be doing something right!

Joyce Gammie

President’s Message

From left to right- Front row: Lucy Hylkema 1st Vice President , Joyce Gammie President, Marilyn Lundstrom Past President, Denise Rothney Programs Back row: Linda Yaychuk Newsletter Editor, Judy Lowood Membership, Muriel Heggie Treasurer, Barbara Qualley Web Master, Marilyn Boechler Workshops, Pat Wheatley Librarian Missing: Betty Locke Workshops

Our 2012-2013 Executive

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Ex-Editor’s Message Spring is such an exciting time of year. We are starting to see new growth and beauty all around us. We go into our gardens and pull out the dead leaves and branches that are left from the fall that have accumulated over the winter. With each shovel of soil we turn over, we are seeing the potential for an even greater garden than last year.

So it is too with the newsletter: not to compare myself to dead leaves but to extol the virtues of the incoming editor and the newsletter team.

It has been a great pleasure to serve the guild as newsletter editor and I am looking forward to reading a news-letter for the pure enjoyment of it. When I first joined the guild I was very impressed with the contents and quality of the newsletter. Previous editors have done such an excellent job so the shoes are always chal-lenging to fill, but I think with this

group of people committed to producing the newsletter, it will only get better and better with each successive edition.

The newsletter team had a small get together after the February meeting. We gave ourselves a pat on the back and I had to laugh when I told the group how much more enjoyable it is to do the newsletter as a team. You have input on contents and layout. You have help with photo editing. You get together for pot luck lunches and training sessions. You get to taste the wonderful cinnamon buns that Linda makes. You can take the constructive criticisms and use it rather that dwell on it as your own mistake because you believed you were the sole person responsible for everything.

I only hope that as the year goes along others might think about getting involved so they too can share the fun and friendships that are part and

parcel working as a team.

Denise Rothney and I will still do training and if anyone thinks they might like to see what it is all about; we would be more that happy to give introductory sessions before you make a commitment. I will take over the “Tips and Tools” column from Linda (it seems like a fair exchange to me).

I want to wish the newsletter team all the best and offer my shoulder to cry on, a towel to mop up their brows and hand to hold. Salutations, Charlotte Whiteley – outgoing Editor (take that as you like).

Front Cover Artist Trudy Kungold Ammann With the approach of Spring I searched for an image that evoked sunshine and colour. What better one than a butterfly? The quote is one of my favourites. I first used it last year in the Warmland Calligraphers’ Cast Paper Workshop. A complementary blending of colours and illustrations are required to complete a successful design. As the drawing is predominate, I used calligraphic type strokes with a pointed pen and C nibs of various sizes. Thank you for inviting me to do a cover. It has given me a real feeling of being part of the group.

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February Galleria - Submitted by Jane Taylor The challenge for this month was to use a specified quote by Plato. As there were 3 ‘thoughts’ to the quote one could use all or part of the quotation. Judith Lovell led the discussion and critique for the galleria.

Charlotte Whiteley’s piece is done on black Canson paper and the lettering is done using pink Pearl Essence and Peter Thornton’s folded pen. Judith commented on the beautiful letter H with “ it’s wide face and narrow top” as well as the T which “ takes you out and brings you back again”. She also felt the lettering underneath the word heart was an excellent choice as it grounds it very well. A very successful piece.

In Leslie Healy’s piece Judith liked the background and texture in the hearts, which she felt made them look 3 dimensional. She felt it was a good choice of lettering which ‘flowed along’. Leslie used watercolour pencils and shadowed all the letters

Pat Wheatley worked very hard to make this piece look old. Judith loved the two birds looking at each other and felt the expression on their faces was ab-solutely perfect. Pat found the ‘E’ very difficult to execute. It was agreed that the word ‘whispers’ could be improved upon.

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Betty Locke’s piece took a lot of measuring and planning for the final design. The open heart provides a good balance for the other two. It was suggested that a small space should have been left between the quote and the word Plato.

For her piece Marion Craig used a very mixed media which included pen, pencil crayon and gel pen, done on 110lb drawing pad paper. Marion used a doily as a stencil for the background. Judith thought the carnations were beautifully drawn and liked the variety of letter-ing. She thought the piece “held together very well”.

Judith thought that in Marilyn Lundstrom’s piece the writing was delightful and the hearts behind were beautiful, just very pale. It was suggested that Marilyn might gradually “shade down” the back-ground words to red to give it some depth. As well, the top lettering could be done in a darker green or with a wider pen.

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Judy Lowood’s piece was comprised of “a nicely shaded, flat luxurious heart”. Judith loved the softness of it. Judy used Roman caps with hearts in all the o’s, which provide a nice contrast to the very formal lettering. Judith thought it might also be nice done in a softer hand.

Trudy Kungold Ammann wanted to really loosen up in this piece. She used no layout in order to produce a piece with a spontaneous look. Lettering was done with a brush. Judith suggested that there could be more white space around the piece.

Janet Peter’s cut-out heart book was done using techniques she learned in a workshop with Lorraine Douglas on print making and collage. She said Lorraine makes her “feel free”. Lettering was done using a contemporary pointed pen.

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Marilyn presented a summary of the creative collage techniques that she learned during a workshop by Sherrill Kahn. Sherrill graciously allowed her to give us all a handout summarizing these. We have a copy of her book Creative Mixed Media in our library. Another, Creative Embellishments, is out of print but might be available on the internet from Book Depository in the UK (free shipping!) or from Sherrill’s website.

Then we got to play with sticky-backed copper tape which is available from Lee Valley (you can use a variety of metals and colours and it does not have to be sticky-backed—

use anything that you can etch into). With a ruler to guide us and a cutting mat to cushion the tape, we used embossing tools to create designs. Marilyn had red card stock for us to create Valentine’s cards incorporating our copper ‘oeuvres.’

February Program With Marilyn Silver Submitted by Ida Marie Threadkell

Marilyn shows the many materials that can be used for collages.

Mike Lourim and Gillian Mouat enjoy some of Marilyn,s Techniques.

If that wasn’t enough inspiration for you, check out Sherrill’s website: www.impressmenow.com. On behalf of the guild and Lee Valley,

Newsletter Press Gang

Front Row Left to Right: Linda Yaychuk Editor, Charlotte Whiteley Past Editor ,Consultant and Tool Talk, ,Denise Rothney Proof Reader Back Row Left to Right: Ria Lewis Assistant Editor and Publisher, Martha Fraser Proof Reader, Muriel Heggie Distribution, Jane Taylor Photographer, Publisher and Assistant Editor, Alane Lalonde Photographer and Publisher Missing:Lucy Hylkema Program Writer, Judy Lowood Distribution, Lorraine Hoy Playtime, Gwyneth Evans Words Words, Words

thank you Marilyn!

Textured Letters: I was delighted to get a last minute spot in Barb’s workshop, especially after just recently staying with Barb in LA while I was teaching there. I loved being a student in her class! I acknowledge Trish Peebles’ generous sharing of her notes which were much more comprehensive than mine. Thank you Trish! We were introduced to Barb’s version of versals which were based on a large main stroke allowing for decoration to be added within the space. We began by thinking about where texture is found...which is basically anywhere! Barb then took us through the entire versal alphabet in preparation for adding a wide variety of techniques to create visual interest to the letters. We each then made a template which was the “window” into which these techniques were then applied. For each, Barb had several wonderful samples for us to work from. Following are the different techniques: Shadow: Use a #2 pencil to shadow your letter. Stick to one side of the letter envisioning light is coming in from one side; i.e., if from the left, then add shadow to the right stem and on the right and bottom of the rest of the letter. Stay about 1/16 of an inch away from the letter when creating shadow. A tortillon may be used to rub the graphite to create a soft shadow. (Treasured Memories has these and they

come in a package of 3 so you can share.)

Methods to Fill the Stroke Foil: Add at the end after colour. Use either glue or a heat pen. Pastels: Use soft pastels, NOT oil pastels. A small amount goes a long way and can be applied with a Q-Tip. Avoid colouring in patterns and use sparingly. Barb suggested “Barb Townsend Pastels.” Lines for Texture: Fill in area with different intensities of design patterns for visual interest. Use a waterproof pen! Using a Mask on the Letter: Pastels can be added to the edge then blended outwards. Adding Watercolour: Think of small areas and move the colour around in small areas. Paint light to dark, keep some white space and use a range of tones...dark, medium and light.

Texture Techniques: Sponge to dab watercolour, Saran Wrap...laid on top of wet paint then scrunched...remove when dry, pickling salt...added when paint is wet and removed when dry. Tooth brush for spattering. Drawing Images or Textures: Use a chisel nib to create blocks or draw holiday images inside the spaces...pumpkins, hearts, maple leaves, etc.

Diamond Glaze: Do not shake the bottle to avoid bubbles. Apply generously and spread over a painted area with a crochet hook or other tool

Barbara Close Workshop Submitted by Connie Furgason-Card

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to even out. If a brush is used, it must be cleaned immediately. More layers create a raised look. Lay flat to dry. Other decorations can be added while it is still wet. Dries hard. Gesso: Apply with a drier brush to create a softer tone on darker colours. Apply heavier and add little bits of paper to create a tiled look. Starbucks Corrugated Sleeve: For texture, roll over wet paint. Textured Stamp: Create texture using a texture stamp with black ink.

Blocks Pattern: Using four colours

plus white space, create small blocks of colour and then outline with black when dry. Other shapes can be added to create contrast such as a circle or add a “stickie” for interest.

Alcohol Inks: Using a piece of “Duralar,” drop very small drops of coloured alcohol inks creating vibrant, intense coloured designs. It dries quickly. The template is then used to cut out a letter stem to be glued onto a piece of paper or card. Use carefully! Glaze or Gel Pens: Draw around the letters to create visual interest. Add multiple lines, or curly cues for texture.

Collage: Fill the space with stickers, punched out bits, series of postage stamps, shiny paper, wrapping paper, napkins...anything you can glue on! Tree Form: Choose a letter that would support a “branch” (F, T, K, Y) and add branches and leaves and paint the main portion of the letter to resemble a trunk. Lovely for seasonal images. I enjoyed sitting beside Betty Locke and was impressed by her ability to finish every assigned technique! I couldn’t keep up but I gathered lots of fun new tidbits to experiment with. The work produced in the class was wonderful to see and I thoroughly enjoyed my front row seat in the workshop. Thanks Barb!

Monoline Magic by Barbara Close Submitted by Carolynn Dallaire Monoline Magic! What an imaginative title for a class. I LOVE monoline alphabets! There are so many—most are not too difficult to master —each one gives such variety in written work. With great excitement I signed up for Barbara Close’s class, anticipating the super alphabet she would share with us. What a surprise was in store for me, and all the attendees, as Barbara unveiled her strategies to reveal the magic of monoline letters. Back to Basics. Barbara began by revisiting Roman Capitals. After mapping out our 1” squares, we

reviewed the families…the BEFJKLPRS 1/2 family; the THANUVXYZ 3/4 family; the large or square family CD GOQ; and the oversize MW family. We bravely used our fine liner black pens as we aimed to master the strokes of each letter. There were a number of hints along the way...with curves, let the line be on top of the guide line just slightly...in the S, keep the top stroke flatter and short so that the letter is balanced...start the curve for O or C at about 11:00...make sure the leg of the R and the K kicks out. We reduced our guidelines to 1/2” and wrote out

the alphabet in order, still using our black fine liner pens. The next stage was to use ink and a Speedball B nib. These nibs, ranging from B0 to B5, have a flat circle on the end of the nib creating nice looking monoline strokes. B0 gives a wide line and B5 a narrow line. After experimenting with the alphabet written quite large, we reduced the size of the letters and the nib. Writing a pangram sentence, the quick brown fox..., our next task was to explore spacing, the #1 important factor in well written letters.

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Some hints...an N between each word gives a nice space...err on tighter vs. wider...with lots of lines, keep a tight inter-linear space...with trigger letters, LA or RA or KA or ALL, etc. tighten spaces between the letters...with a letter like J, look to the down stroke to determine spacing. With good form, watching interior spaces and inter-linear spaces, and using multi-lines, we were charged to pen the quote, “All dreams may come true if we have the courage to pursue them” - Anonymous. The last stage of this process was to draw a base line, and, using our B nib, make up, and write, ten different ver-sions of A. Try to be as inventive as possible. Choose the one you like the best and make up an alphabet to go with that. Write the alphabet out and then a quote using that alphabet. This process to achieve an interesting monoline alphabet was most extraor-dinary, especially as we were now all conscious of good form and spacing. The balance of the day was given over to seven projects using our new alpha-bet, as well as ones Barbara shared with us on her exemplars, and our B nibs. Barbara let us go at our own pace and from time to time would call us up to demonstrate a new technique. Everyone produced a number of thoughtful, inspired pieces of work.

Project 1 Write a quote using vertical or horizontal stacking. There could be two sizes of nibs used. We continued, using our newly invented, well spaced, nicely formed new monoline alphabets, but Barbara did share a few of her own original hands with us.

Project 2 “Between Lines.” Add three different watercolours here and there, leaving some white space. Project 3 “Chalk Pastels.” After fin-ishing a quote, make a masque out of a piece of paper; place the masque over a portion of your work; use a small brush to spread a colour lightly over your work; slide the masque lower and add a different colour; re-peat a few more times. You can create a horizontal look or a stacked look. Project 4 “Circles.” Use a circle tem-plate and trace it onto your good pa-per. Write a quote in a circle. You can write all the way around, or do your quote on part of a circle at the top and another at the bottom of the circle. Inner lines may be used as well.

Project 5 “Confetti.” Pen a quote onto good paper. Cut up a colourful piece of decorated watercolour paper into small pieces. Randomly throw them onto your good paper and glue down the spots where they land.

Project 6 “Secret Message.” Write a quote onto good paper. Take bits and pieces of the letters and put them into a secret message box above the quote. Project 7 “Layers of Letters.” Write a quote in one direction. On top, in a different direction, add a layer of darker letters and perhaps some colour.

What a delightful day we experienced, paying attention to forming letters well, giving each word and each line of words good spacing so that our work achieved an appealing beauty. Under Barbara’s tutelage we rose to high expectations, experimenting with new ways of thinking and different presentation ideas to create empowered work. Thank you Barbara Close for sharing your Monoline Magic with us.

Practice with your smallest nib here.

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is not covered by this paint. Let dry.

3. Do the same with a third and darkest colour of paint. Here I got little inventive and used things from the kitchen drawer such as cork tops, backs of spoons or anything that will create in a different design. Let it dry.

4. Now with felt pens, draw large loopy letters across the tissue in all directions.

5. You can finish at this point and not use the gel or go on to step 6

6. Last step is to paint over with gel medium and quickly sprinkle with glitter. The gel will hold it in place and give a slight finish to the paper.

You are now done and can rip or cut your masterpiece into various sizes and make whatever you will with it. Small torn pieces attached to heavier paper make simple and bright little gift cards that you can attach to presents. In addition this decorative paper suits collages paper very well.

Painting on White Tissue Paper Materials: Sheets of white tissue paper Acrylic or water colour paint (three colours) and a wide brush Gel medium (optional, but you could use diluted white glue for the same effect) Newspaper Glitter of some sort Big felt pen- you chose the colour (I used black, gold and silver) Thick felt pens (I used three colours: black, gold and silver) Instructions: 1.Take one sheet of white tissue paper

and place it on newspaper. Thin out a light colour of acrylic paint and carefully paint with a wide brush over the surface. Leave some white space. Let dry.

2. Take a second darker colour of paint and do the same as step 1. Leave areas where the first colour

Sample pasted here…...

Tips and Tools Submitted by Charlotte Whiteley Have you ever been challenged to divide a page into sections or to draw lines equally spaced apart and the number doesn’t come out to an easily divisible number? There is no need to stress over trying to divide it by fractions or decimals.

This piece of paper measured 11.5 cm by 15.65 cm. We want to divide it into four equal spaces. By turning your ruler at an angle until you get a whole number that will divide by the number of spaces you require (we get 12 here) , you will be

Play Time Submitted by Lorraine Hoy

able to divide the page easily. Move the ruler up or down to another location and make the same marks again above the ones you just made.

Now join the marks and you have your lines. Another tip for your tools is when using your pencil and drawing lines, roll your pencil continuously to keep the tip sharp. Your lines will be thin and straight. Please forward your favourite tips and suggestions for featuring tools to chaw@shaw.ca

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Where in the world can you walk in off the street, free of charge, and view manu-scripts 4,000 years old, pages from Leo-nardo da Vinci’s notebook, and medieval treasures like the illuminated Books of Hours? In London! The British Library has the world’s largest collection, with over 14 million books as well as many other forms of print and digital material including manuscripts, audio and video recordings, newspapers, maps and stamps. As a “legal deposit” library, it receives a copy of every book published in the UK, as well as many others. Every year roughly 3 million items are added, requiring six miles of storage—it boggles the mind! The British Library was originally housed in the huge British Museum in Bloomsbury, London. In the early 1970s I did some research there, with a special letter of permission, under the great dome of the Reading Room where Karl Marx and countless other notable writers had worked; using the Library then certainly felt like entering a privileged sanctum of scholarship. In 1997, however, the Li-brary was moved to a new location on Euston Road, right beside St. Pancras rail and Underground station. The Library now has this whole new building, and is able to display significant portions of its collection for the casual visitor to wonder at and delight in. It’s remarkable that anyone can walk in, free of charge, and see these marvelous books and manu-scripts (under glass of course), and thrill to a sense of the very long history and variety of the written word. Planning a trip to England last month, we put the British Library at the top of our list of places to visit. Although qualified researchers may still gain access to the

whole vast collection, the new Library has made it easy for ordinary visitors to see some of the special highlights by cre-ating a large room entitled The Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library, complete with a Treasures Map showing the location of the various dis-plays such as Illuminated Manuscripts, Maps, Science and Sacred Texts; the gal-lery also has excellent audio-visual sta-tions where you can listen, for example, to W. B. Yeats reading “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” or turn the pages of digitized manuscripts on a screen. My husband was eager to look again at the Magna Carat, handwritten in 1205 and the foundation of many aspects of modern Canadian law and government; he also found a new book about it in the (dangerously) well-stocked bookstore. I headed first for the Cuthbert Gospel, the tiny, ancient book I wrote about in this column last time, and was relieved to hear from the information desk that eight of the nine million pound purchase price has been raised, so it looks as though the book has been saved for the public. As Europe’s oldest surviving book in its original binding, it sits modestly in its display case, closed so that only the sim-ple but lovely tooled binding is visible. Beside it is a much larger work, also written in a beautiful uncial hand, from 835; the open page is one of only a hand-ful of pages which survives of three beautiful Bibles commissioned from the same northern monastery which produced the Cuthbert Gospel, and whose size re-quired 1,500 calf skins for the vellum for the three. In the same case is a page from a ninth century copy of Bede’s History from a different monastic scriptorium, with an ornate capital letter in the south-ern English tradition. I spent most of my time looking at the illuminated manuscripts, studying the uncial and blackletter hands and marvel-ing at the delicate decoration and illustra-tion. The Book of Lindisfarne, one of the greatest of early British manuscripts (about 700) was, curiously, opened not to one of the fantastically-decorated display pages but to a plain page of Latin text with only a few coloured capitals; focus was thus on the fine half-uncial lettering, with a small gloss underneath in Anglo-

Saxon, making this book the first translation of the Bible into Eng-lish. Although certain treasures like the Book of Lindisfarne will always be on view, other displays change regularly. One of the cur-rent Music cases featured The

Beatles, including John’s birthday card for his son’s first birthday on the back of which he’d scrawled the lyrics of “Hard Day’s Night.” In another part of the Music section was Handel’s manuscript of Mes-siah, complete with a spelling mis-take. I was interested to find in the Literature section a (printed) edi-tion of Chaucer from 1598 owned and much annotated by the scientist Gabriel Harvey: it was open to a page containing, in Harvey’s neat hand-written note, the first re-corded reference to Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Facing that was a page listing “The Old and Obscure Words of Chaucer Explained”—this only two centuries after Chau-cer wrote, so no wonder modern readers need more help! In Mil-ton’s Commonplace Book, in which over many years he copied out ap-pealing or useful quotations found in his reading, his handwriting movingly deteriorated with his increasing blindness. Gazing at these fascinating docu-ments, and objects like Jane Aus-ten’s lap-top writing desk with a tiny pair of glasses on it, was a deeply absorbing and stirring ex-perience. And then there is the Bookstore, with its shelves of books on calligraphy, illumination and bookbinding! Our luggage was considerably heavier on the trip home, and our minds equally full of lovely images and memories.

Words, Words, Words - A Visit to the British Library Submitted by Gwyneth Evans

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Our very interactive March program was organized and run by Denise Rothney and Betty Locke. They called it “Pass it On” and the end re-sults were amazing! It took a little while to get all the members organ-ized at the 4 tables (adults are not al-ways the best students), but after about 5 minutes of shuffling and reor-ganizing (and much patience and de-termination from Denise and Betty), each table had at least 6 members of varying skills and backgrounds. The participants had brought along various tools and media (including glittery inks, toothbrushes, Stimudents, pen-cils, crayons), and the fun began. The basic idea is that each person starts with a piece of paper and that paper gets passed along to the next person at your table after each task is met. There were 8 different tasks, and we had about 5 minutes for each one. 1) a background…not necessarily the

whole page, and using any media, which led to many discussions about what tools and media people were using;

2) a quote…one of my favourites was a quote by P. D. James “her beauty was unmarred by any trace of intelli-gence”; 3) an embellishment…and the variety was incredible; there were drawings, small paintings, shapes…and lots of colour; 4) another embellishment, but it needed to be different than your previ-ous one. At this point the class was getting more talkative and relaxed. Betty’s table was becoming quite boisterous, and she was assuring peo-ple that you should not worry about “ruining” someone else’s work…even if you like them! 5) texture…which means different things to different people. Lots of cool tools were brought out for this one. Sponges and toothbrushes worked well, and using traditional pencils to add shading was also popular; 6) a word…most people chose a word from the quote and wrote it larger, and in colour…but there are always rebels in any group, so there were words repeated, made into borders, incorpo-rated into pictures…people were start-ing to get rather creative in interpret-ing their tasks by now; 7) a zentangle…and we need to thank June Maffin for introducing us to this concept; 8) a border…and there was a surpris-ing variety; some were embossed, some were stickers. There were long, short, diagonal, wavy ones…people’s creativity and confidence were blos-soming. For the last part of the program we put all the pieces out on tables for every-one to see, and they were beautiful, varied, funny, artistic and creative. There were a number of conversations I overheard both during the program, and after; “crash course in calligra-

phy,” “some of my best pieces have come from mistakes,” “these pieces are beautiful,” “I never thought of that!” “don't be tentative,” “these are amazing,” “lots of ideas,” “I screwed that up—just adapt,” “I'd even buy that one.” It was quite remarkable to see (and hear!) these pieces being made. It does take a bit of time, and some en-couragement, to get into this creative zone but the effort was worth it. The ideas that were exchanged, the skills and tools that were shared, and the

understanding of the layers that can go into a calligraphic piece were very helpful no matter what your skill level. This was a really interesting and helpful exercise, and I am very grate-ful to everyone who brought their sup-plies and participated. I am also very appreciative of the planning and per-sistence that went into leading this program. Thank you so much Betty Locke and Denise Rothney.

March Program Submitted by Lucy Hylkema

Nothing makes a person more productive than the last minute

Unknown

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March Galleria Submitted by Alane Lalonde

Betty Locke uses a hand from Kay Beckham from Eugene Oregon. Betty’s piece showcases her in-credible artistic calli-graphic talent in creating a bird out of words.

Marilyn Lundstrom wanted to use gouche and gold for her piece. It took her a long time to get gauche on her pen and she has noticed that the piece has faded since she started working on it. Betty said that it evoked a wonderful feeling.

Carolynn Dallaire uses Carpe Diem – Seize the Day in her lovely design. In which she stated she was trying to go out of the box doing texture. She uses a ruling and a folding pen with monolines using walnut ink. She used a stamp to dab the ink and paints off that she used on the background. She finished with watercolours and chalk pastels. Betty says sparkle and texture showed on this piece.

Pat Wheatley uses positive quotes for her piece. She got her idea from the shape of a carrousel: life goes around and everything has its cycle. Betty said that it was nice that Pat used several different hands.

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Ida Marie Threadkell used the quote ‘ God is Love.’ She has made this piece for the Baptist church on Saltspring. Betty says there is good free space which brings you right into the piece and that it is very good.

Linda Yaychuk used three haikus with an Autumn theme in her lovely piece. Her background was lustrous Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bombay India Inks. The calligraphy was done first and the black background was done last. Betty said that Linda was a wonderful attacker.

Marilyn Boechler combines skills from Betty Locke and Barbara Close work-shops. She created the shape of a letter with a template. Betty says that she is blossoming. There is a lovely textural area with white spaces balancing the letters wonderfully breaking away from the straight. Good balance of filled and empty space. She loves the lines of the down stroke.

Marion Craig’s passion for her work shows as she has used a theme from theatrical Venice. She used a combination of masks downloaded from the computer and a photographic image taken at a restaurant in Britain with renaissance symbols to create her piece. Betty was enthralled by this piece remarking that it had wonderful texture.

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This year’s annual Loft Show and Sale was held at Valley Vines to Wines in Mill Bay Center from Saturday, February 4 to Thursday, March 1. It was a very successful show with a record number of 90 pieces of Artwork displayed by 25 Calligraphers. For the first time, “Off the Wall” entries were included. These are Calligraphic pieces executed on a variety of surfaces including such things as a branch, pinecone, rocks, apron, dried gourd, newborn cloth diaper, lantern, and an Indian drum. Several miniatures, resulting from instruction in a Workshop with Debbie Thompson Wilson, were featured on the wall as you enter the Gallery. All work was of excellent quality and well received by the public. A total of four pieces were sold. The show was coordinated again this year by Marilyn Boechler and Joyce Gammie with help from many of the Warmland members. Pat Wheatley created a delightful, informative poster which was displayed in various venues throughout the Cowichan Valley and also in car windows of some of our members. Advertising was placed in several local publications and members were asked to pass on the information by e-mail to friends and family. Sadly, we do not have a tally of the actual attendance.

Thanks to Marilyn Lundstrom for offering her home as the drop off location for all submissions. She even endured an extension of deadline date due to low numbers. Thankfully, our members responded to the plea for more entries and about thirty additional pieces were added to the total. Duncan and Betty Locke produced the cards to accompany each piece of artwork. This was done on computer by Duncan using Betty’s calligraphic writing for each individual card. Kudos to the Locke’s. A total of eighteen Decorated Envelopes were received in the mail by Marion Craig and artfully displayed on two boards for inclusion in the Show. Thank you, Marian. Thanks also to Barbara Qualley for sending the required forms to the Membership and for taking individual photographs of each entry. These can be viewed on our Website under ‘Exhibitions’. Lastly, thank you to all those who entered the Show and the people who helped with set-up and take-down. Many hands make light work.

Loft Show Submitted by Joyce Gammie

Display of three-dimensional pieces.

This year we had a special display for miniatures.

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Editor’s note: Go to our website to view a gallery of all entries to the Loft Show.

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So you have a new, slightly distracted Librarian. I am delighted to report that Gwyneth has said she will assist me and I thank her hugely for agreeing to make the job a combined effort. My aim, at the present, is to “go with what we’ve got.” I certainly do not want to get another cart yet, so it will mean being more efficient with the space that we have. Meanwhile, I will be the practice paper source for those who need it. (Once all the house-selling and moving is over, I shall be less distracted and more efficient!) Short reviews of the newsletters received: 1. The Bow Valley Calligraphy Guild Winter 2012 issue is a gem. It is called “Studios” and is entirely devoted to work spaces. A questionnaire to discover work habits of the fifteen participants was sent out prior to the photo assignment. An individual’s work is displayed, but the intriguing thing is to find out “how” they work. There is a wealth of ideas on storage for the hundreds of calligraphy items used as well as desk space, lighting, etc. from the oh-so-neat–and-tidy, to the delightfully cluttered. This issue is really a must read. I guarantee that you will hasten to your work space to incorporate some of the wonderful ideas.

2. The Royal City Calligraphy Guild from Guelph in their More Than Just Letters Winter 2012 issue includes a report of Debbie Thompson Wilson’s workshop on cartoons. Cartooning is all about showing emotions—it sounded great fun. Workshops on Pointed Brush Italic, Pointed Pen Flourishing and Surface Decoration for the Inner Child were also described. The issue was interestingly presented using Special Art Tissue. The front and back covers used this paper which allows bleeding of water colour for dynamic effect. 3. Edmonton Calligraphic Society’s Winter 2012 edition contains a report from a member who visited Italy—“The Gift of Time.” She was struck with wonder at all that the past centuries had to offer a calligrapher. The precision of Roman capitals was everywhere and she found that the laid-back lifestyle enhanced creativity through social interaction. Within this issue there were articles on the Parallel Pen and an interesting challenge to create something out of the contents of a garbage bag! A good read! 4. The Journal of the Westcoast Calligraphy Society, January 2012 edition Illuminations, describes workshops given by Peter Thornton—Layout and Design, Violet Smythe—Watercolour Florals, Alice Young—Strong Lines and Connie Furgason-Card— Illustrations and Watercolours. Interestingly, this edition featured Christmas cards scattered throughout the articles and on the front and back cover. 5. The above note holds true for the Fairbank Calligraphy Society January 2012 issue. This is a very business-like edition with information on upcoming workshops and meeting presentations, and of course, they are our near neighbours!

Please take note that all the newsletters and journals are contained together in binders labeled by the current year. The exceptions to this are Bound and Lettered and Letter Arts Review which have their own boxes (clearly labeled). When space is called for there will be a sale/distribution of older issues and some lucky people will be able to buy them for a token amount. It struck me what a world of information we have within that small wooden container which trundles in and out of all our meetings. Calligraphy is such a HUGE subject. Aren’t we lucky to have such a facility at our fingertips—let’s use it!

Jottings From the Library submitted by Pat Wheatley

Galleria Tips 1. When drawing bodies,

the length of the body is 71/2 times the length of the head.

2. A foot is the same length as the head.

3. The space between two eyes is the size of an eye.

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Illumination Kitchen Workshop Submitted by Denise Rothney Janet Peters, our librarian, alerted the guild to two new teaching DVD’s by Rosemary Buczek that the library had received: one was on making illuminated letters and the other on drawing the Acanthus leaf. Janet proposed holding a kitchen table session at her house to view and learn together how to draw an illuminated letter. Two sessions were held in February. During the first session, people watched the DVD and made a start on their projects. Some people finished the penciled version of their letter and then gilded (applied gold leaf to) it at home, others gilded at the next session. The next time we met, we compared our half finished letters and tried to answer questions people had. Everyone was very supportive and encouraging - a really positive aspect of kitchen table sessions. Using the techniques we had learned from the DVD, we worked on our letters, completing them at home over the next few weeks. The results were all amazing and completely different! The letters do take time to make but are so dramatic and exciting, that I would recommend holding your own kitchen table group to try out DVD learning. Rosemary Buczek’s teaching was clear and very detailed, and she moved slowly through each technique so we could understand and see what she was doing. Thank you

Janet for starting us going on a very beautiful calligraphic art form, and for opening up your home for our learning session.

During the monthly Guild meeting Janet and Denise discussed the process of creating their letters .

Janet and Denise’s illuminated letters have had international showcasing as they have been featured on Facebook’s “Alphabet Sentence Game” along with noted calligraphers such as Heather Held, Barbara Close and Kathi Milici.

Denise’s illuminated “K” follows the design of Rosemary Buczek’s capital “B”.

Here we see Janet’s capital “E” in two stages of development.

Did You Know?

The closer you put your reservoir to the end of your nib, the more ink flow you get. Place it further away and you get less.

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April Galleria - submitted by Jane Taylor and Alane Lalonde This month’s challenge was to create a piece in a circular format. To help members envision what this might include, examples of circu-lar pieces were displayed at the March meeting. This seemed to be helpful as we had one of our best responses for pieces. Marilyn Boechler led the discussion.

Marion Craig used a compass to draw her circles. She wrote her quotes sideways because she can’t read upside down. She was very resourceful and used gold and silver foil from chocolate bar wrappers to embellish the knight and his horse. Marion was pleased she had no “lettering goofs” in her piece.

Leslie Healy completed her piece very quickly. It is done freehand with large ascenders and descenders.

This is Pat Wheatley’s second attempt and she did it very quickly. She used two sizes of plastic lids to make her arcs and then “just wrote it”.

The Strathmore website provided some of the inspiration for Gillian Moat’s piece which is done on a fairly heavy cold press paper. She used walnut ink and cardboard stamps to create the background She selected a small section from the larger piece to use for the lettering.

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Linda Yaychuk learned not to “play around” when you have time constraints. She used a template with various sizes to create her circles for the Celtic knot and her quote. She used Doc Martin’s India ink and really liked how it flowed. Linda also made use of the Magic Eraser to correct a mishap in her piece. It is a handy tool but does require ‘handling with care’.

Trish Peebles found a unique way to create the guidelines for her circular piece on the internet. Using a pin, and a pencil with a piece of ribbon attached she began at the out-side and worked her way in with the ribbon shortening itself around the pencil as she went. After four tries with the lettering, she found the best method was to do a little and then leave it to dry, otherwise it was easy to smear with her hand. She turned her paper after every one or two letters.

Ida Marie Threadkell cleverly incorporated the “unforeseen running of her ink” into her design. She used a ruling pen for the lettering, but did the words in pencil first. Watercolour pencils and a brush pen were used for the colour.

Brenda Hicks completed her piece after just two attempts. She got the spacing perfect the first time. She didn’t realize you could write with watercolour over watercolour so she used ink. To avoid having the ink bleed into the watercolour she carefully painted in the skirt afterwards.

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Shirley Johnson wanted to incorporate her learning from the recent Barbara Close workshop on Textured Letters into this month’s piece. The design inside her ‘L’ is all circles or arcs of circles.

Charlotte Whiteley incorporated some of her recent, wonderful time with her grandson into her piece. She wrote her quote out in a straight line and then used string to figure out where the quote would fit best, in the picture. Writing was done with green ink. Her piece was done on text wove but she found the small Brause nib she used, kept catching. She will do the piece again and use black and white for the lettering.

This is Trudy Kungold Ammann’s first attempt at a mandela. She used a compass to draw her circles. She used cheap marking pens for the lettering which is based on copperplate. Pencil crayons were used to add colour. Trudy would make the mandela bigger next time so all of the quote would fit around the outside.

Judy Lowood cleverly combined the March galleria challenge to use three quotes on the same theme with April’s challenge of using a circular format.

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Denise Rothney’s piece changed a lot from her original idea to the completed piece and it would “change even more” if she did it again. She would have fewer bubbles and maybe use stronger colour for the lettering. The thoughts expressed are her own and the words on the bubbles relate to specific memories.

Joyce Gammie’s piece is done using watercolour pencils. She divided her circle into sixteen parts and used her creative problem solving to fill in the extra space she had at the end of her lettering. Joyce also made use of her Magic Eraser to correct an error. Betty Locke found a word beginning with each letter of the

alphabet which contained at least two o’s. She then drew a delightful picture in each of the o’s. What a creative interpre-tation of this month’s challenge.

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Denise Rothney organized a very informative program for the April meeting. Five of our members, Marilyn Boechler, Lenore Le May, Marilyn Lundstrom, Alane Lalonde and Joyce Gammie, each ran a dem-onstration of tools or techniques. What made it so enjoyable for the participants was that it was arranged so that each instructor had a different table, and they supplied the special paper or tools that you would need to participate. For the unorganized (me) this was a huge treat because I am often slightly unprepared for the pro-gram section. It was a busy and entertaining hour for everyone, although the instructors

did look a little frazzled by the end. There were about five people at each of the five tables, and we moved every ten minutes. I started at the “Table of Pens,” travelled through “Folded Envelopes,” onto “Mistakes,” then “Folded Paper Trees,” and finally, “Banding with Watercolour Pencils.” It was a smorgasbord of ideas and inspiration, and if the level of talking and laughter was any indication, we were all having a great time. I will give a short explanation of each demonstration: Marilyn Boechler (Table of Pens) brought 6 different types of pens with her that we were to try out. There was an impressive range as follows: 1) pilot parallel pens, which come in different widths, and have a reservoir similar to fountain pens, 2) a ruling pen, which is a drafting tool and can be used in a number of ways, 3) a bamboo pen, cut with a square

nib, which has a lovely soft feel, 4) a folded pen, which is a newer type of calligraphic tool; it is very versatile, and makes a range of “marks” from thin to wildly thick, some with very irregular edges and some with super-cool splatter, 5) an Automatic Pen, which is a type of edged pen, built of two parallel metal pieces. They can come in different widths, and are good for making large letters; it is probably easiest to think of them as Supersized Speedball nibs, 6) Qualley Quills, a favourite of mine, are made by our very own Barbara Qualley and her husband (hence the name). They are very similar to Automatic pens but made of metal sheets that have been folded in half. They start at 1/4 inch widths and increase from there, so are also good for large letters and backgrounds. Lenore Le May (Folded Envelopes) taught us how to take a standard piece of 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and fold it into an envelope suitable for mailing…it is a great idea, and a lot of fun for the recipient to open. She assured us that we were building new synapses in our brain by doing this paper folding project, and I believe her! Marilyn Lundstrom (Mistakes) gave a talk and demonstration on correct-ing mistakes, and then supplied us with mistakes to correct. Magic Eras-ers that you find in the cleaning sec-tion of grocery stores are very help-ful, and work best if you use tweez-ers, very small piece of magic eraser, and a little bit of water (you want to gently squeeze the excess water out of the sponge before using it on your paper). This technique works best on watercolour and gouache, and worst on black ink. Marilyn also explained the classic “wet and blot” technique, and scraping with an X-acto knife or razor blade. If you drip ink onto your piece, consider turning it into an em-bellishment. Soak up as much of the ink as possible with just the corner of a paper towel, then turn it into a star or flower…and maybe add a few more stars and flowers to make it look intentional.

Alane Lalonde (Folded Paper Trees) gave a hands on demonstration of how to fold paper trees. We were given 4 square pieces of origami pa-per, each one slightly smaller than the last. It was a quick introduction to paper folding, but the end result was gratifying and could easily be used as an embellishment on a card or calligraphic piece. Alane recom-mended the stampingvideos.com website as a great resource for this type of project. Joyce Gammie (Banding with Water-colour Pencils) supplied us with the word “greetings” done in uncial on watercolour paper (she said it was great practice for her). She demon-strated how to use the watercolour pencils to fill in the counter spaces between the letters, and then showed us some finished pieces that she had done with this technique. This a very versatile skill and lends itself to most types of lettering. The trick is to

leave a narrow band of white space around the letters, and to have a steady hand. Using a watercolour pencil gives you a bit more control initially, but then you need to wet the area with a watercolour brush. A

small brush with short bristles, like a shader, is ideal for this. You could also just use water-colours directly, but the pencils give some inter-

esting effects, and are worth experi-

menting with. Joyce likes the Der-went brand and they can be pur-chased as individual colours.

April Program Submitted by Lucy Hylkema

June, Lucy and Leslie in deep concentration

What did I get myself into?

A very pleased Ida-Marie

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The girls have worked so hard and with such enthusiasm that I think I can say we have been enjoying our meetings. We have come across numerous glitches most of which were technical but are slowly learning to overcome them. Since we are still learning the ropes so to speak, we feel it would be better to publish only two newsletters next year. This will give us the time we need to reinforce the new skills we have been learning. Charlotte Whiteley has been our rock through all of our training. It is taking her longer than she thought to shake off the responsibilities of the Newsletter mainly because the new Editor although highly intelligent is not very bright. Charlotte has spent countless hours coaching individuals in their new jobs and continues to be

on hand for meetings. I am sure she will make herself available next year when we suddenly forget how to lay a published page beside a working copy. Sounds like Greek? We didn't know we would be learning a whole new language. Please forgive any quirks you may notice in up-coming Newsletters. Remember we all have to take baby steps before we learn to stand on our own.

I now understand the true meaning of teamwork. And what a team we have for the Warmland Calligraphers’ newsletter!

Letter from the Editor by Linda Yaychuk

When asked to work on a cover page for our newsletter last fall, I immediately thought of a quotation close to my heart and the idea of the wreath followed shortly thereafter. Little did I know then how appropriate this metaphor would be at this time in my life with my daughter having been hospitalized for the past seven weeks due to complications with her pregnancy.

We so often think of a wreath during the Advent season or to honour those fallen in battle. This wreath symbolizes the circle of life and I have used some of the ocean's jewels to decorate it. I hope you enjoy my interpretation. A regular Prang watercolour palette was used along with the usual brushes. I also used my wonderful pointed pen nibs the Nikko G and the Zebra G.

Back Cover by Janet Peters