Blog Posts

Match Box Book

3/12/2019

It is time again for the annual Canberra Calligraphy Christmas get together. Every year we all make a card to swap with all the other calligraphers.
I wanted to make something different so this year I made a Match Box Book which was partly inspired by Ana Victoria Calderon and partly by Amity Parks.
The size is exactly the same size as a match box (4cm x 6cm and a depth of 2cm). We don't see as many match boxes any more.

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Paste Papers

6/11/2019

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Fabulous workshop by the lovely Michael Burke.
Michael told us that paste papers are one of the oldest forms of decorated papers. Examples date back to the 16th century, and were used to cover books and as endpapers.
Among the most famous are the Herrenhuter papers made by members of the Moravian church, most often by women in "Single Sister" houses.
Paste papers are made by mixing pigments, dry, tempera, or acrylic into a paste made from flour, starches of other kinds, or more modern materials such as methylcellulose. Patterns can be made by brush strokes, combing, stamping, rollers, direct application with a thumb or any combination of these, and more.
While the paste remains wet all sorts of patterns and designs can be created. The layer of paste is distorted in places and gives the decoration a characteristic, three-dimensional appearance.
On the first day we tried out the traditional methods and designs. See examples below.

The second day we added acrylic paints to the paste papers and used less traditional designs.

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Calligraphy Society Exhibition

23/10/2019

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I can't believe that it is already exhibition time again. Where did the year go? This year the exhibition is being held at the National Botanic Gardens. So the theme was around nature.

This piece was done in collaboration with Sue Blackall and Sarab Basrai. It has a number of quotes and some lovely eco prints.
This one sold!

This one was done in collaboration with Carol Perron and Sue Blackall.
This one sold!

Eco print with hand made paper and cut out lettering.
This one sold to people from America!

This was an interesting one. It got a number of comments. I had thought that the quote meant to let negative feelings, things and people go but others thought that it was quite brutal. Interesting.

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Envelopes

8/8/2019

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Dry Etching Week 5

20/7/2019

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Continuing our experiment with chine collage.

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Dry Point Etching - Week 4

18/6/2019

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Still continues to be stylised. This time we were experimenting with two colours.

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Dry Point Etching - Week 3

11/6/2019

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Week three continuing with Chine-colle.

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Dry Point Etching Week 2

4/6/2019

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This week we tried our hand at Chine-colle. Chine-colle is a technique in printmaking where paper of a different color or texture is adhered to the overall piece. The paper, usually in pre-cut shapes, is bonded to the heavier support paper of the print in the printmaking process. It is not just glued to the print as a collage element, it is more embossed into the paper as part of the printmaking process. Below is one Chine-colle and three dry point etching prints.

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Dry Point Etching

28/5/2019

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I have been taking a course with Peter McLean at the Belconnen Arts Centre on Dry Point Etching. I had so enjoyed the classes with Jo Hollier that I jumped at the chance to try my hand at it again.
Peter is a very supportive tutor who has a lovely laid back attitude. It has been a pleasure to take this course.

These prints are from the first week. Compared to the rest of the class my prints are much more stylized. It will be interesting to see how I progress.

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Medieval Line Fillers

15/5/2019

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A most enjoyable afternoon was spent with Jill Robertson leading a workshop on Medieval Line Fillers.
Before we embarked on this Jill demonstrated how to create a feather paintbrush with a very fine tip, which would be capable of producing extremely fine details such as those seen in medieval manuscripts. This was the very Australian version made with Cockatoo feathers.
We then commenced our main project for the afternoon, the goal of which was to produce a set of bookmarks featuring a decorative panel in medieval style and some writing in Gothic script.
This was an interesting and most enjoyable workshop.
All of my line fillers are from the Luttrell Psalter from the 14th Century.