CRAFTING TIME

 Pencils in short supply this past year? Maybe, maybe not. No real shortage because major colored pencil makers have amped up their production to meet the demand from all those people at home furiously coloring in coloring books.

What a sight to imagine: people hunched over inked drawings, filling in the spaces with color after color.  I think of the monk Eadfrith, who reportedly spent five years in the 700s sequestered on Holy Island near Lindisfarne in England, painting what is now recognized as the most beautiful illuminated manuscript of the four Christian Gospels. The Lindisfarne Gospels now rest in the British Library. I marvel at how dedicated someone could be to spend five years hovering over pieces of calfskin vellum. We are lucky to have the document. As Eadfrith was busy painting, the Vikings began their invasions of the British Isles. The Gospels were almost lost when Lindisfarne, which was considered the holiest place in England at the time, was ransacked. 

courtesy of the British Library website

In the spirit of Eadfrith, maybe those of us sequestered for the last year realize the benefits of focusing on art. We have grown to appreciate the meditative quality of calligraphy, the pleasure of working with wool through our fingers, of folding paper into intricate shapes, of kneading clay into bowls, or of working Zentangles, and the delight of bringing color to a drawing. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we came back from this past year knowing how to take the time to contemplate the world around us and to make something with our own hands? Will that be one of the big take-aways we have learned? 

I hope so.

Recently I Zoomed a workshop led by Andrea Wunderlich about the alphabet used in the Lindisfarne Gospels. She has developed the alphabet into a more modern style, but she has maintained the intricate decorations in the letters and the spaces around them. If you do Zentangles, you will be familiar with this style of decoration. Andrea asked us to pick a word to illustrate. I selected AMORE (it was Valentine's weekend). Andrea uses gouache to paint her words. I decided to use colored pencils since I have a better choice of colors than I do with my very small collection of gouache paints. At the top of the paper, I tried the different shades of red that I have to find the best combination to work with. Once finished, I thought about how easy it would be for a graphic designer now to upload this image to the computer to find the best color combinations. I still do it the old way, by hand and eye.

Check out information about the Lindisfarne Gospels at the British Library:

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/lindisfarne-gospels#

Try your hand at Zentangles:  https://zentangle.com

To learn about Andrea Wunderlich and her calligraphy: https://www.andreawunderlich.com

Discover Berea College, the first integrated college in the South, that continues to provide a liberal arts, tuition-free education. Berea is a faith-based college, but their curriculum would work at any college. They emphasize traditional crafts:

https://www.pbs.org/craft-in-america/tv-series/