WRITING IN CIRCLES

There is always something new to learn. I thought I had heard every art tip out in the world until I took Suzie Beringer's "Once Upon a Circle" Zoom class at this year's International Calligraphy Conference, held in Iowa this year, and why I was on Zoom.

Suzie sat in her art studio surrounded by all her equipment sorted in labeled, plastic containers. Suzie is a meticulous labeler. She says it makes getting to work much easier. Every tool has a small label on it indicating what it is or that it belongs to her. She draws in a journal every day. She buys little porcelain bowls at Daiso to use for mixing colors and metallic powders. She laminates examples of alphabets for easy reference. She uses small synthetic brushes to apply ink to her dip pens. She wears a cotton glove with the tips cut while she works, which keeps the oils from her hand off the paper. She cuts up small pieces of tracing paper and Viva paper towels to streamline her work. To make precise circles, she recommends moving the paper around instead of the drawing compass. These tips were a small portion of what we learned in her class. Suzie, like several people in the class, claimed she wasn't a math wiz. Yet here we all were working with the implements that we once used in geometry.

I've been immersed in design elements all my life (line, shape, color, value, form, texture, and negative and positive space). They are like the multiplication tables, engrained in my memory. "Once Upon a Circle" was the perfect way to begin a refreshment of my own skills in design. In the class, we spent the week working with circles and lettering in ways that I hadn't tried before. The supplies we used included 140# watercolor paper, a drawing compass, circles cut of of Contact Paper, watercolors, permanent ink and dip pens, and pencils of various hardness. Most importantly, we used Free Writing to fill the spaces where we wanted the lettering to go. Free writing, a technique I've used in writing classes and in my writing journals, let's my mind wander as I start with a word and expand from there. As an example, here is a version that came up when I started with the word Explore.

Explore Seek Question Learn Invent Sense Discover 

Be Curious Experiment Blossom Believe Open New Doors

Rough Draft

The larger phrase in the center of the circle came from Pablo Picasso. Using someone else's words in calligraphy bothers me. First, because there is the question of attribution and copyright infringement. The latter isn't important if you aren't selling your work, but why not use your own words instead? Free writing gives me a quick alternative to sifting through my writing for words that inspire me. Again, a good tip from Suzie Beringer to have things on hand before I began.

Rough drafts for words in circles and spirals

We had a great week in the class challenging ourselves to create calligraphy that would fit within the confines of a circular shape. Trying to fit a set group of words around a circle or spiral requires thinking ahead about the space remaining and placing letters so the entire space is utilized. For those of us who weren't math majors, we spent this week doing hidden math work using drawing compasses, protractors, rulers. We needed to find the radius, diameter and circumference of circles as well as measure the space between lines. Fitting the letters so that they looked evenly spaced around the circle became my biggest challenge. More than anything, what that takes is a practiced eye. (and a lot of erasing!)

"Move Towards the Light"

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Check out Suzie Beringer's work on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/penstrokedesignstudio/

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Carrie Classon, the wife of one of my cousins, writes a weekly column for various newspapers. This week's column is timely and touching. This link will take you to another page where you must click on another link to see her column. It is well worth the effort.

https://preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webview/341793/125660168277985054

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June from my window

J