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artist's blog - february 2021 archive

February 2021

”Calligraphy and a poem”


As seems to be the way of things during ‘lockdown’, whilst beavering away in the quiet of my studio on my current ‘Elephant in the Room’ project amongst other things, a call came out of the blue – a ‘blast from the past’ so to speak.

A commission in the shape of a calligraphic piece based on an 18th Century poem illustrating in words the Fenlands which surround the village where I now live. So much in contrast to the work I am now doing, my gut feeling was to walk away, but fortunately I decided not to. I decided it would be a challenge that I felt I could take to heart.

I was seduced by the poem and really wanted to see what I could make of it.

It did not disappoint – the need to experiment came to the fore, and I decided to see how the Hahnemuehle 300g printmaking paper, I have spent the past twelve months punishing with heavy doses of watercolour, would behave.

In the event, it was wonderful – I ‘floated’ some torn and soaked tea bag paper over the surface, impregnated with some Daniel Smith pigment watercolours rather like muddy puddles, and once dry, happily my calligraphic pen glided across both the virgin paper and those painted areas too.

So often have I been disappointed with the result on other papers, so I was so happy with the outcome.

The main body of the text, some 350 words in all, I decided would look best just in my regular handwriting, but gently written with a fineliner (of all things). The focal point of the text, i.e. one entire paragraph, I decided to pick out and inscribed with a 3mm Speedball calligraphy nib loaded with a mixture of French Ultramarine and Scarlet Lake – a great mix which changes colour according to how much I mix it whilst writing.

My chosen style for the entire text was a loose kind of dancing sharp Italic – my favourite.

I completed the work with some areas of hand embossing.

The major difficulty came when it was time to hand it over to its new owner! However, before doing so, I produced two small handwritten handbooks documenting and illustrating the journey. Well, such is the creative journey – after which I just wanted to continue writing and writing……..

Next………..
A cover story, followed by an illustrated poem.

                                   Jackie Devereux
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