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Loosening Up With Calligraphy & Paint

2-Day (9+ hour) Workshop Available through June 1, 2022

All Skill Levels Welcome
Painting

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Loosening Up with Calligraphy & Paint

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Description

The desire for more spontaneity and freedom in our calligraphic creations and painted backgrounds does not necessarily imply an “anything goes” approach. More successful artworks often depend upon various elements all coming together nicely to create unity: line, colour, movement and composition. Working with subtle nuances and strong contrasts, we balance the two opposing energies of chaos and structure to find ways of expressing our individual concepts. Through guided exercises and exploration, we develop a series of small paintings, a simply assembled artist’s book and then go on to create one larger piece, incorporating our textual elements along with our imagery as we progress. Far from an illustrative approach, where one might add the calligraphy as a final touch, we consider our written words as an integral part of the visual process and composition. Starting with the usual cropping of our artwork in order to “find” the best composition, we go on to focus on making our images work together as a whole, right from our initial concept. This workshop is for those who want to develop confidence, explore meaningful content and acquire a greater artistic freedom with their calligraphic artwork.

Supplies

  • Calligraphy Supplies – any calligraphy tools you like writing with including automatic pens, ruling pen, cola pen, etc. Also, any unusual or found tools you work with.
  • Brushes – your usual paint brushes, including a mid-sized pointed brush and flat brush (or hake), also a flat brush for lettering (synthetic hairs) and a Chinese brush. You should have a mix of good brushes and some old, scrappy ones as well.
  • Inks – sumi (good quality)
  • Coloured Acrylic inks (at least 3 transparent colours of different values, ex. warm yellow, deep dark brown, beautiful blue or deep red, any brand…). Choose colours that you like to work with, not necessarily the bright primary colours. Your colours should be quite vivid and rich.
  • Paints – watercolour or gouache (your favourite colours in tubes or a small portable palette)
  • Black and White gouache (in tubes) or Dr. Martin’s Bleed-proof White
  • Fineline applicator
  • Large white plate for mixing colours
  • Drawing materials – pencils (4B and 8B), eraser and ruler
  • A selection of a few water-soluble pencils or drawing sticks you wish to work with (example: watercolour pencils, water soluble graphite or carbon, etc) These are great for mark making.
  • A few coloured pencils or felt markers (I like to have a selection of black and dark coloured felt pens, like Pigma Micron and Staedtler Triplus, giving me a choice of waterproof or not)
  • Extras – Masking tape – the green one (I don’t like the green, but it does work well)
  • Two containers for water (yogurt containers are fine)
  • Any sketchpad or book for taking notes and for any composition sketches, etc.
  • Paper towels or rags, something to cover the tabletop
  • Scissors and/or x-acto knife and small cutting board
  • Small spray bottle or atomizer
  • Paper – Arches Text Wove (4 or 5 half sheets, for exercises) plus, have more paper and other options if you work quickly and want to try other papers (Somerset, Stonehenge)
  • Two full sheets of Watercolour Paper (140lb, Cold Press, 100% cotton) like Arches, Fabriano, W&N, etc. One sheet will be for the small series and the other for our large painting.
  • Important: Your Text – 10 to 100 words, from a sentence to a paragraph (your words or someone else’s – think copyright…) The theme to be explored in this workshop is: CONTRASTS (light/darkness, chaos/structure, summer/winter, earth/sky, warmth/coolness, organic/geometric, etc ) – your choice. Try to have your text be meaningful to you, it will help contribute to a sense of connectedness, always important in artwork!
Janet Takahashi

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www.lornamulligan.com

WORKSHOP LINKS

YUKIMI ANNAND
Sequence: Journey of Experimental Calligraphy

SUZIE BERINGER
The Unconventional Pointed Pen

GEMMA BLACK
Drawing the Fibonacci Sequence

IVAN CASTRO
Basic Rudolf Koch:
Blackletter Und Neuland

ANNIE CICALE
Value Contrast: Exploring the Grey Areas
Word Meets Image on the Page

BARBARA CLOSE
Letters & Blossoms
Graphite Explorations

SUZANNE CUNNINGHAM
Beginning Copperplate Script

JUDY DETRICK
A Letter and a Rectangle

CAROL DUBOSCH
Ben Shahn Lettering

JESSIE FORA
(M) Handwritten: The Art of Tattoo Lettering

RISA GETTLER
(M) Painting Knotty Letters
Visigothic Versals

TAMER GHONEIM
Gothic Lettering Magic with Procreate
Blackletter Circles on Steroids

MIKE GOLD
Breaking the Rules
Spontaneous Creation
(M) Variations in A

HEATHER HELD
The Glittering Vine
Victorian Frames & Labels

NANCY HILLS
(M) Learning to Sketch Out Celtic Knots

THOMAS HOYER
Dynamic Textures
Ruling Pens Beyond the Rules
The Alchemist’s Magic

CARRIE IMAI
Playful Letters
(T) Mastering Italic

GINA JONAS
(M) A Meditative Calligraphy Technique

SALMAN KHATTAK
(M) Pen to Pixels
(M) Lines & Tines

MARTA MAPELLI
Expressive Pointed Italic
Pointed Brush

HEATHER MARTINEZ
(M) Learn to Sketchnote!

HOLLY MONROE
Decorated Letters
Italic Lettering - Basics & Beyond
(M) The Business of Calligraphy
(M) Lettering on Vellum

SUZANNE MOORE
In the Glow of Gouache
Page Dazzle: Patent Leaf Gilding

LORNA MULLIGAN
Loosening Up With Calligraphy & Paint

MICHELE NIDENOFF
(M) Decorative Borders w/Simple Tools
(M) Watercolor & Lettering with Masking Techniques

CORA PEARL
Monoline Lettering with a 'B' Nib
Monoline Lettering Techniques
(T) Foundation Tune-up Class

SALLY PENLEY
Sensational Sumi!
(M) Pastel Dusting Technique
(M) Pleated Scroll Book

JAN PICKETT
Creative Colour for All Occasions
Embossing with Extra Pizazz!
Letters Unlimited

ALI RICCARDO
Graffiti Writing - The New York Lesson
Rudolf Says

ROBBIE SASLOW
(M) Playing With Pens & Pencils
Round & Robust: Exploring Uncial
Simple & Semitic

LINDA SCHNEIDER
The Graceful Marker: Pointed Brush Script
Calligraphy on the Go!

CAROL MEASURES SCOTT
(M) Captivating Color in Calligraphy

MARINA SORIA
The Empty Space, Womb of Shape

JACQUELINE SULLIVAN
Cold Wax Calligraphic Abstracts
(M) Calligraphy & Mark Making with the Gel Plate
(M) Mini Book Madness

JANET TAKAHASHI
The Art of Miniature Painting & Lettering
Sketching Flowers with Watercolors & Ink

NINA TRAN
Flourishes Unraveled

ELMO VAN SLINGERLAND
Broad-edged pen: Roman Capitals

MARK VAN STONE
Versals
Versals & White Vine Decoration

JURGEN VERCAEMST
Colorful Lettering Composition

JULIE WILDMAN
Akim Variations and Long Compositions

ELEANOR WINTERS
Gothicized Italic