Versals & White Vine Decoration

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

All Skill Levels Welcome
History

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White Vine Versal by J. Blocher
White Vine Versal Decorated Letter

Description

In this class, we learn the basic vocabulary and structures of:
• Romaneque Versal-structure: Basically Capital or Uncial letters with exaggerated entasis and serifs.
• Versals built of straps of consistent width, and their binding “hardware” of “cuffs”, “rivets”, etc.
• Sprouts, leaves, branching, flowers, petals, and other building-blocks of vinework.
• How to construct beautiful growth-curves, with spiraling, interwoven, and balanced branching.
Vinework initials are ubiquitous… So common because their rules are simple, consistent, and learnable.
My teachers were the Medieval artists who made the manuscripts that enthrall us today. Having deciphered their techniques by scrutiny and experiment, I employed their ingenious improvisatory decorations in my calligraphy work for decades.
These are the easiest and most improvisational illuminated-letter techniques. None of these require gilding (though one can add it for accents, or the letterform in Renaissance White Vine can be gilt). Like any improvisatory style, they have basic rules, but once these simple rules and methods are mastered, then the designs are improvised; they really grow organically.

Supplies

  • The usual calligraphic stuff: pens, inks, good paper, pencil & sharpener, eraser… Plus:
  • Drafting pens (My preference: Pigma Micron, sizes 005, 01, 02, 03, 08), or any black-ink pen that makes an even line…
  • “Bowl-Point” pen nib (and holder) for laying color… Speedball makes one, also most other pen manufacturers. (like a fountain pen-nib). Crow quills if you like them,
  • Watercolors and mixing apparatus (I like a Carmex® jar for each color…),
  • Brushes for laying solid color areas.
  • Traditional colors: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow……but bring whatever colors turn you on.
Janet Takahashi

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