Here are some observations from a few of our past workshops.
We all have lots of finished or part finished pieces of work at home that would look so much better if they were mounted. This workshop was designed to show members how to do just that. Joy took everyone through the processes involved, from choosing the right colour card, gauging the correct amount of space to leave around an image, then how to cut out the aperture.
It was a joy to watch Rosella demonstrate the basic movements and letter shapes, in fact it was quite hypnotic and we thought a good relaxation therapy. However, this was tempered by the frustration of not having quite the same control when it was our turn to write. Of course, there is no mystery, it just takes practice as always, but a brush is much easier on the hand than a pen, which made for a relaxing workshop and Rosella had to tell us to stop at 4pm.
A dozen of us gathered at the Aspire Centre on a beautifully sunny day for Rosella’s workshop, which proved to be inspirational and totally absorbing.
We began by filling in a colour wheel using one primary colour, then adding a little black to the original colour, then white and then grey. Then we repeated the exercise using secondary colours and so on. Along the way we learned about hues, tones, shades and tints. Lots of fun mixing colours and lots of cleaning “palettes”.
On a beautiful sunny weekend, 8 – 9 April 2017, surrounded by the delightful gardens of Fulham Palace, SLLA members gathered for a workshop with Harvest Crittenden from Michigan USA. Harvest, an internationally renowned Master Penman, is feted for her study of the Spencerian style of writing and decoration and this was the focus of the weekend course.
February 25th 2017 saw a group of intrepid calligraphers gathered at the Aspire Centre for the first of 4 workshops in the CLAS Heraldry for Calligraphers Course. The course is being run by Tim Noad, whose work is familiar to most of us. Tim is an heraldic artist who has worked for the College of Arms for many years. A talented and experienced practitioner, we are very fortunate to have him as our tutor.
It was a full class for our workshop on Saturday 14th January 2017 when we hosted the talented James Farrell to teach lettering enthusiasts the art of Spencerian flourishing. This was his third workshop for the SLLA on the subject of Spencerian Script, which dates back to the 1840s in the US.
At Nicola Dunn’s Fun Foam Printing Workshop, we had FUN at the heart of it. We arrived, armed with sheets of funky foam, cardboard and cutting mats and the day ahead proved pressure-free, fun, creative and inspirational. Holistic play-therapy for grown-ups perhaps!
I don’t think many of us knew what to expect when we signed up for a workshop with Klaus-Peter Schäffel on Sunday 13th November 2016. The workshop was an addition to our usual workshop programme and sounded intriguing — something about making paints from natural products and using gesso and gold. I, like 13 other inquisitive members, decided to go along.
Nicola Dunn’s Quirky Versals workshop made for a truly wonderful day - I was so glad to have been there. Nicola had brought some delicious examples of work with her and started by explaining how these letter shapes are inspired from the Cnut hand, with some subtly rounded strokes and a liveliness to them.
Lettering artist Ruth Rowland shares her experience learning Pointed Pen Uncial at our March 28 workshop with Joy Daniels. This post was originally shared on Ruth’s Google+ account. Follow Ruth’s work via her website, and social media channels: Google+, Facebook and Twitter. Images courtesy of Kate Watson, Olive and Reid.