Background/ History of Calligraphy + Earliest Works

Well today I am at last posting my earliest work in calligraphy and text. ie. the earliest pieces of work that I have in my collection which I did so many years ago now..

The first piece was done over forty years ago, when I was in Year 11 or second last year of high school and it was the cover for my big high school  folder. I did one for my sister Diane also. It is done in the Gothic (or as I knew it then) Old English script. I had a battered old lettering book of my dad's which I used to copy the script. Why this amazes me today is because the only tools I had to execute it were a mapping pen and India ink, I don’t know if you have ever used a mapping pen but they are incredibly fine and very scratchy to work with and this lettering is 3cm high. So with the fine pen it would have taken me a fair bit of time, especially as I did one for my sister as well... and guess what? nothing has changed - it takes a great deal of time even now when one does calligraphy.

I just thought I would give a little history on it too. So if not interested skip this bit. Or if you want more look HERE. You can see the difference between eastern and western styles etc if you like.

Calligraphy (from Greek κάλλος kallos "beauty" + γραφή graphẽ "writing") is a type of visual art..So Calligraphy means quite literally beautiful writing. 

When I study and pray over a piece of work (usually a Bible verse but not always) almost half the time is given over to satisfactorily working out the layout. It is important to give the key words the correct emphasis, and to balance the work properly 

The decoration should not dictate the layout; the layout should dictate the decoration. Sadly many folk miss this point.

The second piece of work was done in 1988, and is the other of the two texts that hang in my bed room. I only own three of my texts.

In Chronological order this text (done in my Yorkshire {born In Wombwell, near Barnsley} grandmother’s silver frame – a great treasure in itself) is very early. It is the second one which I have done in my bedroom, as well as the vellum one (see here) is the most recent one which I own, done in 2009.

This one in the lounge room was done in 2006, but I have done it at least five times..I cant remember how many really, I only have photograph records from March 1990 ad there were many texts done before then.

Two points to note with this verse of Psalm 18:30 “As for God, His way is perfect” are that:

 1. It is done watercolours. I now work mainly in Gouache as I found watercolour was not colour-fast enough even if I used good paint. The Gouache is in Windsor and Newton is really great. It is opaque, and it sits on the surface of the paper. Watercolour is translucent, and soaks into the surface of the paper. Both are waterbased paints. Other works linked onto this post are done in Gouache.

 

2. It is a copy from another original design, and is not my design at all. I now mainly do my own designs, but then (1988) I mainly copied. If you want to learn how to do these and IF you can ever find the text which I took this from, do BUY IT – it s the best calligraphy text I have ever seen, and of course it is now out of print. It was printed by the Hong Kong Christian Book Room. “Illuminated Texts and How to Make them” by G. Christopher Willis & G.C. Houghton. 

I will put a pickie of the frontispiece in so you can see it. I put this month's verse from their calendar here.

This Psalm 18 verse first appeared in their calendar in 1942, printed in in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation (according to page 52 of the book).

Very appropriate verse for the times - and still so today, don’t you think?

Well, I hope I have not bored you too much. You will notice the gold leaf on this early text is quite flat as I only learned the raised gold leaf about ten years ago from another text which I will share at another time.

Till the may God bless and keep you and those you love,

Shaz in Oz. x