Illuminated Psalm 62 vs 8 ~ Step by Step Calligraphy

Hullo there everyone - this has been shown in parts before, but not all in one place. Thought would put it in one place for overall idea.

It is in part being showcased on the April Oriental Stamp Art (OSA) website in their monthly SAM , along with this OSA card, which is quite an honour! I am thankful to them for that. One of the two projects is calligraphy, which have been doing since teens. Here are of photos of the steps in the work. 

A small piece of Chinese calligraphy inserted below the text, executed by a Chinese calligrapher in China; it says "Sha-ron". My sister brought it back from China for me.)

Step 1: Once given the Bible verse to do (only work on commission) I work layout on scrap paper, working out where the word emphasis should be.
When doing a text, the meaning of words rule the design, not the other way around.
Calligraphy means "beautiful writing". 

 If you can't read writing easily, I think it is a work of art rather than true calligraphy. 

(To see step 1 and 2 ~ Click here)

Step 2: Once have worked out layout, then design it on tracing paper. Tracing paper is used for a few reasons.

Primarily because the decoration takes fiddling. Good paper may be ruined with erasing, etc. as it takes away the tooth of the paper.

Secondly if asked to do it again, I have it to this stage already to lift out of my file. It saves a lot of time. It is not unusual to be asked again as have a portfolio, with discount for ones done before, because of time saved.

Step 3:

The large piece is inked in on good quality art paper ready for laying down of colours with Gouache paints, and some watercolours - see palette above. Step 4: 

Here all the painting finished and now working the building up of the gold leaf, layer by layer (about 5 to 10, it varies).
Step 5:

 Now it looks like some of red paint has bled but the glue size has red paint in it to see where have done it and it is dry in a few spots so it is red, mostly the pale pink bits are where the gold leaf will be.

Step 6: The final work is gilded with gold leaf (23 carat Gold leaf on tissue paper, is used. Gilding mix = PVA glue, water and paint). Re-inked with fine ink pen all over, for final touch up. A piece of work this size takes 50+ hours, from beginning to end.

Final two pictures show the completed work. I have done this text a number of times now and it is one of my great favourites - such precious words.

The verse is from Psalm 62 vs 8 "Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah." 

("Selah" ="Meditate" in Hebrew). 

Praise God for His unfailing love and place of refuge in this troubled world.
Praise Him most of all for the gift of salvation found in His Son. 

Thank you for all who have come to view this work. I appreciate it. 

I pray this verse blesses your heart as it always does mine - in the LORD we find a place of Hope, Peace, and Refuge in time of storm.

God bless your day wherever you may be. Thanks so much for popping over for a peek and chat,

Shaz in Oz.x 
I would like to link this post over to Word Art Wednesday.

P.S. if you would like to see more of the Calligraphy on this blog - click here 

or posts on Oriental Art Stamping (OSA) - click here ~ thank you!

WOYWW What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 109 + Send a card - see below

It seems to me the year is speeding up as we now hit the half way mark and that means it will go even faster from here on in, but as we have had such amazing winter (23C yesterday and much the same today) weather this week for the school hols, I am not too worried about it…

When school goes back Mid July (3rd term) I am teaching calligraphy to year 8 students (about 14 /15 yrs as think there is one older ring-in there). It is only a small class at our Christian school thankfully and have been told they are all very keen. If you like at end of term I will show you some of their projects as the final project for the term is always a text (not embossed, but gold leaf) they really do well some of them, it quite blows me away.

Anyway as you can see this week my Bible verse has all the painting finished and now working the building up of the gold leaf, layer by layer (about 5 to 10, it varies).
Now it looks like some of red paint has bled but the glue size has red paint in it to see where have done it and it is dry in a few spot so it is red, mostly the pale pink bits are where the gold leaf will be next week, God willing.

Couple of quick cards… with Stampin Up papers, the feather one is a feather from a Tawny frogmouth, an amazing night bird, which really camouflages so well with trunk of tree, here is a little pickie and you can see what I mean, they are amazing! I just wish I could buy more of these feathers, I found it in our backyard!

 Some info on them: "The Tawny Frogmouth is often thought to be a species of owl, but they are in fact related to nightjars. They do not have the strong talons (claws) of owls. There are 14 species, or types, of frogmouth. Tawny Frogmouths are commonly seen throughout Australia."

The cards are basically just the papers and some stamps all stamps are really old and have no names on them from 1990's.

If you want to enjoy a snoop at desks around the world, and learn so much, please join in the fun and pop over to Julia’s blog, Julia's Stamping Ground for the best blog hop around! 

Those of you who may have Get well , Thinking of You, etc. card check out this kind idea to help Ellys on Sheree’s blog in Canada (click here)… a generous thought indeed, and one amazing story of one lady's courage and there is really great CANDY folks! Yummo! hope I win!

Well thanks for peeking everyone, happy WOYWW and may God bless your day wherever you may be,

Shaz in Oz. x

PS. If you like brayers, you may like post below too?

"Every word of God is pure"...x 7

Well since this blog is called Cards and Calligraphy I thought it time to even up the balance with another calligraphy post. This piece of work I did was one of the biggest projects I have ever undertaken. I have had two other large projects which I may or may not post at later date.

  In October I was asked by a lady to do some Bible verse texts as Christmas gifts.
I gave her my portfolio to look through as I said if there is one I have done before she wanted she would save time and money by choosing one of them.

At first I thought she wanted one or two then she said it was five then; when the list was presented to me it had grown to seven. At first I was simply dumbfounded. However God enabled and a VERY big thanks to everyone who was praying for me in it also!
 

Now just little word of explanation with these works. Some of my works can take 50 + hours and more to do depending on the detail and layout size and the ornamentation. The Title Verse at the top of my blog was probably about 40 hours even the third and fourth time it would be 30+ hours because the layer building all takes time.

So due to the size of order I made a few rules.
1. Would all be the same A4 size approx. size and same frames etc. for ease of procuring.
2. I would chose from her list the verses I thought were easiest to do and there would be double ups i.e. more than one of them.

3. I would not do any of  raised gold leaf common in my work- although I did break this rule on one of them, my favourite one!

The seven finished were over 50+ hours of work. I will post details below.

There were a total of four texts, three of which were done twice. 

  

My favourite is the easiest one of the lot and I will post it first with a little close up of the work. 

 I was going to put up a post of work table too... it may shock some!? notice the Nestie (to the right) in the mix - funny where these things appear? 

 These Bible texts are all done in ink, Gouache, Gold leaf ( 23 carat) I  just bought my new book of gold leaf on trip to doctors in Sydney at Will's Quills in Chatswood - a calligraphers' dream place.

Just as well for my bank balance I only had a total of twenty five minutes in the shop before catching bus and train back to doctor's!

One other  stop to replenish paper and paint supplies too at another art store in Oxford St. Sydney. The best part of trip to doctors!

 

 The verse "As for God His way is perfect" is actually hanging in my bedroom in English grandmother's silver frame, and oval frame. I did it in the 1980's when I was using watercolours.

These are a whole lot harder to work with, and I find the gouache blends beautifully (with the exception of Alizarin Crimson, it can be a bit of a nightmare). This text was done in Alizarin Crimson (x2) .

   You can see from my work table that my paint palette is an end piece of a sheet of rag ie paper made from 100% rag as it works well with whole range of colours mixed on it. I just keep adding to them as I need the more shades.
And don't worry the paint spots on the table all wash off!! it is a wash and wear table. ;)
  Any questions or queries please just ask, thanks so much for looking at my blog!

And may God bless His word as it hangs in the homes to where it is going for these Christmas gifts of 2010!!.