Friday, March 2, 2012

Learning Calligraphy

My friend, Irene writes beautiful calligraphy and she inspired me to learn it as well. I'm on a waiting list for a calligraphy class at Castle In The Air in Berkeley - but I'm 5th down on the list, so I'm not likely to get in. So...I decided to try to learn it on my own.
Above was my first attempt at playing around with ink and nibs - not great. I went to Castle In The Air last weekend and picked up some basic supplies, but I didn't have a clue what to do. There are many styles of calligraphy, the one I was interested to learn is called Copperplate. I love the thin thick lines. I found a web site that sold a beginners Copperplate kit - http://www.johnnealbooks.com/.

It arrived this Wednesday...oh boy I couldn't wait to start learning. Letter by letter, I practiced.
Now, after reading the step-by-step instructions, I was getting the hang of it.
I was filling up page after page...then I advanced to combining two letters together!
Now on to words and upper case letters...
And I'm on a roll, this is so much fun and addicting...
Next lesson, numbers...
Well, I've come a long way from Day 1...but I know I have lots of practice to do. They suggest several hours a week.  I'm going to try and keep it up, it's so much fun! Who would have thought that with all this collecting of nibs to use for mixed media projects, that I would actually be using them for its original purpose and really appreciate them.

7 comments:

  1. Connie keep up the practicing! I taught myself when we were moving from California to Oklahoma and my husband was already in Oklahoma and I stayed in California to sell the house........I had a lot of time on my hands so I did like you and bought a beginner Calligraphy book and some pens and inks and went to town. Once I moved I took every class I could find. You might even look into Jr. Colleges or Vo-Tech. They always offer special courses! But like anything else practice makes perfect and you have to practice everyday for an hour or so. I love it!

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  2. Connie!!

    Looking good! It's always fun to learn something new! It spices up our lives! Can't wait to get a hand written letter from you! Just joking! I have a new blog with a friend! It's http://weshopandchat.blogspot.com Please check it out
    xox,
    diana g

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  3. Good JOB! I'm proud of you for initiating the learning process ....it does take lots & lots of practice, but I know you'll do beautifully with your artistic eye! .... Have fuuuun ......see why I love it ? And there are so many different fonts to learn!!!!.......now....practice, practice , practice!........Irene

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  4. Connie ! Where did you get that great vintage card for nibs in French in your photo .....I'm coveting it!!!....love it!.....Irene

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  5. That's a great review of your introductory to calligraphy and it looks like you've got the hang of it.
    Dylan (your nephew) learned how to use nibs in one of his high school classes and used it to make drawings. The calligraphy in your art work will add a nice dimension to it. Can't wait to see how you incorporate it.

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  6. Wow Connie,your work is amazing already "be proud" !!!
    Beautiful writing.
    I love your blog..xoxx
    Big smiles Laura.

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  7. i like how when you are passionate about learning something...you single minded ly tackle it and are successful. you are focused and patient...thanks for sharing this wonderful world of calligraphy... lana cano kloch

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