Wintertime
Size 21 x 4 c/m.
For your own interest (you might like to try it for yourself), Wintertime was done as follows:
1. I ruled up two horizontal lines the width of a wooden ruler on slightly linen finished watercolour paper. These two lines acted purely as a guide. It was not intended that the letters touch either top or bottom line. When we drive a car the wheels neither touch the edge of the pavement nor the white line in the middle of the road. We merely drive down the centre between the two. The letterforms and shapes therefore don't actually touch the lines in all places. This helps to give the letters LIFE. The letters move or dance slightly up and down, but not noticeably so or in a contrived way
2. The word 'WINTERTIME' was drawn rather than written with whatever letterforms (or indeed shapes) came spontaneously to mind. Some letters were merely invented as I went along mainly based on block letters or versals relating new shapes to what had already been drawn. The criterion, rather than to produce perfect letters, was to achieve good looking shapes and good line quality. Design comes to mind rather than Calligraphy. Far too often we get bogged down with the notion that calligraphy is only about producing letters rather than in thinking about what constitutes an aesthetic image and what story we're telling using those letters and shapes. A few rules broken and the odd invention is entirely acceptable providing the shapes and marks are aesthetically pleasing. Think Picasso. Think Impressionists. Think Art. They weren't hidebound by existing rules. Think more about telling a story. Too much calligraphy in my mind is too blatantly obvious, too much about "I'm doing calligraphy" and is consequently boring to the eye. There's also too much emphasis placed on fads around different techniques - stuff that most kids have done at school anyway. These should not be seen as ends in themselves, but are merely means to an end. They play their part obviously, but are subordinate to the MESSAGE.
3. Constant thoughts of WINTER itself - coldness, bare forest trees, misty mornings, silence, deep snow, few birds around, an odd movement of something stirring perhaps etc. played an important part in the concept (emotion) of the whole piece.
4. Additional lines (mainly vertical) were added to reflect these thoughts - bare twigs and branches. The eraser was used to create fading images. Legibility was of course important, the word needed to be read, but parts of letters were deliberately abstracted or fragmented (always a good thing - leave something to the imagination - make the onlooker work a little).
5. Shapes and spaces were gradually coloured in (from left to right) using appropriate cool colours and a very light touch to add several layers of coloured pencil one over the top of the other. Corners of shapes were coloured and shaded darker, lightened as the colour fanned out producing a cubist 3D appearance to each shape (I'm a Picasso fan). Technically I worked on no more than 1/8th inch at a time often working on areas for quite some time until satisfied with the surface, maybe anything up to 15 minutes just on one small shape.
6. Ordinary H grade lead pencil was shaded in over the top of the colour to both tone down the brightness and to add shades.
7. As mentioned a major factor of the work was the prolific use of a plastic eraser used to fragment or abstract letter shapes and fade out colour near the edges of the design, and also inside shapes where I wanted the idea of smooth graduation from dark to light to nothing. This was dabbed on to remove colour rather than rubbed across the surface in the usual way.
I've explained the process in seven stages, but in fact it didn't happen like this. There wasn't any set pattern to this work. Areas were erased then drawn back in again. Areas were coloured, darkened and maybe then lightened again. At the end of the piece I hope I've achieved in the viewer's eye a picture of deserted woods lying in foot deep snow. Man made forms (letters) merging with natural forms (trees, branches and snow).
© Brian Walker and Pen People UK