How I spent my weekend

(Lorraine's pens)

I spent a wonderful three days this weekend at a Calligraphy/Decorative Paper workshop organized by the Calligraphers' Guild of Manitoba. Our instructor was Lorraine Douglas, a very gifted artist and calligrapher from British Columbia (formerly from Winnipeg). Lorraine is a fabulous instructor because she knows how to offer both praise and gentle constructive criticism--participants at all levels learn something new and have fun.



The first two days of the class were held in this beautiful art room at Saint John's Ravenscourt school. The wall of windows offer a very pastoral view overlooking the Red River. The class, "Neuland with a Twist" involved first learning a version of the Neuland hand by Rudolph Koch, and then playing with it in various forms.



I see an idea for my Christmas card here but you'll have to wait to see it!





On the third day, we moved to St. Boniface College and spent an entire day playing on watercolour paper with acrylic paints, transfer gold, stencils, pastels and much more. These papers could later be used as backgrounds for calligraphy, book covers, etc.



Some people's pieces were beautiful enough to frame straight from the class, like these ones by Nicole (above) and Charlotte (below).



And these were mine...



By the end of the three days my brain was on overload and I was physically exhausted, but it was immensely worthwhile. Now I need some uninterupted time in my studio just to play.....