Great Document Equals PITA Art
For a bit over a year I've been building up to committing a new piece of art. The main component is the recognizable, engrossed (calligraphy) version of the Declaration of Independence. While many would have just printed off a full-sized copy of the text, that didn't seem arty enough for me. So I've spent time learning the hand, or the letter style, of the document and practicing so that it looks reasonably close. I'm currently in the third attempt. It's an awkward piece to work on given its dimensions (I'm doing it at more-or-less actual size). Along the way I had to find a good support, the right ink, and most importantly, the right combination of nibs. There have been many delays (other art, novel writing, life, etc.). Losing more than a few days of practice meant extra time getting back up to speed. And then there were damaged supports, bad nibs, and...well, basically there have been issues. This is [...]
Calligr-augh
I started work on a 660 x 787 mm (26" x 31") piece that has a very big calligraphic element to it. I've spent many, many months practicing the variety of styles. I've worked out a variety of techniques to make the execution of the work manageable. I started the work and it started well -- which was good since the beginning was the hardest part, the part where you can't hide your mistakes. Just one last word to add and I was more-or-less home free for the rest of the couple of dozen hours of actual work time that remained. All I needed to do was put the word on the right line and ... AUUGGGHHHH!!!!! Wrong line. There's no fixing this. Starting over is the only solution. If there is any silver lining, it's that it happened close to the start instead of near the end. I'll now do only a partial board prep...just enough to get me [...]
