Phrases of the moon

Often as a calligrapher you are working with other people's words, and most times they are quotes or lyrics or poems that are well known. I have had the good fortune of late to be asked to work with a local poet's words as part of our "Water from the Moon" exhibition -to give a visual expression to the poems. Robyn's "Phrases of the Moon" poems touch on 5 phases of the moon (new, crescent, quarter, gibbous and full).

I chose to make poem books, rather than a book of poems, so each poem has it's own book. Each page has a single line of the poem which encourages the reader to take their time with the poetry - pausing for reflection. I embossed the phases of the moon on the title page and then gilded the phase that related to that poem. I also used translucent covers to capture the idea of the moon being seen through scudding clouds. Fortunately both Robyn and I like the essence of things, and the elegant simplicity of these pieces worked for both of us. They are currently on show at the Maleny Library.