Abstract calligraphic art - Rosalie

I think I'm about to go on a bit of a wander and try to pull together some thoughts and images on what I think about as abstract calligraphic art - art that uses words, letters, text as a base or a key element; yet is not proper calligraphy.  This has been gnawing at me for a while so I figure I need to explore it.

I came across some images of Rosalie Gascoigne's work in the newspaper today and they reminded me how much I respond to her works. The ones that use text, provided the initial way into her work for me. I am seriously enamoured of most of her work now; but the letters and the texts drew me in first.

Using broken up script from road signs or crates, these pieces nearly always hint, tempting the viewer to try to read the words and make some sort of literary sense of the work, providing clues only, not an answer. Rosalie loved language, poetry and writing and her works reflect this. She also had a wonderful eye for balance and patterns, producing harmonious pieces.

A number of pieces from different exhibitions can be found here.

Text, 1992

Sweet Lovers, 1990

A Letter a Week (ALaW) 9

The alphabet continues and I'm just getting this one done in time for the  week.  I wanted to try and do a mono-print as part of my exploration and decided that "I" was the perfect letter to try it with.  At least I could pretty much write an "I" and have it print reversed without being too tricky - the thought of writing an "S" backwards so that it would print the right way and still look good was too daunting so I thought I should grab the moment with the"I".

I fiddled a bit with rolling out ink and trying to get the right consistency to draw into it and still have enough ink to print a back ground with. Tried lots of tools and ended up using a blunt carpenter's pencil - it took a fair bit of ink off. I then placed some Canson paper on top of it and rubbed it gently with a bamboo baren as I didn't want to push too much background ink back into the scraped off letter bits. I love all this learning!

Golden abstract alphabet

As promised, this is how I first used this alphabet.  This is a long scroll with Japanese cards that slot into tabs on the front of the scroll. I made 12 cards and there are 7 tabs, so you can choose the words you have on display, and move them around. I do love interactive art!

I made it for an artists' book exhibition and it now happily resides at my cousin's house.

I think in the end, it is pretty legible - there is enough commonality with an ordinary alphabet that your brain does the tiny little jiggle it needs to do to interpret a letter here or there and make sense of what you see.

Abstract alphabet

A few years ago I wanted to design an alphabet you couldn't read - yet could.  I worked on one where each letter was formed with the same number of strokes that would form the Roman capital version - they were just placed differently and curved in most instances.

This is what I came up with.  It possibly has few more refinements to go; but I like it.  I'll show you how I've used it another day...

Alphabet Letters A-Ligned

It's funny how things you do years ago finally find their way to being useful!  Back in 2004, for no reason I can adequately explain, I sat down and did a little analysis of the alphabet.  The Roman capital was the alphabet of choice given its historical script credentials.

I discovered the following pieces of information (which have finally become useful as Barry does fold-forming for his A Letter a Week pieces) and just in case you've ever wondered...

• 22 alphabet letters have straight lines
• 15 have ONLY straight lines
• 16 have vertical lines
• 8 have horizontal lines
• 10 have diagonal lines
• 3 have diagonal lines ONLY
• 6 have diagonal and straight lines (vertical or horizontal)
• 1 has diagonal and straight lines and curved lines
• 11 have curved lines
• 4 have curved lines ONLY
• 7 have vertical and curved lines

To illustrate... a remnant from the Roman forum. 

Not paper, but I pondered...

We have been on the road for three weeks - and spent the last few days in Melbourne where we got to see this exhibition by Ron Mueck at the NGV. It was so worthwhile to experience art on this scale and of this nature. I was surprised by how accessible it was for just about anybody - they could easily relate and react to it.

His work is so lifelike and realistic in its execution; yet often so out of scale as to cause you to step back and reflect. He works with polyester resin, fibreglass, silicone, horse hair, cotton and so on to create these human forms. The obvious reflections are about how ageing can make people appear less important, obvious or active; and how after life has left a body it appears diminished and shrunken. The oversized baby and woman in bed create uncertainty as we observe intimate moments writ large; as does the naked man in the boat - so vulnerable as he tries to see what lies ahead.

A Letter a Week (ALaW) 8

Well talk about H in a hurry.  Life can be chaotic and somewhat out of control at times; so I just had to rush through this one. Initially I had wanted to do a transfer onto aluminium but my printer didn't give enough "charcoal" to transfer; so then I tried to just write on aluminium with what I thought was permanent ink - a day or two later it rubbed off nicely thank you.  Then I thought about etching into some metal (but forgot to ask my friend for the acid supplier) so parked that idea for now; then I thought I might do some drypoint scratching into aluminium - but time was short and my patience low, so figured that this might not be the time.

So what did do? I used some sheet metal, 'painted' it with a nice grey oil pastel, put copper leaf over the top and used a bodkin type thing to work swiftly and pull away the copper - trying to keep the letter free without ripping off half the copper. Challenging but quick!

A Letter a Week (ALaW) 7

Things are ticking along quite well and I continue to be inspired and challenged to go make some letters.  This is quite different to my others.  I wanted to work on fabric; and I chose this piece of rusted organza for starters.  I rusted it early last year by wrapping it around rusted items, wrapping it up tight, submerging it in white vinegar and leaving in the sun for 2-3 weeks. Requires patience to avoid 'peeping'.

I then wrote a letter and traced it onto the fabric and stitched around the outside of the letter.  I wanted to try using metallic thread as well - quite a challenge on fine delicate fabric, but fun.  I first of all tried two out of the six strands and it went wild, so I reverted to one strand (which was actually two very fine ones wound together).  It worked quite well but bounced around a fair bit.

I then covered a piece of mat board with calico and wound the remaining gold thread strands around that, then covered it over the top with the rusted fabric and embroidered letter. Phew!

Words for Peace 2010 - all done!!

It feels good to have completed these - this one took forever.  I drew a rectangle and then worked with dividing lines and curves to organise the space.  I was initially thinking of a stained glass effect and that these lines would be black, like on the windows.

I then wrote peace in big block capitals - nothing fancy at all - and started to colour in the spaces.  I used 9 coloured pencils and it was an interesting challenge to keep the colour, size, location and shape balances right.

In the end I chose not to write the letters in black; nor to do the lines in black.  I chose instead to leave the colour of the paper showing through and again remind myself that peace lies behind what we do; it emerges from chaos and is always there in our lives if we can look for it.

These four will be popped in the post along with Barry's great effort here.

A Letter a Week (ALaW) 6

This week is better paced and I seem to have time to get to my letters.  Here is "F" from the experimental alphabet.  This is the second attempt.

Firstly I tried to cut an F out of a white mesh/lace paper and glue it to black - it didn't work.  I still wanted to experiment with the cut out letter thing, so I got some heavy blackish Thai paper and then thought - how would black cut out on black work?  Thought again - probably not all that well.

I then decided to write a series of small Fs in copper metallic pen on the thin black paper and then cut out the Roman Capital F from the thick blackish paper.  I think it ended up looking like leopard skin kind of!

Very happy to have attempted this - just another little experiment.

Words for Peace 2010 - one done!

It was raining on the mountain over the weekend so I got the chance to hit the studio and get stuck into these Words or Peace bits for Mike.  In the end the piece of paper I used was perfect for three broadsides that have to be 20 inches x 5 inches.

This suited my layering of the text "Every step is Peace" and so I wrote over and over and then cut the paper into the right sizes.

I finished with a single red 'peace' on each.  Once the other piece is finished, they will wing their way to America to join the show there. I think the plan is that four will be stitched together like a lantern (hopefully these three will be spread thru quite a few) and the lanterns hung from the ceiling in gorgeous display of colour and peace.

Speaking of rainbows...

We are still in the midst of rain but the sun broke thru briefly yesterday and we managed to see a wee rainbow.

Apart from that Barry took this beautiful photo of a rainbow in my hand which really made me smile - the gift of rainbows.

A Letter a Week (ALaW) 5

I am just sneaking my letter in in time this week!  In many ways it has been a fabulous week because so many people have been posting to A Letter a Week 2010 and showing what they have done with their first four letters. I have been very busy helping out - getting photos compressed, giving basic how-to-blog tips and posting on behalf of those who haven't yet mastered the 'art' of blogging. It has been busy but oh so satisfying.

Despite that and a trip to Canberra for work in between, here is my letter "E". I think I really have to stop doing letters that are hard to photograph!  I wanted to experiment with aluminium 'shim' and first of all tried to cut the letter out and found it was very hard (or at least beyond me at that point) to attach to timber; so have left that experiment for another day.  Instead I used a ball-point embossing tool to draw into the 'shim' and to decorate it.  I then attached it to some mat board - just by folding it over. So again, I am pleased to have experimented with the materials.

Words for Peace 2010 - progress

After fiddling about I have decided on two pieces - one using coloured pencils on Canson and the other using my favourite quote "Peace is every step" written over and over in italics in ink on Somerset watercolour paper.  They are both underway and here are some early glimpses.

What appears to be blank paper actually has the pencil marks on it for colouring in purposes (might be visible when enlarged by clicking) and the stained glass effect I am after is also emerging from the second shot.

Rainbow collection

Well the long, dry, hot spell has been well and truly broken. We had 150mm (6 inches) of rain yesterday and it keeps coming in torrents as we get the edge of former cyclone Olga.

The valley is filled with mist and wisps of cloud and when the sun shines again we might get rainbows.  Here is one of my favourite rainbow elements- a stack of books.  I hunt around secondhand shops and monster book sales not looking at the title or the author, just collecting the books with the coloured hard covers.

I have learnt that blue is common and orange and purple very hard to find.  I keep adding to the stack and hope that in a year or so it will reach the ceiling.  I'm in no hurry but I do love it.