Calligraphy on canvas
Last weekend our Calligraphy Guild held a workshop for calligraphy on canvas. Now calligraphy can be challenging enough on paper with nibs, inks and guidelines, so dealing with paint, brushes, an uneven surface and writing in a straight line unaided was quite a task.
Firstly we laid down some acrylic washes on our pre-primed canvases. Then a fine spray of “Moonshadow Mist” in various colours was overlaid, some over stencils. (Those are the bottles in the above photo).
Moonshadow Mist is essentially interference powders (metallic, pearlescent etc) held in a suspension of walnut ink (brown when wet). When dry the powder rises to the top to leave a lustrous effect on whatever you have sprayed it on.
Next came some lettering - highlighted words from well known verses. As the canvas was wet, no leaning to keep hands and arms steady was possible. An added degree of difficulty to write with your hand up in the air!
Then more layers of acrylic paint and mist to partially obscure the words before the next layer of lettering went on. It was really foul wet and windy weather outside as well, so things were just not drying (crucial when you’re layering). In the end one kind soul went home to fetch a hairdryer to speed the process up. One hairdryer to dry a whole room of wet canvases was a slow process!
Using the local flora as stencils (both negative and positive shapes) gave added richness to the layering.
One of my pieces below still has quite a few layers to go, so will be a Work In Progress for a little bit longer yet. All in all it was a fun way to spend an afternoon in a room full of people who all love the art of Lettering. If you’ve got a canvas laying around and a bit of time to spare, give it a try yourself!



























































