Here is a homework project I recently completed. I’m attending a Barbara Close workshop held in Costa Mesa, CA, learning Roman Monoline. This project constraints included using two colors of gouache paint and two sizes of round pen nibs. (Gouache paint is like watercolor, but denser and more opaque.) We had several writing styles to choose from, and I chose this loose, letters-touching-each-other style because I’ve never done it before. I made it a personal challenge to make the text align left and right (rather than flush left ragged right). The number of words needed to be between 20-30, any source. I used Canson Mixed-Media paper, obtained from Art Supply Warehouse in Westminster, CA.

Psalm 23, Gouache on paper

I chose Psalm 23: 1-3a.  Since it was a comforting passage, I chose blue and green, which are calm colors (specifically, Reeves Gouache, blue and emerald). I mixed the paint with a few drops of water with a stiff square brush, then I loaded the nibs with the paint via the brush.

I actually lettered the alternating blue lines first, swapping out the thick and thin pens, until done. By the time I washed the pens and brush of the blue and returned, the work was dry enough to work on the green text.

I put some wax paper in the kitchen sink and laid the project on top, then took an old toothbrush, wiped it in the blue, aimed the brush at the artwork, bristle side up, and drew my thumbnail over the bristles toward myself. The bristles snapped forward, spraying the work with fine speckles. I did this for the green as well. The specks made it more interesting and, I think, unified the work further, marrying the text with the background.

Then I cut it with an even border all around, slightly less than 8.5 x 11″. The letters are about 3/4″ high.

I’m enjoying the class and the challenges it offers. Ms. Close is a terrific teacher and I hope to take more of her classes in the future.