Hobbyist or Snobbyist?

The hobbyist and the snobbyist.


A current thread of conversation among the calligraphic community has to do with the not yet professional, but always willing to criticize sometimes-practitioner of the lettering arts.


You’ll encounter a lot of these folk passing judgment on people’s work at street fairs and public displays.


The distinguishing line is that you’ll never see any of their work in public. They’ll never do show and tell and they will certainly never break a sweat trying to improve their skills.


Professionals and hobbyists that I have met in most disciplines have always been open, friendly and ready to share the things they do that have improved the level of their pleasure in their chosen activity.


Plus, they and their work demonstrate that they take their work and the results of their efforts seriously - but they are humble and always willing to learn.

Just look at the efforts of the Master Gardeners who will offer advice to folk who have fuschia and black thumbs.

Sharing comes naturally to people who love their art, even to a fault.


At one weekend calligraphers’ retreat I attended the final exercise was separating all the shared gear and gouache. I'd sure love to have my hand-made brass ruling pen back ... someone - out there !? It has the cherry handle. It's mine.


Teaching professionals are also fun and exciting people to be around. Their handouts, demonstrations and encouragement are always worth the investment of dollars and time we make when taking the classes.


I try to be that kind of teacher. I really try to give the people who take my classes much more than they have paid for - in information, samples and goodies. Our classes do run to the very end of the clock when the facility staff tells us it is time to go and there is an audible “Aw.” from the group. The 3 hours do fly. Then we flee.


No camera class this time - maybe starting AFTER Labor Day would have been a better idea.


Another reason for not being snobby is remembering that just 30 years ago I was a totally empty calligraphic pot. What I know I have been given and have learned through practice.


The few of us that helped gather and promote the Carolina Lettering Arts Society and the local Guild have been rewarded time and time again with help, insight and friendships.


I don’t remember a snobbyist in the group.


We still live to learn new tricks, techniques and refine our art.


That is the basis for the word “amateur” - LOVE.

From the Zanerian Manual: written by C.W. Norder.

Learning to do lettering is much like learning to skate. It's a show to see a fellow wrapping his feet around his neck and twisting his mouth around to his ear when he first goes out on the ice, and he'll even laugh at the show himself if he's a good sport. But in a few years, Oh, how graceful! Lettering same way. Except that doing good lettering is more fun than having a skate on. This stuff is not hard to do - only difficult. The first hundred years are the hardest; after that it's easy. I am now about 43, and I have it half digested.


By the way. To look at the work of some young amateurs from another field, visit the West Regional Library. The work of the winners of the Teen Photography Contest is on display there.


This year, due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, it fell on me to judge the art on my own. It was not the most fun I ever had. However, I am happy with the results, as were the participants and the staff. It was good to meet the young photographers at the reception held in their honor and to talk with them about their pictures. I encouraged many of them to enter their work in the State Fair contest and the NC Wildlife magazine contest.


Those of us led by our hearts get carried away - but only with the best of intentions.


© tim    http://www.timjohnsonphoto.com/

An Invitation To Explore Written and Drawn Treasures

Fill some empty time and join me in some exciting research. Your useful "empty pot" will be filled to overflowing!
The great divide between medieval and renaissance documents is evident in the changes that swept Great Britain as the Tudors replaced the Plantagenets. Of course all of this did not take place overnight, but the shift in the appearance of documents, the changing lettering styles and the way that critically important documents were created and destroyed (Ack!) - or maybe just hidden, yet to be rediscovered.
Both dynasties were brutal. They were also the patrons of the arts and sciences.
More than one story is told of scribes creating important diplomatic and military documents, only to be killed to insure their lasting integrity.
After the Norman invasion of 1066, much of England became mostly German. Our modern American English is about 90% German. Why? The Normans eliminated the competition and chased families, monasteries and the educated into oblivion.
There were dynamic changes going on in mainland Europe as the humanists challenged the absolute supremacy of the catholic church in all matters of faith, science and thought.
This created an atmosphere of correspondence between thinkers. These people did not play nicely.
Martin Luther was indeed a powerful thinker and went far beyond his first intention of correcting errors WITHIN the catholic church. He soon found himself OUTSIDE the church and spent his days defending and railing against his enemies. He really never intended for the Lutheran church to arise from his spiritual pain.
His detractors in Rome, London and throughout his native lands wrote many letters and pamphlets.
Erasmus was trying to hold things together in Europe and Thomas More was the core of intellectual expression and later repression and persecution in England. More would eventually aggravate Henry 8 and we know that was always prelude to losing one's head.
I was very surprised to learn that Luther was almost as vulgar as former president Nixon. Ugly language for such great, flawed men.
A catalyst between Europe and Great Britain was Hans Holbein.
He did great portraits of the rich and famous.
We have his pictures and many copies of his correspondence. He also served as a courier for many of the great and powerful.
He was one of the first artists to create miniature portraits for lockets and small frames.
He did survive a lot in his work, but was probably killed when the plague reached London.

www.vam.ac.uk - The Victoria and Albert Museum is resplendent with documents and dress from many periods of British history.

http://tudorhistory.org This site takes you through the lineage of the Tudor reign in Great Britain. There are many images, documents and articles.

www.holbeinartworks.org - You'll enjoy his work, especially how he learned to include secret images and codes into his pictures. This method was a popular way to poke fun and warn the powerful through art.

http://www.royal.gov.uk - How much more inside of the horse's mouth can you get?

Thanks to Vanora Bennett, author of Portrait Of An Unknown Woman. She how has 3 novels. She introduced me to a "new" OLD technique that I have been using for the last few weeks.

Warning! Thunderstom & Hurricane Preparation For Your Electronics

image from the Virginia Tech Computer Labs

Thunderstorm and hurricane season call for extra precaution for electronics users – that's all of us.
How do you really protect your electronic devices from surges, strikes and spikes?
The true answer? Disconnect everything. 
That includes power sources and modems.
Any entry into the home, electrical and plumbing, is a route to doom your devices.
Each week I have my 3 PCs do an automatic backup to an external drive. When that is complete, I unplug the drive and disconnect the drive from the power supply.
Each week I also do a backup to DVDs. My MS OneCare has an option to select the location of the backup and I backup each PC separately as well as collectively.
I also have two off-site backups that connect to my PCs and upload my files every night. The little fee for that service is just very inexpensive peace of mind.
Do your back ups. Back up your back ups and back up your back ups offsite.
For storm preparation, do not rely on surge protectors. They can only do so much to protect your equipment from harm. Also, they lose their capacity for protection over the years.
I have a series of surge protectors and a UPS device for my main PC. However, everything is connected to a single outlet. When a bad storm is imminent, I unplug everything and I also detach the cable connection so that nothing from the outside can come inside.
The same is true for the big, bad TVs, DVD players, amps, game machines and the new electronic washer and dryer.
IT IS EASIER TO REBOOT THAN REPLACE.
Storms, they are coming. Get ready in the sunshine. You'll be so happy you did. © Tim www.timjohnsonphoto.com

CHALLENGING THOUGHTS FROM ELIE WIESEL

What to write? Maybe the question would be better asked, what to read or what to see? Elie Wiesel has seen and thought much. Some of what has passed through his mind and heart he has written down. His books are not easy reading but they are worthy of our time and thought. Putting some of these into ink, or maybe translating some of these thoughts into an image in your lens, might be a truly worthy project. Have at it and let me know what happens.  Tim




Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing. — Elie Wiesel


We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. — Elie Wiesel


When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude. — Elie Wiesel


There is divine beauty in learning. To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you. — Elie Wiesel


One person of integrity can make a difference. — Elie Wiesel


For the dead and the living, we must bear witness. — Elie Wiesel


Which is worse? Killing with hate or killing without hate? — Elie Wiesel


Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing...
And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished. Behind me, I heard the same man asking:
"For God's sake, where is God?" And from within me, I heard a voice answer: "Where He is? This is where – hanging here from this gallows..." That night, the soup tasted of corpses.— Elie Wiesel (Night)


To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe. — Elie Wiesel


Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.— Elie Wiesel (Night)


I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


If the only prayer you say throughout your life is "Thank You," then that will be enough. — Elie Wiesel


Only the guilty are guilty. Their children are not. — Elie Wiesel


I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. — Elie Wiesel


Most people think that shadows follow, precede or surround beings or objects. The truth is that they also surround words, ideas, desires, deeds, impulses and memories. — Elie Wiesel


For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


[Moishe] explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer.... 'And why do you pray, Moishe?' I asked him. 'I pray to the God within me for the strength to ask Him the real questions.'" — Elie Wiesel (Night)


Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself. — Elie Wiesel


God is God because he remembers. — Elie Wiesel


The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
(Oct. 1986) — Elie Wiesel


I shall always remember that smile. From what world did it come from? — Elie Wiesel (Night)


He explained to me with great insistence that every question possessed a power that did not lie in the answer. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe. — Elie Wiesel (The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, The Accident)


Whoever survives a test, whatever it may be, must tell the story. That is his duty. — Elie Wiesel


Write only if you cannot live without writing. Write only what you alone can write. — Elie Wiesel


I've been fighting my entire adult life for men and women everywhere to be equal and to be different. But there is one right I would not grant anyone. And that is the right to be indifferent. — Elie Wiesel


I feel that books, just like people, have a destiny. Some invite sorrow, others joy, some both. — Elie Wiesel


I don't want my past to become anyone else's future.— Elie Wiesel


I was inspired by the marvelous example of Giacometti, the great sculptor. He always said that his dream was to do a bust so small that it could enter a matchbook, but so heavy that no one could lift it. That's what a good book should be. — Elie Wiesel


No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them — Elie Wiesel


Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night…Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


There are victories of the soul and spirit. Sometimes, even if you lose, you win. — Elie Wiesel


You’re shaking … so am I. It’s because of Jerusalem, isn’t it? One doesn’t go to Jerusalem, one returns to it. That’s one of its mysteries. — Elie Wiesel (A Beggar in Jerusalem)


It was like a page torn from a history book, from some historical novel about the captivity of Babylon or Spanish Inquisition. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


Whenever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must-at that moment-become the center of the universe. — Elie Wiesel


I swore to never be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides, neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim, silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. — Elie Wiesel


He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer... — Elie Wiesel

New View Of Saturn

O.K. I was setting up an item for a photograph and I got the LiveMail “note” that a note had arrived from NASA. Their announcements and images are always interesting and I was in need of a break. What follows is their image of the day:

This is not a “real” photograph. To better understand Saturn's rings some of the scientists assigned colors to certain sizes of the chunks of rocks and ice in the rings. That is what produced this image.
Although it is false color, it is wonderfully cool.
We are always doing this to alter images. Most of the tools, plug-ins and adjustments simply play on the characteristics of the pixels we have identified.
All of the Hubble, Chandra and Kepler images are binary – and the colors we see are inferred.
One of these days we will have a ring around our little planet. Space debris, assorted junkers and clunkers from our early space explorations, maybe a few busted asteroid or two. Will the Moonerinians think it is pretty? © Tim www.timjohnsonphoto.com

A CALLIGRAPHIC LIBRARY

Writing, Illuminating and Lettering, Edward Johnston, Taplinger-Pentalic

The Italic Way To Beautiful Handwriting, Fred Eager, Collier Books, 1974 (out of print, but available $10-12)

Italic Handwriting Series, vol. 1-8, Dubay and Getty, Continuing Education Services, Portland St. Univ., POBox 1394, Portland, OR 97207

My Dear Runemeister, Lloyd Reynolds, Taplinger Publishing Company, New York

A Handwriting Manual, Alfred Fairbank, Watson-Guptil Publications, New York, 1975

The Story Of Writing, Donald Jackson, Taplinger Publishing Company, New York, 1981

The Mystic Art Of Written Forms, Frederich Neugebauer, Neugebauer Press, London

Medieval Calligraphy, Marc Drogin, Allanheld & Schram, London, 1989

The Irene Wellington Copybook, Omnibus Edition, Pentalic/Taplinger Publishing, New York, 1977

More Than Fine Writing: Irene Wellington, Donald Jackson and Others, Taplinger, 1987
(Someone has my copy - please look around and return it to me please)
The Anatomy Of Letters, Charles Pearce, Taplinger Publishing Company, New York

Three Classics Of Italian Calligraphy, Oscar Ogg, Editor, Dover Publications, New York, 1953

The 26 Letters, Oscar Ogg, Crowell Press, 1948

The Speedball Textbook, current edition, Hunt Speedball Bienfang, Philadelphia

Written Letters, Jacqueline Svaren, Taplinger-Pentalic, New York

Calligraphy School, Gaynor Goffe & Anna Ravenscroft, Reader’s Digest, 1993

The Essentials Of Lettering, Tomas French & Robert Meiklejohn, McGraw Hill, 1912

Cursive Handwriting, Philip Burgoyne, The Dryad Press, 1955

Encyclopedia Of Calligraphy Techniques, Diana Hardy Wilson, Running Press, 1990

The Calligraphy Of Lloyd J. Reynolds, William Gundersen & Charles Lehman, Oregon Hist. Soc. Press, 1989

Words Of Risk: The Art Of Thomas Ingmire, Michael Gullick, Calligraphy Review, 1989

The Art Of Hand Lettering, Helm Wotzkow, Dover, 1952

The First Writing Book: Arrighi’s Operina (16th C.), John Howard Benson, 1954

A Book Of Sample Scripts(1914), Edward Johnston, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1966

The Illuminated Naples Bible(14th C), Eva Irblich & Gabriel Bise, Crescent Books, 1979

(Most of these books, if available, can be gotten from John Neal Bookseller, Greensboro, NC)

This list is not comprehensive.

Of the making of books about calligraphy there is no end. And, there seems to be a cycle of interest in the sport and I recently came across several books at a used book store that a guy was selling off, just to make room on his shelves for his new books about cooking. What I got were real classics - all out of print and I was glad to get them.

The three books I revisit MOST are Johnston's Writing, Illuminating and Lettering, Neugebauer's Mystic Art Of Written Forms and Jackson's Story Of Writing.

These have the content, formulas and examples that I find most useful. Maybe a poll of our cyberscribes could see which three books most letterfolk would hold onto.

Precious also are my handouts from Peter Thornton, Denys Brown and Michael Clark.

These are the people and letterforms I want to emulate. I have been fortunate enough to study with them and have picked up their joy and energy of working with letters. I try to pass that along to anyone that wants to learn about that crazy little thing called calligraphy.  (c) Tim  http://www.timjohnsonphoto.com/

PS - Next - The 3 references regarding photography that I'd like to keep at hand - or at least in  my library.

A PUZZLE JUST FOR YOU

A few years ago I bought a package of printable, blank puzzles. The idea was fun … the application wasn't.



The die that cut the board didn't meet and the paper was really porous and the screen printer couldn't jam enough ink into the cuts to make a really good, solid impression.


My visions of clever invitations to parties faded quickly. You know, get a puzzle in the mail, fit it together and, “Wahoo!”, you are on your way to a party!!!


However. These are things you just don't toss – maybe there would be a time when someone would want to hand paint them. Is there … someone? Is this the time?


Anyhow, the puzzles are what they are and they reminded me of a former business partner. For her, everything was about knowing and getting the puzzle pieces together and making them fit. There were a few times she tried to make them work with the mallet of will – rather than with patience and finesse. Bless her heart.


Any art is more than its parts. Writing is more than grammar, vocabulary and having the tools we want at hand. To be a writer, we must write. Hence, people with things to say find a means of expression. Graffiti, vulgar lyrics, primal screams and artistic expressions we may find offensive are ways people try to say what they feel. Radical expressions of earlier days seem tame by comparison and so will our wild and crazy music and art seem to future generations.


Sometimes it does take a critical mass of equipment – say for your photography, to get you out and taking pictures. The same is true for putting thoughts down on paper.


It is probably true that some several thousands of people are sitting around thinking that if they had a better typewriter or computer or additional software, they would write a better book or BLOG. The old, “I'll start exercising when I feel better thing.”


Maybe someone is thinking that a better camera or lens will make them a better photographer.


Tomorrow a couple of colleagues and I are going to look at this year's entries in a teen photo contest. I wish I could listen to each of them tell the story of how they came to take their photograph and what it means to them. We have to judge the images for what they are and the kids get some cool prizes.


If I could talk to them about life, art and puzzle pieces, I think today I would tell them to toss the pieces away and think of themselves as the critical piece that finishes the puzzle for many others.


By the way, the puzzle at the top is a single puzzle, scanned. All the pieces are there. Can you fit the pieces together? You might have to think a little more than you imagine.


But, after all, you are the piece that finishes the puzzle. © Tim www.timjohnsonphoto.com

The Development Of Our Modern Alphabet

from The Anatomy of Letters by Charles Pearce

Pictographs are too clunky and ideograms are too confusing. Aren't we glad we have the 26 character alphabet? The above chart gives an insight into how the modern western alphabet evolved.


Our characters came from the middle east as did our numerals. Thanks to the folk in India, we even have the concept of zero, which makes the modern US budget easier to understand.
Our language is about 92% German by way of the Norman invasion of Great Britain. The rest is a smattering of the ROMANce languages, Greek, Nordic and a few modern introductions.
Our serifed fonts are based on the Roman style of inscribing stones. One strong theory is that the serif was used by the stonemasons to allow their sharp metal chisels to gain a start into the rocks they were engraving.
Sans serif letters are efficient and just drop the elegant entry and exit strokes.


You can decide for yourself if you find the serifed letters easier to read or not.


You can decide for yourself if you find the serifed letters easier to read or not.


See. You decide about the reading. Serifed letters are definitely easier to write. The entry and exit strokes make writing much easier when using any sharp-edged pen. The challenge to the calligrapher is to make those strokes with consistency.
That consistency comes with perfect practice and learning to see what you are doing.
Jump into the new class forming through Wake Tech. Class begins September 3 at Apex High School, 6:30-9:30 pm. Contact the Evening Division of the Continuing Education Department of Wake Tech for more information. The main number there is 866-5000 and my supervisor is Duncan Shaw and his number is 866-5820. Set your mind to this and let’s get together for some learning fun!

Link To Fiona Dempster, Australia

http://www.paperponderings.blogspot.com/
Fiona Dempster likes pens, paper and making creative books. You will enjoy and benefit from viewing her BLOG. She is from AUSTRALIA. So you do have to stand on your head or turn your monitor upside down to get it to look right.

Houses And Homes

In an earlier incarnation I was a church pastor. Being a sociologist I enjoyed one duty especially and that was home visitation. It was in the home that I could really take the spiritual and mental pulse of church members and people I might be trying to engage in the cause of the faith.

The home quickly reveals almost everything about a person and a family.
Sometimes there were “tours” if I was that new and green to a community or if the host had a hobby that they thought I might be interested in. Sometimes there were refreshments and I could easily tell if my cake or cookies were being served on the pet's plate by the way they were keeping a very sharp eye on me.
I could also tell if the home was a place where there was thinking and discussion. A lot of that had to do with the arrangement of the furniture. If every piece of furniture was arranged so that it angled toward the TV, then I guess one way. If there were deliberately arranged conversation areas, then things might be different.
Bookshelves, if there were any, gave additional clues. If the shelves were cluttered with knick-knacks and obviously dusted, then the books were probably seldom read. If they were arranged purely for color and symmetry, that was another clue that they might have been read once, treasured and put away for future use, if they fit the décor. Content - looking books or content books - that was a special exercize in observation. Had they bought a thinking books since college? Were they just thinking about what would make a good meal next Thursday evening?
Photographs, the biggest clue, were my favorite thing to view. If the most recent pictures had color going away, I could bet that there was a camera in a closet with 3 Christmases and 5 birthdays on a 24 count roll of film – waiting to use the last frame without “wasting” it.
For all their popularity, I hated the development of the La-Z-Boy as much as I hated the introduction of bucket seats in automobiles. The single-seat chair separated the sitter from everyone else. Something was really lost when folk no longer spent time together cuddled on a couch, talking about their day or just relaxing in each others' arms. I looked at the couches to see if they had a saggy spot from such precious social time and it was rare to see it. I loved seeing the Naugahyde couches covered in vinyl. If you moved off of those things on a hot day, your hide would just stay put! Even more rare was to see a grandly proportioned couch, loaded with afghans and obviously the place where the whole family piled together.
A lot of people dusted off their Bibles for display and that didn't count for much. I looked for the ones with duck (that IS the original name!) tape on the binding.
I looked for notes and photos on the refrigerator.
Sometimes it was easy to see and feel the love. People would sometimes tell me about the trials and heartache they had overcome or about the things that were tearing at them right then.
I have been in every kind of home you could imagine. Houses so bare and poor that wind would cut through the floor and pierce the walls and ceiling, carrying with it the precious little heat generated by the undersized Warm Morning stove. I have been in castles and mansions. (“Mansion”, by the way, is a French derivative for any old house that was fortunate enough to have windows.)
The art in any home is another treat. Many homes have a piece or two of religious art (The Virgin, Jesus and Elvis). Some have reproductions of famous paintings or prints of famous photographs. A few people have original artwork or have created their own to mark special feelings or to make statements about life.
Home then, for me, is a place of meeting or hearts and minds. It is a place of safely sharing and refreshing, healing, rest, retreat and renewal.
Many years ago I was taking photographs for our 8th edition of The Insiders' Guide and was in Old Salem, North Carolina. I came upon a prayer in German and worked to translate it.
I set the “Blessing” to paper and now there of copies of this piece on most of the world's continents.  Yep, printed and framed copies are for sale. I did the little blackletter form in the early 80's. Many people reading this can do a better job - so do it.
The blessing reads: Bless our home Father, that we may cherish the bread before there is none; Discover each other before we leave; and enjoy each other while we still have time.
This is some worthy calligraphy homework.
It is certainly worth applying in each and every home.
© Tim   http://www.timjohnsonphoto.com/

Link To Cindy Yount, Calligrapher

http://www.cindyyount.blogspot.com/  - samples


http://www.cindyyountnews.blogspot.com/ - calligraphy news


http://www.collectedtruths.blogspot.com/ - quotes