My Calligraphy and Art Books

I wasn't sure what to name this post. "I Need More Shelves" popped into mind, as did "Something for a Rainy Day", "Resources", "I Should Never be Bored" and others.

Indeed, I love art books. I have resisted the temptation recently to add more of them to my shelves, partly because - "I Need More Shelves". Partly because I have enough here to keep me busy for years, and partly because as my friend Doris and I discussed just the other day we seldom read them all when we get them, preferring to skim the eye candy. There is much to be explored in those pages! These are just my most accessible shelves of "Resources". There are others.

Because I often justify the purchase of a new book by saying it is less than the price of a workshop, I am making a late year resolution. I plan to go through each of my books throughout the year and at least practice something from each of them until I have decided which to keep and which to remove from the shelves. "Something for a Rainy Day".

Besides, I have books on DVD to peruse, such as Denis Brown's tour de force which I recently featured on this blog, Jacqueline Sullivan's and Carrie Brown's and many more...and Fran Strom's calligraphy tapes to have transferred to DVD so I can view them. Not to mention all the handmade books I want to make. I have plenty to keep me busy. "I Should Never Be Bored".

UPDATE 8/21/2012: I am so excited! My new bookcases arrive this morning! Finally I hope to organize all of my art books and group them by subject. A little redecorating will also be called for. Busy week!

Denis Brown's DVD Set

If calligraphy had been an Olympic game, Denis Brown might have been the youngest to medal. At age 15 he had his first commission, and he has never looked back. No less an iconic calligraphy specimen than The Book of Kells was his study guide.

I met Denis Brown at the annual international calligraphy conference in Ohio about 9 years ago in order to arrange a visit to his studio in Dublin. Due to an overambitious tour schedule, I had to cancel that highly anticipated visit hours before it was to happen. Luckily for me, I was later invited to participate in a retreat in South Bend IN where none other than Denis taught me and several fine calligraphers his "Dangerous Lines", a forerunner to his polyrhythmic calligraphy. We all basically lived in the same house for the week.

He began that session with water in a squirt bottle to demonstrate dangerous lines on the black(green!)board.

You can see more photos from that wonderful week on my website in the "Denis in South Bend" album. At the end of that week we were looking and feeling pretty tired, as evidenced in this photo of Denis, my good friend Diana and me.

When Denis very recently brought out his DVD set on polyrhythmic calligraphy I ordered it. Excitement began when the beautifully packaged materials arrived in the mail from Dublin. Denis doesn't do anything half way.

Though I've only had time to watch a small portion of the first DVD, I can tell you that it is very thorough. Denis gives basic, practical advice on tools and set up, and advocates enjoying your practice on the theory that if you don't enjoy it, you won't be as apt to do it.

I look forward to delving into this DVD set and its 12 plasticized guide sheets as I get back to practicing some of what he taught in 2005 at Anne Binder's in South Bend.

If you'd like to learn more about Denis Brown and this wonderful DVD set (including ordering infomation if you too would like to own a set), please visit his Quillskill and Calligraphy TV websites.

(This photo of Denis Brown is from his Quillskill website.)