Books helped a lot. The first one after the Speedball Calligraphy book was Margaret Shepherd's "Using Calligraphy." She hand- calligraphied the whole book. Impressive. In fact, it is from that book that I stole...um...borrowed my portrait from. Thanks Margaret.
On another visit to Desert Decor in 1995, I spied a small flyer taped to their front door. WhooHoo! Calligraphy class! Taught by Joan Williams! I called, sent her a check, and attended the class. It was being held in an art gallery on the other side of town. They served lukewarm punch and crunchy cookies as snacks, but otherwise it was quite nice. The display at the time was the Dinotopia artwork. Very neat stuff. Quite a few ladies were in attendance. We were seated in 2 rows of long foldout tables, and I waited in anticipation.
She was British. Of course, she had to be. Heck, the most coolest calligraphy style is called "Old English" for goodness sakes! She was almost exactly as I expected her to be and although the kindness in her eyes gave her away, as she began to teach, you could see in your mind the ruler smacking the back of your hand whenever you made a mistake. (That never happened; all I'm saying is that Joan is very disciplined in her craft.)
The hand we were learning was called "foundational." It's the one every wannabe calligrapher skips over in every book because it's not fancy enough to be calligraphy. It's also one of the most difficult to master, just like " Roman," the type you are seeing now. I had actually tried it and when I screwed it up-it became a challenge to get. I thought I had finally beat it, but as with any craft called a "practice," there is always more to learn.
Joan showed me some small, essential; finesse strokes that helped improve the letterforms. I seized the opportunity of the intimacy of the classes to bring in my work and show it to a professional calligrapher to get an assessment. Joan seemed quite indifferent, which completely crushed my ego, and I walked away resolved not to pursue any notions of becoming a professional myself.
About six months later, I received a letter in the mail from Joan. She wanted to set up an appointment to see me. Joan had been the premiere calligrapher in Las Vegas for years and was about to go into semi-retirement, no longer taking in new clients. She wanted me to be the "go to guy" for any new calls she would be receiving. Damned unreadable British! (hehe) What a meeting. I was ecstatic! and thus began my professional calligraphy career. Joan was absolutely wonderful as a business mentor and taught me alot about the local calligraphy market.
I have been working regularly lettering envelopes and designing leaves for a book of shadows for a Wiccan Temple here in Las Vegas.
I'm trying to figure out how to place my calendar here or at least a link to it. Look for it soon.
Please e-mail me if you'd like to know more or call me at 702-493-3439 to set up an appointment for your calligraphy needs. Erma
Erma Zurita copyright 2005 | erma@antiqueletters.com