By Ruth Rowland
Journal: The Holly and the Ivy Illustrative Christmas Calligraphy
Inspired by The Holly and the Ivy, a traditional British folk Christmas carol this festive piece combines illustrative techniques with gothic calligraphy and metallic highlights.
The Holly and the Ivy Illustrative Christmas Calligraphy
Part of my ongoing drawing and calligraphy practice, this is one of a series of worksheets from a Christmas-inspired session, focusing on experimenting with mixed media and metallics.
The Holly and the Ivy Illustrative Christmas Calligraphy: metallics
Working on black paper, I built up metallic gold and silver textures with Finetec Pearl Colours and Caran D'Ache Prismalo Pencils. Layers of Gothic calligraphy and small spot illustrations were added with black and white Winsor and Newton gouache.
The Holly and the Ivy Illustrative Christmas Calligraphy: gouache
I create worksheets as part of my studio practice as a way to learn without the pressure of final artwork, experimenting as I progress to see what happens. I find this type of organic visual thinking is a good way to hone hand skills, increase knowledge of different media and inspire new ideas.
The Holly and the Ivy Illustrative Christmas Calligraphy: experimentation
If you're interested in booking an experimental word and image workshop later next year, do get in touch to discuss options. Workshops are all custom designed to suit the venue and can be themed to suit specific subjects, times of year or related exhibitions.
If you'd like to read more about my workshops, take a look at my British Library Expressive Writing and Calligraphy Course or read about my demonstrations for the Picturing Magic course, aligned with the Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibition.
