Calligraphy Flourish Friday - The Saint John's Bible and Diane Von Arx

Following is a repost of my June 11, 2010 Flourish Friday.  Please be sure to click on the link to Diane's page at The Saint John's Bible website, and watch the video interview with Diane.  I believe the interview has been added since my first post.  I learned from Reggie Ezell that original pages of The Saint John's Bible will be on display at the Canton Museum of Art in Ohio beginning December 5, 2013.  Find out more at the Museum's website by CLICKING HERE.

Here's the repost.  To read the comments from the original post CLICK HERE.

I recently had the privilege of attending my local calligraphy guild's workshop with Diane Von Arx.

The workshop "Oh My Gouache" was excellent!  Diane taught us there are only two things that can go wrong when working with gouache: getting the gouache too thick or getting it too thin.  

She had us trace Roman letters and practice painting them with our fine point brushes. We were to leave a small gutter between the letter and our background to help the letter pop.  My gutter got a little clogged here and there, so I went over it with a pointed nib and Dr. Martin's Bleedproof White.

Diane continually challenges her students to look, really look, to be observant, critical and exacting.  She encouraged us to pay attention to the details and to always expect the best from ourselves.

Here Diane demonstrates painting a Roman letter using a student's paints.  (Diane's favorite gouache is Windsor & Newton Designer's Gouache.)

Here is the lovely Diane! Don't let that beautiful smile fool you...she is a taskmaster!! (But in a good way, not in an intimidating way.) :) She demands that you always do your best work. Don't just draw a baseline, get out the T-square and do it right.  Why create a piece, when you can create a MASTERpiece?!

Here Diane explains one of the Special Treatments she did for The Saint John's Bible.

If you would like to learn more about The Saint John's Bible project click here.

To say the project is "incredible" is a gross understatement.  In addition to the books that are already available, Diane said there will be a special edition of The Saint John's Bible. I can't wait to see it!

Diane was gracious enough to do lettering for each student to take home.

She was too savvy to take me up on my request for "Merry Christmas....Love, The Farrs"

Drat!

However, she did email me her 2009 Christmas card.

How beautiful is this?!!!!

Thank you Diane for a terrific workshop, and thanks to Jacquie Banks for the great job she does as the Calligraphy Guild of Indiana's workshop chair!

To visit Diane's website, click here.

To visit Diane's page on The Saint John Bible website, click here.

Happy Flourish Friday everyone!

xo