A pebble

To change my mind a bit, I just made a small gilded versal on a pebble.

The patterns are inspired by those found in a 12th century manuscript and I will teach the construction of this kind of initials (but not on a pebble) in March 2023 in an online course in English that will be broadcasted by the gentle penman

Romanesque initials

I am making progress on my materials for the course on 12th century initials and filigrees that will take place next April.

But, of course, nothing beats creating to put into practice the elements found in the manuscripts. So here is a small piece of a work in progress.

Yes, it’s green (sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone), soon a complete view of this composition and, in the meantime, you can already register for the course at the Arche de Saint-Antoine.

Filigrees, the origins

 It looks like a movie title, the umpteenth of a too long series when the writers have lost all inspiration and the producers are pressing for a last opus in order to make the license a little more profitable.

No such mercantile practices here!

I propose you a course :

– in person, because it is time to get back to meeting people in real life

– in Isère (France), in this wonderful little medieval village of Saint-Antoine l’Abbaye, at the Arche community which will provide full board accommodation

– in April 2023 (from 21 to 23) to celebrate Anselm, Abdiesus and George

– in English and French so that everyone can enjoy it

– in pairs because Cecilia Boschi will propose a course of Italian bastarda at the same place and at the same time

We will take advantage of this conjunction to offer you shared moments of demonstrations, conferences, exchanges…

But I haven’t told you what I’m going to talk about yet, have I?
Oh well, no.

So the subject will be the initials and filigrees of the 12th century, we are at the end of the Romanesque period, we feel the Gothic coming but we are still far from it, the colors and forms are still rich and varied.

From A to Z
Green !
Possibilities to make (almost) modern with medieval!

For more information, you can consult the dedicated page.

Registration is open and can be done on the Arche website.

A tribute

This year, we celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Marcel Proust’s death and the thirtieth anniversary of Peyo’s.

As a tribute to these two great artists, I made this little lettering as a wink.

A first version gave this :

And, as I’m really fond of justified text columns, here is a second version :

These are drafts, there will probably be a third version, with decoration and color!!!