The Letters of Adolf Bernd

Transcription

1 The Letters of Adolf Bernd November 12-13, 2008 Peter Thornton ADOLF BERND born 1909, died of his best works are in the Klingspor Museum he did not start making these decorated letters till he retired age 58 Peter interviewed his widow and she firmly rejected the suggestion that AB used resist to produce the fine white lines Bernd studied manuscripts to find letter shapes for his work Peter asked her if she ever chose his colours and she said that she had not but that Bernd had painted colours from flowers she brought in from the garden his work was not well known in his life time, even in Germany his studio was a table slightly larger than a card table, with his inks on one side and a pile of paper at the back INTRO this class concentrates on Bernd s colours exercises on harmonious and contrasting colours the smallest square we need to do in this class is 3/8 inch AB s work was larger than our pages, so his small squares are not really so small drawing the letter is the most difficult part of the job so we are using Peter s exemplars to save time PAPER Arches MBM paper is used because it is able to take abuse and is white Arches Textwove is creamier than the MBM therefore it is not as good for colours as the MBM it does take abuse and is therefore good for paste paper it is also good for books Arches Textlaid is good for lettering but not so good for water colour Rives would be good for Bernd work but it is hard to erase pencil marks without raising fluff a general note on paper: when you rattle it, it has a tinny sound for books, paper should bend slightly when it is held erect by the bottom of the sheet for this class, papers were torn down to 10 inches by 6.5 inches, used landscape and bound on the short side note: this means that the sheets were bound with the wrong grain when working on the sheet, allow at least 1 inch on the left for the binding WATER COLOUR colours listed on supply list: o Warm: Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, Phthalo or Winsor Blue o Cool: Alizarin Red, Lemon Yellow, Ultramarine blue Peter considers Cotman a student grade watercolour

2 using watercolour best to have the colour squeezed into the pan and left to dry it turns out to be more economical in the long run best to add small amounts of dark colour to light colour when mixing colours a couple of Peter s favourite colours are Quinacridone Gold and Sap Green Peter generally prefers not to use colours right out of the tube the colours mixed with each other and placed side by side have a relationship because they contain each other mixed colours produce wonderful greys BRUSHES supply list called for pointed brushes #2, 4 and 6 #4 was used most of the time Peter uses many inexpensive brushes METHOD letters are drawn with pencil first and colour is added afterwards when colour is dry, lines can be erased, especially in the gaps between colour patches in later works, Bernd left some lines in always keep the brush with the point towards the pencil line turn the page frequently so that the brush will be in the right position relative to the line this gives more control and a crisper edge to the colour patch Peter stressed not over painting with the water colour Bernd often (but not always) arranged plain letters on a fancy background OR fancy letters on plain backgrounds plain backgrounds have varied tones dark colours side by side can take a wider gap between them than light colours vary the gap between colour patches in letters with a line of white in the centre of a stroke, Peter usually draws one line and paints close to it but not on it he finds this simpler than drawing 2 lines to mark the edge of the white line medieval scribes had a different method - they painted the whole stroke with the colour and added a line of white paint on top of the colour when making designs of repeated patterns, AB breaks the pattern to keep it lively: e,g, EXERCISES #1 draw a cross lightly with pencil, not using a ruler this will produce 3 boxes, although the 3rd and 4th sides of the boxes are not drawn Bernd 2

3 mix some red and blue water colour paint and paint inside 3 of the boxes produced by this cross, not touching the line there will be a channel of white paper between the squares which should pop out add more blue to the mixture and paint this slightly darker colour in the last box when paint is dry, erase the pencil line in the channel of white between the squares #2 draw the same cross as in exercise #1 and paint as before but vary the shape of the squares slightly to produce one that is different e.g.: #3 draw lines to produce this (the dotted lines are for squares that might not be necessary): pick 2 colours and prepare a pool of each start in the centre of the grid and paint a square with the first colour (which has a touch of the second colour) do not touch the line, so that ultimately, there will be a white channel between the colours add a bit more of the second colour to colour #1 and paint a square in the spot marked 2 continue adding a bit more colour to each successive square try this with complimentary colours half way through the transition, the colour will be grey the aim is to go from one colour to the other by square 9, although it may be necessary to continue going around to #16 or a higher number #4 mix up a pool of a colour paint a series of squares in a row before painting each square, add a bit of water to the pool of colour the result should be a series of squares that gradually get lighter #5 create a series of squares and irregular shapes with white lines between them vary the shapes of the squares and the width of the white gaps Bernd 3

4 #6 draw a monoline A add a line on both sides of this skeleton letter to achieve a thicker letter paint the space around the letter and the inside counter with one colour Peter said this letter shows how boring a plain letter can be #7 pick a short word and letter it in monoline then add the 2 additional strokes as in exercise #6 draw curved vertical lines at irregular intervals to cut the background paint the background with varied colours leaving a white gap between them where the vertical lines are XXXXXXXXXXXXX #8 draw a letter and make a box around it paint within the box and inside any counter but leave the letter white as usual add a small box to each of the corners of the box paint inside each of the boxes but paint one of them a different shade XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX #9 take your initials and draw them in boxes or a joined arrangement enclose them in a box which may have an irregular shape paint the spaces between and around the letters #10 draw an S in a box draw a second S slightly wider than the first in the same size box draw a third S wider than the second in the same size box draw a really wide S in the same size box XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX if letters are going to be decorated in the inside of their strokes, they have to have wide strokes Bernd 4

5 #11 draw different letters and experiment with various ways of decorating them inside the strokes paint them, leaving white gaps within the strokes try using different colours best to use the darker colour in the centre most section of the stokes that comprise the letter to emphasise its shape and make it more legible #12 take a natural object (a leaf, shell, piece of bark, pebble, etc.) and analyse it for the colours it contains draw a grid and start mixing and painting the colours into the squares of the grid #13 do the same steps as #12 but try to paint the grids in the proportions of the colours in the object #14 do the same steps as #13 but cut the outside of the grid to make it the shape of the object #15 use the colours obtained from the nature exercises as a palette for a letter study GENERAL TIPS re Higgins ink o open a new bottle and leave the lid off for a bit to let the ammonia escape o add a couple of marbles and shake it to dredge up sludge o add ¼ squeeze each jet black gouache and vermillion gouache richer colour will result o add drops of Gum Arabic to a new bottle for regular lettering, 20 drops for Copperplate this gives the ink a sharper edge re opening tubes of paint if the lid is stuck, don t just twist it pull it away from the tube and twist at the same time if the lid cannot be removed, access the paint from the other end of the tube undo the fold or slice through the end and get at the paint that way REFERENCE BOOK Design with Type by Carl Dair BIBLIOGRAPHY Eitelbach, Kurt (translated by Cecilia Rohrer), Adolf Bernd. Calligraphy Review, Vol. VII, No. 2, Winter, 1989: QUOTE When you are in a workshop and feel that the work of the people on either side of you is better than yours, you think that because you see their work for what it is and your own work for what it is not. Bernd 5