Cinque Ports Scribes meet in various locations in the area of Hastings and Dover. I have given workshops there about 5 or 6 times and have always been warmly welcomed by this very active and talented group of calligraphers.
The Art of Adolf Bernd Adolf Bernd combined crisp modern letter forms with decorative elements from illuminated initials. He did not use masking fluid but got a similar effect and with the water colours the outcome was a fresh, very individualised result. We will study his artwork and techniques and design a small stylised decorative letters or one large letter.
Most of Adolf Bernd’s fan club are attracted to three main elements in his designs:
- The wonderful subtle colours
- The white interlinear lines
- The patterns in the letter strokes and surrounding area
- I feel that to really learn from Bernd we should begin by trying to recreate his colour arrangements. Begin by isolating the main colours, then make water colour swatches using their complementaries. Its not always this simple but its a good start! Sometimes there may be two different greens, such as Viridian and Olive green and one red such as Alizarin Crimson.
Some workshoppers were doing a one-day course and produced one or two mall letters and some did the two-day option and did large letters.
As you can see, we looked at different types of lettering – Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Greek and traditional Scripts. After analysing the way Bernd approached his designs, everyone used their letter choices and did their own designs.
In the next instalment I’ll give you a little background about Adolf Bernd, some more insights into his designs and other pieces of work by Cinque Ports Scribes.
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