We are coming to the end of the year and it will also be the end of this blog.
I don't stop for that but it won't happen here anymore.
I'm in the process of redoing my website elsewhere and soon the content of this blog will be available on the new site but, in the meantime, if you want to continue to have news from me, you'll have to go to benoitfuret.com from now on
See you there :-)
I've recently created new versals with filigrees, here is one of them :
And next year (that is to say very very soon), I will teach filigrees online again.
Filigrees, a manuscript approach is a 4 hours course (2×2 hours) where I will talk about different filigree patterns from several manuscripts.
The course (in English) will take place on January 14 and 15, from 6 to 8 PM, French time.
It will be taught via zoom and the recording will be available for one month after the live.
The cost of the course is 60€.
You can register by clicking on this link.
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
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.
Last chance to follow the first course on filigrees, it will be this weekend, it will be online, everything you want to know about it (schedule, registration,...) is to be found here.
We will study the unavoidable golf clubs along with some other patterns.
I am very happy to have been asked by IAMPETH for the second year in a row to participate to IAMPETH Virtual, a set of 12 one-hour demos, online and in English with 12 professionals from all over the world.
I'll be talking (again) about filigrees but this time about a rather special pattern, spirals!!!
If you want more information, or if you want to register for one of the demos (registration possible from November 1st), just follow this link.
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.
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!!!
If you like this kind of lettering and composition exercise, there are still a few places left for the online course on September 3 & 4. Information and registration here. Beware ! It's in French !!
It's really been a very long time since I've inflicted one of my filigree lettering on you. Probably because I took a break and devoted myself to other elements of calligraphy.
So here is a two-tone V with filigrees (a little different from what I usually do) and my inevitable little gilded dots.
And I take this opportunity to remind you that there are only a few days left to register for the course on split versals & filigrees that will be hosted by the gentle penman platform.
I live in the country of Iroise, a small part of Brittany, France.
In Breton, it's written (probably) Hirwazh.
So here is a work in progress and a reminder for this weekend's lettering class (in English).
There are still a few places left, more info and registration here.
And if you don't speak English but are still interested, there will be a French version in September, information here
More and more in search of original shapes, I continue to experiment with lettering and distortions.
Here are two small compositions (there should be 4 in the end) with the alphabet and Arabic numerals which makes a total of 6² (easy to lay out).
As I already said, I will be giving online classes on my approach to lettering, basic shapes, mechanics, layout...
The English course will take place on July 9th and 10th 2022, info and booking here
The French version will be a little later in the season, on September 3rd and 4th. Registration is already open, info here.
A verse from Walt Whitman to tell you that I love his poetry.
And also that I have scheduled a course on lettering.
Not just any lettering, no. Ferret lettering!
Well, okay, it's just my own version of lettering but it's still pretty nice, isn't it?
Just a small note with a variation on the NEULAND, a script that I particularly like for its plastic qualities.
And as it is never enough, some filigrees to embellish the whole.
You may have heard of the Book of Hours of the Duke of Visconti, a beautiful Italian manuscript from the late 14th century.
You may even have studied fragments of it, whether it be the magnificent rotunda gothic of the text or the countless elements of decoration and illumination.
But do you really know it?
What is this dragon that seems to be holding a child in its mouth?
What does the word dompne mean in the last line? And does a scribe make a lot of mistakes in copying?
Who is this "woman" with three faces?
Where are the beautiful capital letters (including the Y) in this manuscript?
Who are these fiery characters?
What do all these abbreviations mean?
to answer all these questions and many more, you can register for my zoom conference on February 13 at 6pm (replay available for a week) by clicking here
Today is my wife's birthday.
As I didn't know what to give her, I started to create a new currency and I started with a big banknote, 1 million !
Cashable only with me and in nature :-)
The photo is printed (yes, I know, I should have done it by hand but that's one of the many things I don't know how to do).
Gold leaf for the control strip and the dot of the i, embossing for the number, everything else is done in watercolor, different dilutions of Payne's grey.
I wish you all a very happy new year 2022, health, happiness and calligraphy :-)
And here is an A as in Appy New Year!
