Happy birthday !

 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.

From lines to lines

On May 4 & 5, I will exhibit at the Chapelle Saint-Ourzal in Porspoder.
In addition to my calligraphy, I will also exhibit my photos.
The exhibition takes place from 2pm to 5pm on both days and I will be there to scribble a little, just to show what can be done with a little ink and a few nibs :-)

I hope that many of you will come to see me:-)

happy new year

I didn't post a lot lately. Partly because I had no time, partly because I'm lazy and partly because I was busy creating new stuff.
To apologize, I wish you happiness, health and prosperity for this new year.
And, as for a new start, here is a how to create a wish thing with a minimum of material and by recycling daily things.

1- take a lid from a jam pot (or other lid from other pot, beans is also a good choice).

2- draw, calligraph your text, pattern, thing with a marker on the lid.

3- Remove the paint with a nail (like the one that can been seen on the bottom right of the image) or any other tool suitable.

4- Once the pattern totally clean from the paint, use a battery connected to cotton bud to electro-etch the cleaned surfaces.

5- To remove the remaining paint, you can sand the lid or, if you're as lazy as I am, just use a soldering lamp to burn the paint (beware of the fumes, probably very toxic !)

You'll have to end with a bit of sanding with a emery cloth and that's it !

Once you've taken a good pic of your etched lid, everyone will envy you :-)

And if you prefer something more traditionnal, here are Jacques Brel's wishes on January 1978.

Moon of tar

In calligraphy practice, not only the final version of work is interesting.

The bent cover of a tar pot makes a beautiful abstract composition, don't you think ?

Man hole cover

Those of you who follow me on facebook already know about my appetence for man hole cover pictures. I've decided to recreate these graphic objects into more portable shapes, here is a pic of the first step of the creation of a pattern on zinc that will be used to emboss a paper in order to create a man hole cover design.

I don't know whether the final thing will be worth it but I already love this pic, don't you ?

Subproduct

No time for the moment to work on calligraphy, so here is just a pic of a paper used as a blotter while cleaning a piece of engraved zinc.

Makes a nice abstract pic, doesn't it ?

subproduct

A picture of the paper which was under my lastest work on zinc while I washed up the varnish.

It makes a beautiful abstract work, residue of zinc oxide and varnish on paper.

9x6

I'm in the process of installing my own gallery and I just hung the nine hexagrams of the I Ching still in my possession.

One can see the reflection of the opposite wall where I started to calligraphy some texts to brighten up the room.

I hope to be able to show more pictures soon and above all to open the gallery with a nice exhibition.

natural graffiti

It's not street art, it's dirt track natural art...

but it looks very close to street art, I feel I can almost read the message !

Acid

Just a picture of crystals forming in a sulfuric acid bath in which I put some zinc.

lovely, isn't it ?

Shadows

As I don't have any new piece of work to show, here is a pic taken in my workshop this morning.

Would you recognize the objects which cast these shadows ?

Mooooooooon

Yesterday morning, before sunset, the moon was shining in the sky as thin crescent and the obscured part was also visible in a shade of deep grey.

but it was very cold outside and I didn't have my coffee yet, so here is the result :-)

reflection

the sky reflecting on a wet metal plate

sunset

I didn't edit this picture, it's the real view I had while opening the curtains this morning. Kind of apocalyptic sky :-)

from my window this morning

Chimera

giraffe with a human head

Waves

Varnish

Bubbles

On going engraving with acid on zinc

paint pot

Sometimes, the best picture one can take is the one of the pots containing the paint or ink and definitely not what was done with it.

the opening

Welcome on this new blog !
I've been asked so many times to create an english version of my existing blog on calligraphy that I decided to create a brand new blog, disconnected from the first one.

This blog will be about calligraphy of course (and I'll try to post all my old stuff from the other blog in here, once translated) but not only.
As some of you may already know, I'm also very interested in photography and this virtual workshop will handle some of my pics among any other subject that I may found interesting to share with you.

As for a start, here is one of my latest pics (nonetheless related to calligraphy) : the reflection of the roof in fresh varnish.