Chrismons in Ink

This week is devoted to inking up many of the Chrismons I've been commissioned to create. These will all be scanned in and cleaned up in Photoshop - things like smudges and dust and distractions that take from the overall piece will be delicately removed with a fine tooth comb.

The only one of these I'll need to redraw is the Easter Lily - I've got the leaves right, but the flower itself needs to be redrawn.

Inking a final in calligraphy is so rewarding, but tricky. It's an instantaneous process and one really has to warm up, loosen up and quietly focus before things really start to flow. I've had far more practice with a pencil, and to some degree, feel my pencil sketches are always better than the final work. But devoting this job to strictly to a pen and ink final, instead of a more graphic touch as in Adobe Illustrator, has been a real labor of love so far. It's a look I want to develop more and more and there is an elusive trust between your hands and the tools (paper, timing, ink, nib) that is so fine, so delicate, so instantaneous. It's broken very easily. But when you're in it - MAN, there is nothing like it. It's flow. It's god. It's trust. It's love.