Celtic Calligraphy: Calligraphy, Knotwork and Illumination

Here are the five most important reasons I like this book: 1) You open it up and it's a tidy but substantial spiral-bound book which stays open. You're hit with color from all sides and the photography is excellent. 2) You know those metallic markers--calligraphy pens? I got some gold, silver and copper ones to try to have a go on calligraphy but just wound up using them to sign Christmas cards. The book first opened up on page 15 and, by gum, the reflection of the close-up wavy gold line being drawn--you can see her fingers--reflects in the light as if those were MY fingers and I was drawing that line! Very cool. 3) The steps for each depiction are excellent and well-spaced. Not too advanced, not too slow. 4) On page 44 I get a lovely insight into this talented author: she was commissioned to make a stage backdrop for her home of Nottingham's Saint Patrick's Day pageant and she describes how she made it succinctly and provides 4 varied photos. Based on the rest of the book, I can see exactly what she did and I appreciate her simple creativity that packs a punch visually. 5) I NOW UNDERSTAND THE PLAITING AND HOW TO TURN CORNERS!! I've busily studied many books to do this because I do a lot of hand embroidery and want to design my own projects. I find knotwork fascinating but would always just try to picture a long ribbon being braided over and under itself. On pages 34 and 35 the author shows in simple style 6 steps to draw curved plaited lines. Move on a few pages and you get sophisticated enough to see how to make corners of different variations of plaited, figure-of-eight, wavy and semicircular corners. But for me, the great beauty and benefit of this book is the coloring of the lines which adds drama, depth and dimension. 3 steps takes you from a line drawing of a plait to a 3-D picture. 4 steps for multi-colored lines on figure-of-eight knotwork. 3 steps how to color with feathering with one color and 4 how to feather with several colors or shades. I'm less interested in the embellishments sections and those of very complicated squares of florid designs with a circular center. And I would have a liked a bit more in styles of alphabets. But, for heaven's sake, to be able to see how to write the proper characters to say "Good luck!" in Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Manx (Isle of Man), Cornish and Breton is delightful. Some of the patterns of flowers are so lovely and would lend themselves easily to crewel or needle-painting. It seems just when you have a question, there's a green box with a TIP in it to clarify something or add encouragement. Author Kerry Richardson has been avidly designing and teaching Celtic calligraphy for over twenty years. And it shows. A great complement to this book would be: The Bible of Illuminated Letters: A Treasury of Decorative Calligraphy (Quarto Book) (although the reviewed book is more accessible as this is fairly daunting) I also recommend these books of mine: Celtic Calligraphy Celtic Art: The Methods of Construction (Dover Art Instruction) Celtic Knotwork Designs Celtic Design: A Beginner's Manual Celtic and Medieval Alphabets: 53 Complete Fonts (Lettering, Calligraphy, Typography) Celtic Illumination: The Irish School (Celtic Design) [This isn't calligraphy but we all love the Book of Kells, right? The Book of Kells: Selected Plates in Full Color

Very nice, unassuming how to do book on Celtic calligraphy. Useful.

This is really going to help me with my art work

Enjoying the book!

I really enjoy the step by step instructions for drawing Celtic knots. I love the Celtic script also. I have used it in making St. Patrick's Day cards.

This is a wonderful book for those wanting to know more about uncial lettering, Celtic knot work and decoration.

Beautiful book!

This book is a good hands-on beginning to an adventure in Celtic calligraphy and other art forms. I've gone through this book twice. The first time I was overwhelmed and used very inexpensive materials. The second time I used artist grade materials and felt I had a grip on the subject matter. Now I am about to go ahead and incorporate what I learnedinto my own art work. I'm mainly a watercolor artist, but I used gouache to do these exercises and may use it again in my future work. I would now like to read some history about this art form. The book is an enjoyable read. The instructional photos are helpful and so are the reproductions of the author's own work. The instructional prose is clear. Of course like anything else, if you want to get good you should practice a lot.

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great as a reference to celtic art, very well explained

just what I wanted for my ever increasing art ideas

I brought this book thinking that because it was new it might be a valuable addition to Celtic knotwork for my collection. Although I Found instructions on how to do the knot work very good as a calligrapher myself the calligraphy was dreadful. Some of designs were very 'busy' and (thank goodness) the lettering was lost amongst the chaos. Would not recommend as there are better books available on this subject.