Two different moods

February 27, 2021

What does calligraphy do? Rounds the letters and make them flourish, engrosses the strokes here and there and transforms the words into painted shapes… It charms the eye.

I wrote the first sheet with the Montblanc 149 Calligraphy and the Black Permanent ink that I have been using for a year in this pen, alternating it from time to time with Blue Permanent.

I took advantage of the nice choice offered by Hahnemühle's Ingres pad, with its laid paper in nine different colors, ranging from pure white to slate gray and dark hazelnut. For the theme of “enchantment”, it seemed interesting to me to use one of darker sheets, with an almost burnt color.

To further increase the sense of mystery and charm for the eye, I decided to add the drawing of a "magic symbol". The symbol is an unpretentious invention, the synthesis between different figures that are used to populate the world of magic and mysteries.

But the enchantment of Calligraphy is actually white magic, innocent, sunny and bright like the beautiful shapes of letters and the intertwining of words. So I decided to make a new version of the text, on a light and bright sheet of paper. For this reason, and taking advantage of the fact that the ink of my Calligraphy was now on the point of running out, I filled it, for the first time in a year, with a light ink: Diamine Golden Brown. I quite like the effect...

It seemed interesting to me how the mood suggested by the two sheets, even with the same text, can be so different, and I hope it may have seemed curious to you too.