Chapter 9: Combining letters with pattern

 

Activity 2.9.1. Draw patterns that Klimt used in his work

 

	This was done on heavy cartridge paper with a calligraphy pen.  I love drawing with this pen, but with its fine lines the ornaments tend to get very small.  I like the way Klimt paints distinct areas made up of contrasting ornaments
	So it was a lot of work to colour the page (it was fun though!). I used watercolours and gold ink, working with a fine brush. At first I had planned to leave some white here and there, but it looked like holes punched in the pattern. So the lightest areas are grey. Looking at Klimt’s paintings I was impressed by his elegant colourways and attempted to stay in the blue-green-gold range with spots of violet, ochre and red.
	The gold ink intrigued me, so I covered a page in my sketchbook with several layers and painted the ornaments with gouache. I like the part on the right, where the golden background is left as a line between blue ornaments. Drawn with the brush the ornaments are much bolder.

Activity 2.9.2 Make an illuminated letter in the style of Klimt

 

I wanted an uncomplicated but stylish letter shape that should leave clear spaces to fill. I think the Y works well. The background was painted in turquoise acrylics, the letter in gold ink. I then added the ornaments using gift paper, gift and chocolate wrappers, acrylics and gold gel pencil. The very light triangle and circles are not really so light as they appear on the scan. On the sheet they fit much better.

 

Extra activity

A design from Chapter 4 with Klimt ornaments

I chose this design – letter B from Fancy Pens – because it leaves enough space for the ornaments.	First I painted the lines of the letters and the background with gouache. For filling the letters I cut out shapes from gift paper using a stencil I had made in Chapter 4. Cutting the shapes to size left swirls of paper which I added to the round shapes and in the corners. The small circles and triangles were cut or punched, further lines added with gold gel pen.