LMC

In the previous post, I mentioned how I used my monogram for a screen print. The print was just a colour test, and was not that interesting. This semester, I wanted to do some calligraphy again, but thought I had better make something new. I decided to work with my mum's initials this time, simply because after a few, rough sketches, they were the ones that looked best, out of all those of the members of my family. 

I like working with a pencil and paper; it's what I have the most experience with. So, I began my project by drawing each individual letter, in a style similar to how they might look in the monogram. It was a long process, but I thought it would save me some time. I had just bought Photoshop (to replace Gimp), and was not yet familiar with the new set of commands. Well, it turns out that my drawings weren't that easy to manipulate into new shapes, or, at least, the exact shapes I wanted. So then I drew half the monogram, with the intention of mirroring it (fig. 1). That didn't look brilliant, either, once I did mirror it, but it provided a guide for the many paths I was to create.

Fig. 1 The preliminary frame

The thing about monograms is that the letters can't just be thrown on top of each other. All the flourishes have to land just right, which means adjusting entire strokes. There is a certain amount of forgiveness for distortion, and deviation from traditional letter shapes, but that doesn't facilitate anything much. The style of monogram I like, and drew inspiration, is baroque. Indeed, as a process, the monogram is like another baroque creation: the fugue. I say this, because in both cases the artist must coordinate the all pieces, individually, and the whole simultaneously. It's not enough to have a good looking L; that L has to fit with M and C, and it's mirror, and their mirrors, and the only way to see that it is does is by tweaking all those components together. The perpetual dialogue, or echo, if you will, is something like counterpoint. 

Needless to say, I made a lot of layers, and my psd file is very large. The final thing I did with this monogram was to create a woven look. I first saw the effect in the cypher of the Duchesse of Lauderdale, at Ham House (well, I saw it in a book by Gervase Jackson-Stops and James Pipkin, called The English Country House: A Grand Tour). I'm working my way up to the vegetal weaves of the masters.

Anyway, this piece was completed January 26, 2013, and is currently just a digital file. It will soon be a stamp.