For students new to calligraphy, as well as those who are looking for an opportunity to revisit the basics, the Gentle Penman is offering a four-part Introduction to Italic.   In order to make this series available to students with varying experience and interests, we are following the successful format of our previous series:  Copperplate Summer School, and offering students the opportunity to sign up for individual workshops.  (For example, if you are tempted by Swash Capitals, and already have experience with the Minuscules, you can choose Part 3 of the series.)  We do, of course, recommend that beginners start at the beginning!  We will introduce you to the tools and materials and basic rules of broad-edged pen calligraphy in Part 1, and continue from there.  Stay tuned for information about all four parts of this exciting series!

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PART 2:  THE MINUSCULES & SPACING

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The Italic minuscule alphabet is an elegant, graceful, and yet logical script consisting of "letter families" with repeated and consistent forms.  In this workshop we will start at the beginning, learning simple forms that can be combined to create beautiful and well-formed letters.  The focus of this workshop is both an introduction to Italic minuscules for beginners and an intensive, detailed review for more experienced calligraphers.

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No less important than understanding the structure of Italic minuscules, is learning to combine the letters to create words.  An understanding of spacing is essential to beautiful writing, and we will devote the third day of this three-day workshop to understanding and applying the simple -- but very important -- rules of spacing.  We will look at both the relationships between letters, and the white space created inside and between letters when we write words.  This is a wonderful opportunity to devote some time to an often neglected area of calligraphy, and one that is the difference between merely making letters and actual calligraphy, which is defined as beautiful writing.