Author Archives: SJ

February 27, 2027 Meeting: Romans and Fun Techniques with Veronica Philips on Zoom

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Saturday, February 27th, 2027
Romans and Fun Techniques with Veronica Philips on Zoom
Recorded and available for 60 days to members only

Join us for a journey into creativity, introspection, hand lettering and play. We will work on Arch-es Text Wove and will create spaces and areas to design our own unique art.

Romans and Fun Techniques with Veronica Philips

We will review and warm up with Casual Romans and variations. Playing with variations of our own handwriting and favourite calligraphic hands and art techniques will be explored. Handouts and supply list will be forwarded closer to the date.

You can see Veronica’s work at https://veronicaphillips.com/ and @azartist.

January 23, 2027 Meeting: Pretty Paisley Letters with Cecilia Boschi on Zoom

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Recorded and available for 60 days to members only

In this short program, we will learn about the interesting design possi-bilities offered by a type of paisley decoration that was used in the 16th and 17th century. These decorating elements, that look like a pattern, but are not, are particularly suitable to accompany the elegance of the magnificent Roman Capitals used for monograms and drop caps at the beginning of a sentence or line. We will start with the basic elements and shapes and learn the general rules of a paisley design around a letter, and in compo-sitions for separators or frames. We will then build a paisley design together and go through troubleshooting, tips and tricks of paisley designs.

Supply list and handouts to follow closer to the date.

Pretty Paisley Letters with Cecilia Boschi

Cecilia Boschi Cecilia lives in Italy; she graduated in foreign languages but has always held a special interest for visual arts. She started her calligraphy journey in 2013 specifically developing her eye for pointed pen styles. She has been a member of for several years and was awarded the IAMPETH Certificate of Proficiency in Engrossers (part of the new Master Penman Program) in April 2018 . She is the founder at CeciliaB Calligraphy offering her clients wedding and event calligraphy.

Find Cecilia online at Cecilia B Calligraphy and Instagram

September 23, 2026 Meeting: Come to the Dark Side! Presented by Violet Smythe and Wendy Cowley

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Wednesday, September 23, 2026
7:30 pm to 9pm at Peace Church
In person only – this will not be recorded

 

A fun session where you will experiment with a variety of mediums on a variety of black papers to create lettered pieces and other sample pieces that have that “wow” factor.

The session will be set up with a number of stations that you will rotate through. All timed, so you will have the chance to try your hand at a number of techniques.

You’ll get to try lettering with odourless gel bleach, working with gouache, gel pens, colour pencils, pastels, metallic paints (water soluble). We will have some dimensional paints on hand and some interesting tools for you to try!

Most of the supplies will be provided; however, there are a few that you will need to have:

  • Bring an apron or wear old clothes that you don’t mind getting messed up
  • Brushes for gouache and metallic paints (round (4, 5 or 6) or flat (1/2”)
  • Broad edge nib and nib holder and a small brush (cheap) for loading ? Folded pen, if you have one
  • Pen or pencil and a notepad for taking notes
  • Clean empty palette (small 6 well is plenty)

September 12: Acanthus Leaves: A Manuscript Approach (Online Enrichment Session)

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An online enrichment session with Kathleen M. Rollick

Saturday, 12 September 2026
10 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. dst  (1:00pm – ~3:15pm est)

WCS Members can access the link to the session recording in the member portal: Log in and visit  Programs & Recordings

Thanks to a variety of digitized collections, we are lucky enough to be able to access these collections without needing to travel around the world.

In this presentation, we will delve into the various styles of acanthus leaves common in 14th – 15th century European manuscripts. We’ll then discuss drawing the basic acanthus shape and folding and spiraling the leaf, with a focus on fitting the folded acanthus leaf into the letterform. If time permits, we will paint a simple Lombardic letter containing a folded acanthus leaf.

Supplies:

  • Pencil/eraser
  • Hotpress watercolour paper, ~5”x7” (Please transfer the provided image in advance.)
  • 1 tube/pan gouache, any colour (preferably not yellow (low contrast), blue or dull pink would be good historical choices), possibly also a shading color like black or a darker shade (only if you already have it)
  • White gouache, Dr. Ph. Martin’s bleedproof white, or similar
  • Small watercolour brushes (size 1 or 2 and size 0 or 00 pointed round or smaller)
  • Water dropper, water container, paper towels, etc

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Kathleen Rollick is a chemical engineer by profession and a calligrapher by passion. She loves all things delicate, detailed, and historical. She has been doing calligraphy since 

childhood, but didn’t really know what she was doing until she joined her calligraphy guild, read Sheila Waters’ Foundations of Calligraphy, and started taking workshops with amazing nationally and internationally known instructors (she still has lots to learn and practice).

Kathleen’s home guild is the Calligraphy Guild of Indiana, where she has served as workshop chair in the past and currently arranges meeting programming. She recently joined the Westcoast Calligraphy Society for Nina Tran’s gothic cursive workshop and is excited to be a member of such a vibrant and professional group.