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Bill Grant

Occupation

SCRIBE

Location

BEDFORDSHIRE

Interests

My wife and I both enjoy Calligraphy Photography Wild places i.e. North Wales Bardsey Island Isle of Skye and our cat Beastie

Bill's Space is aimed at anyone who has a love of letterform, especially those who are having trouble getting started. A Jack of All Trades. Always aspiring to become a master of lettering, I learned a basic italic hand at school, but it took some years to find a local evening class where I then found myself helping fellow students with their struggles. Shortly after this I taught at evening classes and led a local church group. For the last 6 years I have been privileged to lead a Calligraphy Workshop/Retreat at Belmont Abbey, Hereford. Any scribe will tell you people wrongly assume that if you can put letters on paper you will be able to paint them onto almost anything. Sadly, brushwork is a completely different technique to master. Here I was able to join a 1 year full-time course and then worked for some time as a signwriter, but never lost my love of penmanship. I hope I can help you on your journey.

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January 01

PEACE

CALLING ALL CALLIGRAPHERS, ARTISTS, DESIGNERS,ETC.

From Masters to Beginners

PLEASE

COME AND JOIN US

FACEBOOK SCRIBES FOR PEACE

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=235022682360&ref=mf

ALL WE ASK IS THAT YOU POST ONE WORD.

THE ONLY RULE IS THAT THE WORD MUST MEAN PEACE

IN ANY LANGUAGE.

2:30 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Education calligraphy lettering calligradoodles

December 30

YEARS END / NEW BEGINNINGS

Well. Here we are at the last knockings of 2009 and I am looking back on my progress and wondering what the heck I was thinking when, back in March, I first decided to set out on this journey. Until then my experience of using computers was limited to the very useful if mundane knowledge gained from a basic and then a more advanced CLAIT course that Gill and I took together at local evening classes. For Gill, with her secretarial background, things fell into place quite easily and with her help and excellent instruction from the tutors I actually managed to gain certificates of competence. It was not long before I started to explore the more exiting and practical side of IT, computer graphics! For a while the scribe was lost as the geek took over. I learned to scan, reduce, blow up my work to immense proportions and was amazed at the detail one could see when magnifying a letter with an x height of 1/8", to the point where the pixels gave up the ghost. Try it. If you want to see how a letter is constructed there is no better way.

Flash forward to February '09. The first real snowfall of the year and I start snapping away with my newly acquired hi tech gadget then find the video option is a bit more sophisticated than I thought and that I am able to film for about eighteen minutes before running out of memory. A whole new learning curve began. First downloading, then editing, publishing, sending to Youtube, adding the music then sitting back and watching "BEASTIE IN THE SNOW". Two minutes of really amateurish stuff that took simply ages to process. To this day I can't say that I have found many short-cuts to make things easier or quicker.

Anyway, Beastie's debut has had 301 views to date so someone must like it.

Yes, you have guessed it. Browsing Yt calligraphy I had found some very good instructional demonstrations but thought I could do better than some of the, to be honest, rubbish that is out there. And so "CALLIGRADOODLES" came into being, and now there are four. Between them, on various sites they have been watched by thousands of people. ( Early in 2010, I am hoping to add 5&6 and 7&8, Italic and Old English Blackletter, though I am rather hoping that a friend of mine might save me some work and do 5&6 for me. Hehe. We shall see! ).

Then the fun really started. My love of calligraphy / lettering / letter-form and a desire to pass on what knowledge I had gained over the years, suddenly had a new direction. Why not put it all on the wonderful worldwide web? I don't recall how I plumped for this particular site. It was probably because it was free. A deep breath, here we go again on an even steeper learning curve. I didn't know the difference between a URL or HTML and the mind boggled when it came to pasting HTML into my page. Anyway, here we are nine months on and this site has branched into a number of enterprises. Those I am mostly involved with are Calligraphy at Bill's Space http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=102406704243&ref=share and just in time for the New Year, FACEBOOK SCRIBES FOR PEACE http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=235022682360&ref=mf is up and running. If you have not seen it yet, please have a look and add some PEACE to the page. Did you know that on Facebook alone there are hundreds of groups, some with hundreds of thousands of members, all dedicated to the cause of peace? Food for thought!

Some of you will know that Gill was admitted to hospital for major surgery in early November. Many thanks for your prayers. We are sure they have done the trick. Gill is not yet fully recovered, but regains her strength day by day. She gives a thumbs up and says, " We are getting there ". Thanks also to Gill's GP. To all at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, and Elizabeth Ward at the Watford General Hospital.

Thanks to all 4381 visitors from 53 countries, especially all you hard working people from the Teacher Forums. Once again I am going to ask for some feedback. If you don't tell me what you think about this, that, or the other, I am dancing in the dark. To all the scribes in the making I repeat again........ ........Practice, Practice, Practice and more Practice.

I wish you all a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, and of course PEACEFUL New Year.

Cheers one and all. Bill.

Oh. I nearly forgot. Keep watching this space.

2:37 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Education calligraphy lettering calligradoodles

December 24

5:48 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Education calligraphy lettering calligradoodles

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	No namewrote: when you look at the ground and then the sky .you feel as if your soul is dancing.....very wonderful and penetrating mind Jan. 19
	lamia helmywrote: great job really amazing Jan. 2
	Zeynep Ankarawrote: June 27
	Zeynep Ankarawrote: June 20
	Zeynep Ankarawrote: June 14
	Graça Mariawrote: Oi Bill you are an artist. Nice work. Graca Maria - BRAZIL May 15
	cathywrote: Sorry its taken me a few weeks to have a look Bill, Some lovely work, i forget just how talented you are Cathy Mar. 24
	gillianwrote: What an inspiration: a fantastic collection of images! Lots of love from Gill Mar. 21

LINKS

If you have enjoyed using Bill's Space and perhaps downloaded some material, you might like to give a little back by supporting one of our favourite charities. Many thanks. Bill Gill and Beastie.


Http://www.pasque.org Our local Hospice.

http://animals-at-risk-shelter.org/ Beastie came from here 7 years ago.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION................................... I HOPE THE FOLLOWING LINKS WILL BE OF SOME ASSISTANCE, IF NOT A LITTLE ENTERTAINING.

Calligraphy at Bill's Space The Calligraphy Group on Facebook specially for the beginner and those who wish to offer help and encouragement. All welcome to join in.

http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/bills_space/ Follow Bill's Space blog

http://www.cynscribe.com/uk.html A DIRECTORY OF CALLIGRAPHY / CALLIGRAPHERS

http://www.cynscribe.com/index.html CALLIGRAPHY / CALLIGRAPHERS WORLDWIDE

http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/calligraphy_design/ A Calligraphy blog. Maggie McNeice. Calligraphy and Design. Well recommended.

http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/calligraphy_a_scribes_notes/ Calligraphy, a scribes notes. Hints, tips, etc. Well recommended.

http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/carols_calligraphy/ Carol's Calligraphy. Another nice Calligraphy blog.

http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/lisa_engelbrechts_blog/ These calligraphy blogs get better and better!

http://calligraffia.blogspot.com/ A lovely Australian calligraphy blog.

http://www.penpeople.org.uk/index.htm Pen People Magazine.

http://www.soulistry.com/Soulistry/Home.html Spirituality combined with artistry. Well recommended.

http://photobucket.com/pencraft Add a piece of your work to the album.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/billgrant43 Now on redbubble. Some of Bill's work for sale. Support this page.

http://www.iampeth.com/ A lovely site covering all things about pointed pen calligraphy.

http://manuscripts.cmrs.ucla.edu/ Thousands of pages of Digitised Manuscripts from all over the world.

http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2006/06/zoomorphic-calligraphy.html Some beautiful images of Arabic Calligraphy in a trully mindblowing blog. The content of this site is so huge that I can't guarantee there is nothing rude or offensive in it's pages.

http://www.heraldicclipart.com/ Heraldic Clip Art

TEACHERS RESOURCES. ETC. ETC. ETC. ETC. ETC. THE WORLD, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING.

http://daphne.palomar.edu/design/Default.htm Graphic Design from scratch.

http://www.tate.org.uk/ All the TATE galleries, plus young Tate, THEMED EXAM HELP etc.

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/index.htm The Saatchi Gallery

http://www.k-3teacherresources.com/index.html Teachers Resources. 0 - 8 Y.O.

http://www.ideastoinspire.co.uk/techytips.htm IDEAS TO INSPIRE

http://teachers.net/lessons/ Teachers Net. LESSON PLANS

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/ THE KENEDY CENTER ArtsEdge LESSON PLANS etc.

http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2009/07/19/the-true-cause-of-cruelty/ THE UNDERLYING CAUSES OF BULLYING. Plus the effective use of silence and much more.

http://www.prometheanplanet.com/index.php Promethian planet. The world of the WHITEBOARD.

http://www.pantheon.org/ Encyclopedia of Myth, Folklore and Religion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia

http://www.bartleby.com/ Literature, Quotes, Verse, etc.

http://www.wisegeek.com/ WOW!!! Everything you ever wanted to know about everything but didn't know how to ask.

http://www.plantpress.com/home.html A - Z of plants, gardening and wildlife

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/mgmh.html A Modern Herbal By Mrs. M. Grieve.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/encyclopedia.html Medical Encyclopedia. DON'T READ THIS. IT IS CATCHING!

http://www.uksafari.com/index.htm U.K. Wildlife and Countryside.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/ RSPB. BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS and MORE BIRDS.

http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/prime/index.asp For the Mathematician. You have learned your x tables. Everything else is in here.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html The World Factbook. The World as seen by the C.I.A.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/ U.S.Census Bureau

http://www.iep.utm.edu/ The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

http://art-and-you.over-blog.com/ Lots of arty blogs

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/ Artcyclopedia

http://www.rudimentsofwisdom.com/index_atoz.htm The Rudiments of Wisdom in cartoon form

http://www.comic-art.com/ Comic Art

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachingandlearning/resourcematerials/museums/database/ Museum and Gallery database.

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/usefulsites/ Lots of valuable resources all on one site.

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/professionaldevelopment/teacherstv/ TEACHERNET / Teachers T.V.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ BBC Schools

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ BBC History

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/tags/history Channel 4 History

http://www.britishmuseum.org/default.aspx The British Museum

http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/ The National Archives Learning Curve

http://www.bl.uk/index.shtml The British Library. READ ALL ABOUT IT. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMManuscripts!

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ The National Archives

http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/ Starry Messenger. A HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY.

http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp The Metropolitan Museum of Art

http://www.historyonthenet.com/ History on the Net

http://www.north-scotland.co.uk/ Scottish History

http://www.nls.uk/maps/ Old Maps Of Scotland

http://www.history.uk.com/ History.UK

http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html Hyper History Online

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ History Learning Site

http://users.bathspa.ac.uk/greenwood/home.html Map of London 1827

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ Old Maps

http://dsc.discovery.com/guides/history/history.html The Discovery Channel

http://www.royal.gov.uk/Home.aspx History of the Monarchy

http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/ Early British Kingdoms

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/ British History

http://www.sunday-school-ideas-for-new-teachers.com/ This site might help to get the ideas flowing.

http://www.io.com/~lcowper/resources.html Thousands of resources for sunday school teachers.

Pursuits Unlimited. Something for everybody Connect FREE with people Locally or UK-wide who share your Sporting, Hobbyist, Recreational, Motoring, Personal, Collecting & Vocational Interests.

BILL'S SPACE

Profile

Bill Grant

PEACE

CALLING ALL CALLIGRAPHERS, ARTISTS, DESIGNERS,ETC.

YEARS END / NEW BEGINNINGS

Happy Christmas

A QUICK NOTE ON SPACING

The Scribe’s nightmare.

Prints / Posters

Pink Floyd

Quote of the Day

Guestbook

Archives

Bill's playlist of 40 odd arty videos.

Pic's and Lessons. Click here for downloads.

Some of Bill's favourite Music.

The Gallery. pdf Images and Worksheets.

What Next?

Gill's Space

My Work on Redbubble.

BEASTIE'S CORNER

Some of my favourite artists

LINKS