Isaiah 46:9-10 in Hebrew and English Calligraphy

Isaiah 46:9-10. I chose this passage because it proves that the whole of the Bible is true. No other sacred writing of the world's religions contains prophecy. God sees the end from the beginning and every prophecy is fulfilled literally, to the letter. This is a very important passage for me and brings me great comfort in a chaotic world.

For practice, A4 Rhodia notebook with 0.5 cm squares. For main project, A3 300 gsm hot pressed watercolour paper, tea-dyed and embellished in gold. Pens: for practice: Pilot Parallel pen, 3.8 mm, for main project: Pilot Parallel pen 2.4 mm. Black fountain pen ink, Golden iridescent bronze fine fluid acrylic.

I struggled to follow the teacher's exact calligraphy style and found myself reverting to my original style, learned back in the early 1990s when I attended evening classes in Biblical Hebrew. Here is an example of some of my course work at the time. I used a calligraphy pen which I no longer have.

Working in my Rhodia notebook. Practising the Hebrew aleph-bet. Before my Pilot Parallel pens arrived I used a fibre-tip callilgraphy pen. The Pilot is crisper and more accurate.

Initially I made a mistake with the Hebrew, leaving out about 1 1/2 lines. I also drew guidelines on my final project paper which was a mistake as it was not easy to erase them. I re-started the project and did the layout grid on A3 printer paper and traced it onto the watercolour paper with the aid of a light panel, and also mapped out the English translation in blackletter script. The pictures are of the corrected version.

I traced the layout onto the final project paper using a light panel, and then inked it in using a 2.4 mm Pilot Parallel pen and black fountain pen ink.

I trimmed the paper to an irregular shape and added further tea staining and ink to age it. I added a border with Golden iridescent bronze fine fluid acrylic.

I mounted the project on a piece of black mountboard, and placed it in a gold frame. The irregular border, tea-dyeing of the paper, and the addition of more inking, along with the old English blackletter calligraphy, give the impression of ancient parchment. I am pleased with how this turned out, and grateful for the opportunity to take part in this excellent course.