Capital Mood Swings May 18-23, 2025

CAPITAL MOOD SWINGS

Yves Leterme, Instructor

Calligraphy Retreat 2025

May 18-23, 2025

While classes will be held separately, we will come together as a group for meals.

There will also be 2 evening programs held jointly.

More info on the setting can be found by clicking here.

Learn more about the workshop setting

Prepare to be exposed to a wide range of capitals, tools, techniques and layouts as we swing between lettering styles and moods. Get a taste of all the offerings, dig deeper in the styles you love most and return home with a sample book including plenty of fresh ideas.

The key word for this five-day workshop is variety. The idea is to expand our horizon and explore new territory by switching tools, styles, layouts, sizes and colors.

Throughout the entire journey we will focus on capitals. To this end, I’ll bring all sorts of caps to the table: formal and semi-formal caps, gestural and drawn caps, brush and pen written caps, historical and outlandish caps…and of course I’ll show you how to create your own caps.

After acquainting yourself with the style that is being presented*, we’ll turn our attention to how we can arrange these letters into a cool composition or texture.

As we go, you will keep track of the proceedings by writing a small sample of each style onto sheets of quality paper that can later be bound into a sample book or concertina.

This workshop is open to ALL levels (except the most beginning one). The class is intended to raise your awareness of different lettering styles and how they help create a certain atmosphere. The exercises will enhance your lettering skills and introduce new ways of making letters, thus broadening your repertoire. Along the way, you’ll collect ideas for making textures and layers and, inevitably, finetune your sense for layout.

* You will be exposed to a good number of different styles, but you can choose which of those you want to spend (more) time with. Because we are limiting the class size, there will be plenty of time for Yves to spend one-on-one time with each student to help them further their skills individually.

Download Supply List

These are just a few of the things that we will cover...

How to blow more energy into formal capitals
How to make contemporary illuminated capitals
How to create variation within built-up letters
How to make gestural caps with the pointed brush
How to marry harmony with contrast in text blocks
How to come up with fresh ideas for layout

Capital Mood Swings

With Yves Leterme

A five-day in-person workshop

$1,200.00

Full balance will be due March 1, 2025

This rate includes the workshop fees and meals for the 5 days. This rate does NOT include accommodation, which can be booked separately after registration. Please refer to the retreat page for more details.

About Yves

Having taught Latin and Greek for 25 years, Yves quit his school job in 2010 to become a full time calligrapher.

In his studio near Bruges (Belgium) he takes on various commissions (both lettering and artistic works) and produces free work in between, which allows him to broaden his skills and horizon. Teaching, however, remains his main vocation and occupation. Since 2006 he has toured extensively all around the globe to conduct workshops and presentations for societies and conferences. He also taught several online classes in the past years, classes that enthused hundreds of students worldwide.

In calligraphic circles, Yves is especially known for his versatile gestural lettering, his minutely drawn capitals and his richly textured, abstract backgrounds.

Yves’ work has been selected for inclusion in many juried shows and his artwork can be found in catalogues, magazines, museums and private collections... and on Instagram of course.

Among other publications in magazines, he’s the author of two books: Thoughtful Gestures and Litterae.