Idaho Inkspots Workshop with Carl Rohrs:
Brush Discipline: A Lighter Touch and Longer Texts

Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23, 2023
The workshop will be held at Scentsy: Room 221

Directions: After turning into the main entrance from Pine you'll turn right and take the first left. You can park to the west of the tower (the main building) and there is a door on the west side. Carol Wingate will be outside to help direct people, but there will also be a sandwich board sign.

"Germany in the Twenties" Evening Presentation, Friday, April 21st
Room 214

Regular Registration with new membership:  $260  $209    
Discount Registration for current members:   $240  $189 
(Registration includes spiral bound workbook)

Strategy and feeling really changes the longer and smaller you have to write with the brush — flat and, especially, pointed brush. I did a long commission awhile ago, the client’s own poetry — eight feet tall, almost 100 lines. Work like that is an extremely different animal than a headline. Size of brush and letter really changes what pressure needs to be. Plus, it had to fit a specifically sized place.

When I was done, I felt that my control had taken a leap, but I’d also learned much more than I’d expected — about planning, about strategies to remain consistent, about seeing and reacting to what was happening. Because a brush is more pressure-driven than most pen work, the discipline to stay consistent is of paramount importance, but ways to make that happen can be surprising. Brushwork’s first come-on to you is the freedom of movement it promises, but its challenge is the discipline to control consistency. The new freedom then becomes you determining what your consistency will be.

NOT just text, the class will be presenting brushwork in all of its possibilities, big & short AND small & long, but the concentration on that second combination will have dramatic effect on the first. I was asked specifically to teach a long brush class, so it might as well be as comprehensive and immersive a class in all the possibilities of the brush as I’ve ever had the chance to offer. Prepare to be challenged and to begin your biggest brush piece ever, and to gain new command over your skills with brushes of all kinds.

Material List

Flat brush, 1/2” W&N 995, plus any other brushes you already have.

Non-waterproof ink.

A tube or two of gouache (WN Indigo or Prussian Blue have the greatest power).

A Pentel Color Brush plus any other brushes you want to try or already have – W/N Series 7 or similar, Asian, Lebenzon, etc.

Large paper with a bit of texture; I like Strathmore Charcoal pad (300 series, yellow cover. Canson Charcoal is NOT good for pen work — it bleeds. Strathmore doesn’t. Diploma Parchment is great.)

Pencil (&/or a colored pencil or two — Prismacolors are the best) and ruler.

Optional: Graphic white out (Pro–White) &/or light or bright colors of gouache and colored paper, IF you wish to write in reverse.

If you have questions about the materials you can reach out to Carl directly at rohrs@baymoon.com/831-295-2992

Cancellation/Refund Policy: If you need to withdraw, a full refund will be issued 14 days before the class begins. Otherwise the tuition fee is forfeited unless a wait-listed student can take your place.