Light and Shadow

Timeless love poetry from the Bible, in contemporary calligraphy.   

This design is based on a simple declaration of love that reappears throughout the Song of Solomon; each lover belongs to the other, equally. Different translations offer different phrasing; I chose one that lets the speaker be either a he or she, in love with either a him or her, rather than restricting it to only a young woman in love with a young man.   

The verse that follows this declaration adds a passage about how the lovers will meet when the shadows lengthen and the air is cool.  At first I pictured this as lighted area surrounded by a soft shadow, so I set the large text inside a gray border, and wove the smaller letters between the main words in gray ink.  It felt done.  


AND THEN... Calligraphy designs usually resolve themselves into one definitive version.  But after I thought about this one for a few weeks, I tried a slightly different take, where the lines that describe the slanting light, are set at a slant themselves.  

In the redesign, I also changed the background of the miniature vignette, to show the mountains that the gazelles might have come from.  I like them both.