Literary Calligraphy by Susan Loy ~ Calligraphic Art Paintings with Quotations from Authors, Poets, Playwrites, Bible, Literature
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Literary Calligraphy
5326 White House Road
Moneta VA 24121
Email Us!
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WHAT'S NEW!
 Read the latest about our adventures in Prague! Go to... [FACEBOOK]
To learn more about Susan and Ron’s Czech plans from a news release, click... [HERE]
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NEWS! Susan has been asked to provide information for the podcast/publication of "Stuff You Should Know"...
[View the Full Article as a Webpage]
The Spread of Flower Symbolism from the Victorian Language of Flowers to Modern Flower Emoji
by Susan Loy, Artist and Author of Flowers, The Angels’ Alphabet: The Language and Poetry of Flowers
The tradition of associating flowers with sentiments is ancient and universal, and the types of sentiments that flowers symbolize are similar from region to
region. Individual flower associations, however, are not universal; there is not one lexicon of agreed upon meanings even within a single culture....
You can download and read the full article as a...
[WORD doc]
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American Artist Unveils Prague 2-Year Art Project “Czech Flower Alphabet”
On 14 June, American artist and calligrapher, Susan Loy, will unveil a watercolor painting, so detailed that it took her two years to complete; the painting, titled Czech Flower Alphabet, commemorates Norbert F. Capek and the Flower Celebration that he introduced to Czech Unitarians in June 1923.
Full Story... Czech Flower Alphabet
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"Four Leptons"
Susan’s new painting, “Four Leptons,” continues her interest in physics, mathematics, and symmetry. The painting’s center is taken from a photograph from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland. This laboratory is used to test the predictions of different theories of particle physics to prove the existence of the theorized Higgs boson. Loy’s composition is a study in symmetry, an important tool in theoretical physics. The frogs represent dorsiventrality, an example of symmetry in the animal kingdom, where left and right sides mirror each other. The quotation, “All for one, one for all,” from Alexandre Dumas’s novel of 1844, The Three Musketeers, is a palindrome, in which phrases read the same backward or forward. All seven words are symmetrically matched up in three-letter lengths. This quotation is the motto of Switzerland and reflects the spirit of collaboration demonstrated by the scientists from all over the world, working at CERN.
Read more about... Four Leptons
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"Hope is the Thing with Feathers"
This print is inspired by a favorite Emily Dickinson poem, "Hope Is the Thing with Feathers." Susan Loy chose the song sparrow to illustrate Dickinson's metaphor for hope, "the little bird that kept so many warm." The poem gives some clues to the bird's identity: its sweet song, its small size, its popularity, and its distribution. The brown and gray song sparrow is shown perched on a blueberry shrub and surrounded by a circular border of song sparrow tracks. The poem, lettered in brown, is surrounded by a black border reminiscent of garden latticework. This is a perfect gift that offers words of comfort and hope. The image size is 6" x 6" and frames to 12" x 12".
Read more about... "Hope is the Thing with Feathers"
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The Gettysburg Address
Following in the spirit of the Constitution project, Susan now presents what many believe to be one of the greatest speeches in history, The Gettysburg Address. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln repeated the principles of human equality put forth in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. Susan lettered the Gettysburg Address in red and blue. The final phrase, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,” forms a circle surrounding her watercolor painting of the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool in shimmering shades of blue. The beginning lines of the Address form an intricate square border around a background inspired by details from the ceiling of the Lincoln Memorial. The print image size is 9-1/2” x 9-1/2” and is 16” x 16” framed.
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YouTube Channel
Ron digitized several VHS tapes for release on YouTube. Included is two minute television interview with Susan discussing the White House Easter Egg Roll. It also shows our home and shop and Susan painting the center bouquet for "The Language of Garden Flowers."
Also, two six minute videos show Susan demonstrating her Literary Calligraphy techniques and the research behind her 4-print suite, "The Flowers of Emily Dickinson." These are professional productions filmed in 2000 for public access TV.
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Susan Loy on Wikipedia
Wondering about Susan Loy's educational background and how she started Literary Calligraphy®? The article describes her first calligraphy class in 1978 in Columbus, Ohio. By 1988, an early art show reviewer dubbed Loy’s art, a mix of "magic circles, calligraphy, and philosophical texts." In the mid-nineties, she was recognized for her paintings of the Language of Flowers, followed by her official position at the White House Easter Egg Roll in 1998. Loy returned to her love of historical documents with her Constitution Project in the 2000s. All of these developments and projects are described in her peer-reviewed article in Wikipedia.
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New Jig Saw Puzzle
A small California company, Artifact Puzzles, has produced a laser-cut, 255-piece wooden jig saw puzzle based on the Susan Loy painting, “The Marriage of True Minds.” Their puzzle artist digitized Susan’s designs and created an intricate overlay that was then laser cut. The results are a very challenging puzzle! We will sell these at shows and through the Artifacts Susan Loy web page. If their site shows sold out, keep trying; they produce this puzzle in small batches.
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Flower Print!
Our newest art print, "The Flowers of the Month," includes monthly flower illustrations and seasonal poems in a vibrant color wheel that reflects the change of seasons. Susan Loy actually painted 23 flowers that are pictured on the print because most months (except November's Chrysanthemum) have more than a single birth flower.
Birth flowers are a very old tradition. The oldest known flower calendars were created by the Chinese and present flowers that bloom in Asia. Western calendars depicting The Flowers of the Month began to appear in the 18th century and were formalized in England and North America during the 19th century. Susan Loy chose the flowers for each month, based on these North American and Old English flower calendars.
In the corners of the painting, she hand-lettered quotations by William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, James Whitcomb Riley, and Henry David Thoreau. Each quotation describes a season; for example Dickinson speaks of the "Azure depth" of a summer afternoon while Riley mentions the frost on the "punkin'" in the autumn quotation. The print image is 9-1/2" x 9-1/2" and we frame it to 16" x 16."
View... The Flowers of the Month
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We set up a Facebook page for our small business, Literary Calligraphy, publisher of art prints and stationery by artist Susan Loy. I hope you follow the link and Like us.
Please click to...
We'll keep you posted of our shows and promise some beautiful quotations and thoughts along the way. Follow the link to see some of our popular images and photos from the personal collection of Ron & Susan.
Thanks for Liking us!
Read what our customers have to say at our... Customer Comments!
Susan Loy presents Kipling's inspirational poem "If"
 Kipling's inspirational poem "If" has been on my "to do" list for most of my career and so I am delighted to release my interpretation of one of the world's favorite poems. I lettered the poem to form the word IF, creating a calligram, which is a poem in which calligraphy is arranged in a way to create an image that expresses visually what the poem says. I arranged the words of the poem to form three-dimensional letterforms of I and F in gradient shades from orange, to red, to burgundy, surrounded by a detailed black border inspired by designs of India, where Kipling was born. This piece hangs on the diagonal, when framed it measures 17 inches on the diagonal or 12-inch square. This well-known poem makes a perfect graduation gift.
View Literary Calligraphy's... If
"THE BILL OF RIGHTS"
The Bill of Rights is hand lettered in shades of blue over a drawing of the Statue of Liberty. Words from the first amendment form a circle surrounding the Bill of Rights with words from amendments two through eight forming an inner circle, all lettered in black. The themes of we the people, justice, and liberty established in Susan's rendition of The Preamble are carried throughout the piece as is the color scheme of red, white, blue, black, and brown.
View Literary Calligraphy's... Bill of Rights
"ARTICLE III: JUSTICE"
Susan hand-lettered the text over a drawing of the scales of justice. Fragments from Hammurabi's code, lettered in cuneiform, provide the background for the words to Article III. The names of historic law givers, lawyers, and Supreme Court justices fill the arcs on four sides.
View... ARTICLE III
NEW WEDDING GIFT!
 "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine..." Susan lettered this beloved verse in English and in Hebrew: "Ani l'dodi v'dodi li." The verse is from Song of Songs 6: 3, also called The Song of Solomon or Canticles. It is a book of the Bible, traditionally ascribed to Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba and king of Israel from 960 B.C. to 922 B.C. Some scholars believe it was composed later, and some believe it is an allegorical love poem that may have been sung at ancient weddings. It remains a popular wedding verse today.
View more about... I Am My Beloved's
Click to see our 12 additional... Wedding & Romantic Quotations
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FEBRUARY 2007 RADIO INTERVIEW
Susan Loy was interviewed by Becky Booker of KRXT Radio in Rockdale, Texas on February 13. Becky found Susan on the web and wanted to interview an expert on the language of flowers for her pre-Valentine's Day show. They talked about the Victorian Language of Flowers, Susan's series of flower paintings based on that tradition, and about tussie mussies. (View... "Tussie Mussies")
Susan told Becky that we send red roses on Valentine's Day because they mean love in the language of flowers. Also she noted that the Victorians must not have liked the yellow rose because it means jealousy in the language of flowers. However, Texans should be proud that their native bluebonnet (a lupine) means voraciousness, a very Texan trait.
SUSAN LOY DESCRIBES 2 OF HER FAVORITE PRINTS
When I decided to letter the popular wedding
quote, "The Apache Blessing", I knew right away that I would use bird feathers to illustrate the "shelter"
mentioned in the poem. I welcomed the opportunity to further my bird study. My research told me that Orioles were revered by
the Apache. I learned that the orange color in Oriole feathers comes from a type of pigment called carotenoid and that the
white at the tip of the feather is where pigment has worn away. There are many types of bird feathers, but most are either
flight or contour feathers. Contour feathers provide warmth and shelter. I loved drawing these beautiful black and orange
contour feathers.
The old maple tree outside my studio window has been host to many birds, and though it is slowly dying, it only
improves in hospitality. I would mourn its passing were it not for the maple sapling growing beside it, teenage pin oaks, and
a crepe myrtle tree that already provide incredible beauty and delicious shade.
Speaking of breath-taking, lily of the valley grow at the base of the crepe myrtle tree. I painted the flowers for my
print "Lily of the Valley" last May when they were blooming. Every winter I await the return in
spring of their sweetly-scented white flowers!
I have painted lily of the valley many times. When I was a girl visiting my grandmother, who owned a snow cone and
waffle stand in an Ohio amusement park, I would follow the creek outside the park to where lilies of the valley bloomed in
huge drifts. The drift outside my studio is much smaller but still reminds me of those happy days.
Irish Blessing
 Calling all Irish! "May the road rise to meet you" is perhaps the most famous traditional Irish blessing, and is featured in both English and Gaelic in our popular print "IRISH
BLESSING." Susan expertly combined green shamrocks and navy Celtic designs to create this tribute to to all things Irish. It's a perfect friendship, wedding, or housewarming gift.
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