I have fallen in love with calligraphy recently. It suddenly seems to have become popular as there is so much on social media at the moment about producing beautiful lettering. Really inspiring and I just had to have a go.
It was a great excuse to buy a new book and some tools. I have started with this book, by Gabri Joy Kirkendall, Laura Lavender, Julie Manwaring and Shauna Lynn Panezyszyn:
I have also taken a rather cautious approach with regard to the pens I am starting with – opting for a brush pen rather than diving straight in with a proper calligraphy nib and holder:
And I have been practicing, all the while adoring this very calm, relaxing and beautiful past-time…..
…with the result that, with apologies to real calligraphers, I have managed to produce today’s Friday Quote. Chosen because I am finding much joy in everything I am doing at the moment, it was a bit challenging to produce digitally but nonetheless satisfying. Isn’t it just so important to fill one’s life with wonder and happiness?
I look forward to sharing other images with you as my skills progress.
Have a joyful weekend, everyone! 😀
I can imagine it would be soothing to produce these letters; they become such attractive patterns and the fact they are letters is somehow lost (if you get my drift?!) I use to hate doing writing practice when I was a little girl in school – why, I have no idea!
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Yes I know what you mean about the patterns. One concentrates so much on getting right the up & down strokes that it could be anything!
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😀
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Calligraphy sounds like fun. And, I like how you used it to share the wonderful quote. It’s a good reminder about the importance of choosing joy.
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Thanks Sheryl. Yes, really enjoying the lettering – good fun to be getting in to something new 😀
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I just ordered the Creative Lettering book last night before reading this! Your handwriting is looking awesome 🙂
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Great minds think alike!! Thanks for the kind words about my letters – still early days but I am really enjoying myself! 😀✒️📖
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I had a calligraphy phase a while back and dip in and out when I have time, and found it’s had a really good knock-on effect for my handwriting in general, even when scribbling records at work, or a shopping list, I can read it afterwards, which makes a change!
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Hi Lucy, yes I know what you mean – I too have noticed a helpful impact on my ‘normal’ handwriting. Unexpected fringe benefits! 🙂
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A great idea. Not exactly calligraphy but my daughter is a font geek. She’s made me more aware of fonts. I can’t recognise them as she does but I usually check all my books now to see what the typeset is. The shape and look and set of the physical word are so important to our reading experience.
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Yes the visual aesthetic is vital to feeling comfortable with text. I love the thought of your daughter being a ‘font geek’! 😀
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Your lettering looks lovely, I am well jealous and wish that this was mandatory everyday writing. The quotes not bad either!
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Thanks so much for your kind comments – I really appreciate such positive feedback. I have been amazed at how peaceful and relaxing it is to do the lettering and would recommend it to anyone. It is easy to start – all you need is a pencil and paper – and there are loads of online tutorials, including ones for not-girly fonts…
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Haha, yes girly fonts don’t really fit in with my macho posterior. I know I mentioned it in my last post but that old Bible calligraphy and drawings that monks did were awesome, if only our blogs could look like that.
I can imagine how therapeutic the repetition of letters and the flowing nature of the pen would be relaxing, all we need now is a letter writing campaign.
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Yes, illuminated letters are extraordinary, aren’t they. I know the monks did not have much else to do, but fair play. And hear, hear re the return of letter-writing, although it might make blogging a bit of a challenge….
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It would take some stamps to get each post sent out!
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