The Joy of Calligraphy

For decades I have wanted to do calligraphy. Too timid to buy a real calligraphy pen holder and nib – thinking only *real calligraphers* used them – calligraphy fountain pens and felt markers were purchased. I tried them but could never get the *thin* and *thick* lines or write words that looked anything like what I saw in book etc.

“I’m not creative” became my mantra. I rationalized this lack of creative ability by telling myself that I’d never taken any Art courses in school so didn’t have any training or skills in visual arts. Same thing for why I wasn’t a good cook or couldn’t sew – hadn’t taken Home Economics in school. Then, a lengthy illness presented me with time – time to recuperate, heal, think, *be.*

In that precious gift of time, I discovered a creative part of me that I didn’t know existed. Unable to sleep one night, I wandered into my spare room where a variety of craft things were stored. Sitting in my chair, I looked at the top shelf and saw several wooden framed mirrors. Before I knew it, I had taken one down and started adding a variety of embellishments. Eventually, sleep came to me and I went to bed. When I awoke, I walked past the spare room and noticed the mirror. I was struck by its simplicity – and appeal. A few days later, a friend came to visit. I was excited about the mirror and the two that had been created since the initial one and my friend asked to see them.

Well, she raved about them and said that she thought I should put them in art shows and/or art galleries because they were unique and very marketable.

Well, I didn’t … couldn’t really accept her comments as *truth,* but I kept making the mirrors as gifts for family and friends who reinforced comments by my friend. I was enjoying the creative process of deciding what to put on the mirrors and sensed that something *creative* was being birthed within me.

Then one other long night when I couldn’t sleep and I was working on a mirror, a thought passed through my mind: “A meditation – the mirror needs a meditation for people to reflect upon as they look at themself in the mirror.” Before I knew it, the *Seeing Me* meditation was written, *MirrorMeditations* (www.mirrormeditations.wordpress.com) was born, and the emerging creative gift was being celebrated.

So, when a friend suggested I take a calligraphy class, I was ready – willing to try and learn about one of the visual arts,  determined to have fun and not focus on the end product in comparison with others in the class. “Negative voice – be silent!”

It has begun. I’ve registered for an Italic class. This is going to be a fun journey of discovery – not just of skills but more about me which is why I’ve named this blog “The Joy of Calligraphy” and sub-titled it as “Celebrating Calligraphy and Spirituality.”

Some say that calligraphy is easy. Some say it’s difficult.

I’m just learning about calligraphy. I say it’s fun – joyful – a spiritual adventure!

Join me here as I journey on this adventure into the new world of calligraphy – where the correct terminology is “hands” not “fonts”; and where words / phrases such as cursive, neuland, 30 degrees, C-2 and galleria are part of the everyday calligraphic vocabulary.