I just thought the nightmare was over – in truth it was just beginning!

True to her word, Ellen called bright and early Monday morning, and then she showed up for the second grueling session of “Studio Scrapeout”.  I was totally not up for this one, having been beaten down thoroughly by the previous day.

Nevertheless I persevered.  It’s amazing what one will do for one’s kids!

Over a cup of tea we decided on our goals for the day.  My urgent need was to have the top of my flat file cleared so I could use the paper cutters located there.  Ellen thought that was doable in the time we had allotted, and she also thought we might be able to clear the top of the watercolor desk, so that what was inside might be accessible (there’s a concept for you!).

Clearing the flat file was easy, but I had no idea she was going to become obsessed with the  watercolor desk!  She just had to see what was inside, and to do that we had to clear off the incredible amounts of unfinished paintings, papers and art supplies that had accumulated there!

Once again, the dining room table was drafted into service as a sorting table.  Papers were stacked in one pile, unfinished paintings were propped against the kitchen peninsula wall, and all supplies went into plastic boxes to be redistributed later.  The pile of empty boxes became a tower that threatened to topple if a door slammed.

The wind came up, and the front door to the studio slammed.  The tower toppled, and just to add insult to injury, papers and projects sailed off the drafting table onto the studio floor.

Sigh.  More job security.

I think it was at this point I suggested that we could use the unfinished paintings to start a bonfire.  Ellen gave me a withering look and offered the unwelcome comment that if the paintings and frames had gone up to the painting studio to be finished, the calligraphy studio might have stood a better chance!

Busted!

Stay tuned for Part Three…

I was buried under paper!  Every horizontal surface in my studio was covered with piles of paper and paintings and books, and God knows what else!  It was dangerous to go in there at night because of the bags of unfinished paintings and projects on the floor, just waiting to trip me; and the trail was so crowded with  frames leaning against walls and shelves I was bound to be injured badly if Iblundered into something in the dark!  Only the drafting table was relatively clear (because it’s not horizontal), and even there the flood of paper was making  inroads.  Just when I thought I couldn’t stand another minute of the horror – I woke up.

Alas, it was all too real.

And just when I thought I couldn’t stand another minute of the real horror, an angel of mercy descended in the form of our daughter Ellen, an accomplished calligrapher, musician and organizer extraordinaire, who announced that directly after our family brunch on Sunday morning, Phase One of “Studio Scrapeout” would commence.

She was not kidding.  Right after the table was cleared she snapped into action, and her boyfriend and her Dad fled the scene!

Within minutes the dining room table was covered with piles of paintings, papers and books and other things to be sorted, boxes had been dragged out of shelves, emptied and piled in a corner awaiting new (organized) uses, and chaos reigned.  She actually wanted me to put like with like!  Can you believe it?

I’m pretty sure that at one point I heard her say “Get a rake”, but that could have been an echo in my own mind – a flashback to her early childhood when I suggested that a rake would be a useful tool for cleaning her bedroom floor!

Note to self:  Be careful what you say, it may come back to haunt you.

After several hours of torture (sorting, boxing and labeling), I whined that dinner still had to be made and served, and we needed to clean off the table if anyone was going to eat.  Ellen had mercy.  We cleaned off the table, finding logical places in the studio for all the piles of stuff, and then she collected her long-suffering boyfriend and with hugs all around said “See you tomorrow Mom – I’ll call”.

To be continued…..

Thinking about my post, ‘Why Calligraphy, Why Now?’ I’m wondering if what I wrote might have been over-simplified.  Sure, most of us have a desire at some time to create a thing of beauty with our own hands, but there might be even more involved.  Why choose calligraphy over other art forms?

I’ve been an artist all my life.  I knew at the age of 4 that I was an artist, after creating my first mural!  Unfortunately, my creation took place on my parent’s bedroom wall, and I used my Dad’s oil paints which were conveniently located near a large portrait he was painting for a commission.  At least I had the sense not to paint on the canvas!

When my transgression was discovered, my Mom was horrified (we were living in the married student housing on the WSU campus while my Dad worked on his master’s degree).  But my Dad asked why I had painted on the wall, and when I sniffled that I couldn’t resist the paints and there was nothing to paint on except the wall, he left and was gone for a long time.  I thought I was in big trouble!

Meanwhile, I was set to work cleaning the wall.  (I’m pretty sure that the early exposure to all that solvent started my descent into the madness that is art).

When my Dad finally reappeared, he brought me real art supplies of my very own, along with a huge roll of paper that I could roll out on the floor for my masterpieces!

For many years I happily drew and painted without knowing anything about calligraphy, until I was accidentally introduced by my high school art teacher.  We were doing a unit on lettering, and everyone in the class had to produce a poster or broadside as a project.  We were given several styles of lettering to try to reproduce, along with rudimentary instruction in using paints, inks, brushes and pens.

For me, this was a real ‘Aha!’ moment.  I felt that a missing piece had fallen into place.  Now my words had the same potential for beauty and expression as my other artworks, and I remain eternally grateful to the teacher who not only introduced me to the art of the letter, but spent many hours of her own time tutoring me.

Many, many years later I had my first opportunity to take classes from ‘real calligraphers’, and I discovered that I had already been well and truly taught!

For me, calligraphy is a ‘bridge’ art form.  Psychologists tell us that most art is created in the right hemisphere of the brain, the part that is wholistic and creative, while words and sentences come from the left hemisphere of the brain, the part that is responsible for speech, logic and math.  Calligraphy seems to bridge the gap between the two sides of the brain, as does music.

Just try doing calligraphy using  your right brain only – it might be beautiful, but I’ll bet you just forgot how to spell and string words together in coherent sentences!

Similarly, practicing calligraphy using your left brain only might produce a perfectly lettered page without a soul.

But when both parts of the brain are united in your calligraphic work, what a wonderful thing takes place; a unity of thought and creativity unsurpassed by other visual art forms.

So now you know a bit about my roundabout journey to calligraphy, as well as some of my philosophy regarding this singular art form.  I’d love to be able to hear some of your stories, and share them with other readers.  Why and how did you choose calligraphy?  Or perhaps calligraphy chose you!

Several weeks ago I stumbled on a calligraphy site, which I foolishly forgot to bookmark (if I find it again, I will bookmark it, and add a link in a post so you can find it too).  Anyway, as I wandered around the site (I’m a lurker), I was intrigued by a post called ‘My Favorite Tool’. 

Calligraphers were asked to tell others about a favorite tool, and there were many responses, some of them quite out of the ordinary.  It was a fun read, and it caused me to think about what my favorite calligraphy tool might be.

Most calligraphers are also avid collectors of ‘tools of the trade’ and I am no exception.  I poke around in boxes of junk at yard sales and estate sales hoping for a ‘find’.  I collect antique tools and ink bottles and kits that I have no intention of ever using, just because I enjoy owning something another calligrapher used and enjoyed.  I once scored a complete set of automatic pens at a yard sale, and they quickly became some of my favorites for larger works.

I’m always on the lookout for a new product or tool.  When I discovered Pilot Parallel Pens at a calligraphy conference years ago, I was smitten and happily paid up for the whole set.  They’re great fun, and very useful in certain applications, but I couldn’t say they are my favorite tools.

I have an artist friend whose favorite tool is a broken bamboo skewer, and she makes wonderful calligraphic marks on her paintings with this tool.  She also favors interesting twigs she finds on the ground for the same purpose.  Needless to say, she’s a wildly creative person.  And that leads me to the point of this post - namely the source of all this creativity.

I guess if I were asked, I would have to say my favorite tool is my brain.  It goes with me wherever I go, and it hardly ever fails me (except, of course, when I forget to bookmark an important site).

Even when I’m not working, it continues to work for me, helping me with the creative end of calligraphy, so when I do pick up a pen, I often find that most of the design work has already been done, and some of the problems have already been solved.

Do you have a favorite calligraphy tool?  I’d love to hear about it, and share it with other calligraphers.

After my conversation with the two ‘new calligraphers’ last week, I started thinking about why anyone would even want to learn calligraphy in this day of high-speed internet, texting, tweeting, and yes – blogs.  After all, the computer is capable of turning out pages of perfect text that can be customized in any way the writer desires.  Can’t spell?  No problem.  Your computer can help with that.  Poor grammar?  Your computer can help with that too.  Want millions of colors?  They’re all right there at your command.  Can’t draw, but need an illustration?  There are millions of copyright-free pictures to be downloaded and added to your text.

With all this perfection available to nearly anyone, why on earth would anyone want to spend years learning calligraphy?

I think the desire to learn calligraphy, as with any other art form, stems from the deep-seated need within all of us to create something beautiful with our own hands.  The earliest calligraphers in the Western tradition lived austere lives of service, under the most extreme conditions,  working long days in unheated, poorly lit rooms.  Most of these monks could not read, yet they produced and illuminated some  of the most beautiful manuscripts the world has ever seen, using simple tools and pigments they made themselves, writing on hides they scraped and cured themselves.  Yes, they were working to illuminate the word of God, but I think they also felt the very human need to create something beautiful for it’s own sake.

As I write this, I’m sitting comfortably in my office with a cat draped across my bare feet – not exactly a position of deprivation!  When I finish this post I will close down the electronic marvel that allows me to communicate with the world, extricate my feet from underneath the cat, and trek the length of the house to my studio.  And there, with my own hands, and simple tools not very much changed from those the early scribes used, I will try to create a thing of beauty.