Taking time to explore

It might be a few days after Christmas, but with company and food to make and beds to change yet again.... this is the the first day that I can call my own.... and I sat and stared at my "stuff" trying to decide what to do.

In the last month or so I have picked up some "new toys" to play with.... new pens... of course.... LOTS of new pens.....  I have been lettering for a long, long time.... more than thirty years..... I have painted for even longer and done many hand painted signs for various clients over the years....  I still quiver with excitement upon acquiring new art supplies.  I especially like to explore new styles that I can incorporate into my repertoire..... sometimes I find I hate them... shove them into a box and move on.... but far more often I love them and they become my good friends......

I have done calligraphy with both the traditional style pens and the felt tip kind. I love the look of the traditional but the ease of access of the felt pens.   I have found that companies are creating better and better pens with sharper, crisper tips that make me happy. I carry them in my purse along with fine point pens.... so I can pop them out and create at will, should the need arise .... which... it does.... haha! Often!   

This "new" calligraphic style done with brush tip pens is interesting to me. I see it called calligraphy and almost cringe.... because it mostly looks like messy handwriting to the school teacher in me.  Very often I have to sit and stare at it to even figure out what it says....haha! That being said, I have also decided to give it a whirl....and found that I can do it.... fairly easily. Haha! Of course I grew up in the era where we practiced penmanship regularly.  Cursive writing was expected and required.  Interestingly, I have sixth graders who cannot even read cursive, let alone write using it.  

I write using 'fancy' penmanship on the board and I am finding that it is helping unlock the door to their own exploration of this once standard art form  way to write... 

I think that being open to new ideas of ways to create helps us stay fresh.  I have bought a wide assortment of brush tipped pens and have doodled with them. There is a remarkable range of them out there on the market. Just because it is labeled a 'brush tip' doesn't mean that it will perform in the same way as another.  Some are stiff. Some are almost floppy. Some have the tendency to run and others bled though the paper rather badly..... and then.... there are some that ....well...... outperform the others.....     Of course.... this all goes back to- purpose.....  what it will be used for will somewhat dictate which tool will work best.     

I got sort of frustrated with the first ones I purchased.... I felt that my work looked better when I used a paint brush or a familiar flat tip pen.....  As I have continued to try various brands I have come to realize that you get what you pay for... haha!!! So, I sucked it up and bought some that have rave reviews... and guess what... !  I think I might love them too.... Not too stiff.... not to soft.... not too wet, not too dry.... not too 'stinky'......    haha!   I will be buying more.... a new obsession..... (sigh).....

So, I am going to post my doodle pages-- a few of them.... but don't think that these are meant to be fine art.....

Just a basic alphabet in gray

Silly- but words make more sense to me