Modern Calligraphy in a Modern World

My last post on decorative envelope addressing got me thinking about modern calligraphy, or rather, the roll of calligraphy in the modern world.  It is a delicate balance between revival and update.

This is a detail from a bookplate-style painting I did a few years ago.  In the bookplate series, I would have miniatures laid out on color fields with some text that would serve as 'specimen labels.'  This is not an update of the form.  I tried to emulate the traditional aesthetics as much as possible.  Not a reproduction, but just an extension of the genera.  The subject matter was the 'modernization'.  For this lettering, I just used a small, sable, fine point/full belly round brush.  This is my favorite brush for calligraphic work because you get excellent detail and it holds a lot of paint.

Even though this work is a revival and not an update, I would argue that just about any type of hand lettering these days, no matter how updated, is a revival.  I mean, how often outside of an Elementary school classroom do you get to see proper penmanship?  I am just amazed looking at examples of handwriting from even as recent as 100 years ago.  When did beautiful handwriting stop?  I know a lot of people attribute this to modern technology.  Now I am not hating on computers.  Absolutely not.  I do not blame computers for anything.  They, and word processing, are the ultimate tool.  After all, it isn't like people didn't have other things occupying their time, keeping them from practicing their penmanship in the past.  I just find it interesting that people still are drawn to beautiful writing, but they don't work at it anymore.  With a bit of practice, anyone can make attractive letters.

Still, modern aesthetics do demand that we update.  To me, it seems like things have moved more towards extremes.  The clean lined, contemporary design is so technical, so graphic.   Then the organic, vintage look is meant to showcase the imperfections/idiosyncrasies of handmade objects.  Since the whole point of calligraphy is that it is handwriting, I think that the genera tends to fall into more crafty outlets.  So when you are making your gift tags, play around with your materials.  I tend to utilize all my scraps from all my other projects when I am gift wrapping. 

 

And then there are decorative objects.  I am pretty smitten with this monogrammed 'paper weight' that I got from local artist (a friend and crafty wunderkind) Hanna Empey.  She took a river stone, hand painted it, and then polyurethaned it.  Ridiculously cute, am I right?

 

It is a great gift idea.  If you go to buy something, half of the possible gifts are monogrammed items anyway.  So why not paint out a nice letter on some found object or some fabulous thrift store find?


Anyway, I hope this inspires you to pick up your pen and bling out some things.  Perhaps even invent your own font.  Have fun!

Best Snail Mail Ever

With most communications being electronic, a physical letter has become a bit of an indulgence.  And with the ongoing Postal Service drama, the writing is on the wall:  that informal letter is going to become a 'special delivery'.

Which is great!!

Just like the automobile freed up the horse to become an object of sport and pleasure, the added cost of sending a note will make each mailed item precious.  So let's decorate!

I used to work with putting together specialty invitations and one of the biggest trends (fastest way to drop an obscene amount of cash) was to add some extra character to one's special event with updated calligraphy.  Something more lively and energetic than the traditional lettering fonts.  I really like doing addresses this way.  It is pretty easy to do for a few reasons.  The big one is that since the whole thing is purposefully unstructured and doodle-like, you don't have to worry about spacing and keeping things straight.  Any mistake is correctable; just add an extra flourish.  Errors in alignment add character and that hipster whimsy which people are swooning over.

I always start addressing with a pencil sketch.  It is good to have a rough idea where you want everything to be but, more importantly, this is your last shot at proofreading.  Personally, I am a dreadful speller and as such, I get performance anxiety anytime I have to spell out something.  You know that feeling where you stare at a page and all the words just don't look right?  So this is how I hedge my bets.

The only limit to your creativity here is... it has to be legible.  This is the time for 'form follows funtion'.  If the Postal Service can't read the address, no one will ever see your artsy awesomeness.  Make sure the information is more-or-less where it 'should' be in traditional orientation, don't let your flourishes obscure the writing, and chose an ink that is visible on top of the envelope.  Do have some fun with your ink.  Just try to choose something fast drying and waterproof to reduce smearing while writing and in transit.