calligraphy

Stars Above Gutters

/ dianathormoto

Happy Wednesday! Last week was quite tiring, not exactly sure why. But the result was that I didn’t post my weekly calligraphy example. So this week I need to post two. Today is the first post and it is another one of my favorite quotes, this time via Oscar Wilde.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Oscar Wilde

I love this quote because it reminds me that we all have a shared experience of knowing, feeling, and experiencing that sometimes life is just not fair, not pretty, and not fun. Life is hard. It might be hard in different ways for different people but it is still hard.

But, if that was all the quote was about that would just be depressing and disheartening and there is no way I’d post that on my door to see every day. But it ends with hope, which I think all stories and all lives should end with, because hope gets us through the hardness, the unfairness, and the pain that can make up our gutters in life. There are still stars, which let us know there is more to life and to the world than our current situation in the gutter.

And where there are stars, there is an opportunity to work and to reach them. And if that isn’t hopeful, I don’t know what is.

I hope you have a great day and I’ll be back to post my second calligraphy example later this week. 🙂

Having it All Together (or Not)

/ dianathormoto

Do we ever have it all together? What does that even mean? The last quote I wrote for my door is another one of my favorites, this time from Marilyn Grey, and talks about the very notion of having it all together.

"No one ever has it all together. That's like trying to eat once and for all." Marilyn Grey

“No one ever has it all together. That’s like trying to eat once and for all.” Marilyn Grey

I think it is really important to remember that no one has it all together, all the time. It is especially important to remember this in our era of constant sharing on social media, where everything is curated and it seems like everyone is leading a way more glamorous life than mine. Images are just that, an image of a moment, and not the full story of a life.

So while I try to keep organized and make sure I’m not letting anything slide, I have to remember to not beat myself up if I feel like I don’t have it all together. No one else does either and that is a comforting thought. We’re all just trying to do the best we can, with what we have, here and now. So each day I do my best, but if it takes a few extra days for the floors to get mopped, or the stack of books to be sorted, it’s okay. I’m okay and life, in all its messy glory, will keep on going.

I hope you are having a lovely week. I’m working on lots of revisions and writing now and have my *fingers crossed* still that one of my stories will get published this year and I’ll be able to share that good news here. 🙂

Normal Masquerades

/ dianathormoto

Hello, again. I hope your week is going well. I can hardly believe that we are already almost a week into May. The time is truly flying by, so much so that I have to make a concerted effort to find time to pause and reflect. Today I wanted to share the latest quote that I did for my door.

"Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting." Anonymous

“Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting.” Anonymous

I love this quote and some people that stopped by to read my door also seemed to enjoy it. I love it because it reminds me that trying to be something that I’m not is exhausting. It also reminds to question what I think is a “normal person” so I stop trying to define what I do with whether it is normal or not. It also makes me think about the many masks we may use, depending on the social situation, to fit in, be accepted, or get by.

This quote, to me, doesn’t suggest that we let it “all hang out” or not be kind and empathetic or try to help. But it does suggest to me that the pursuit of whatever the heck “The Joneses” are doing is exhausting and unrewarding. Figuring out who I am and what I want to do, even if it isn’t “normal” is a far better use of my time.

So here’s to being who you are, whether anyone thinks it’s normal or not, and doing/creating/being what you are meant to do/create/be on this earth. 🙂

Still Learning

/ dianathormoto

So how is your week going? I’m having a busy and productive week. Happily it is a week that is less stressful than the last few and I’ve been able to go home (mostly) on time from work. I can’t complain and I wanted to share the latest quote I made for my door.

"I am still learning." Michelangelo

“I am still learning.” Michelangelo

I love this quote because it reminds me that no matter who we are and how far along our journey we’ve come, we should still be learning. As someone who teaches, it is important to remember that I should always be learning, too. I find it inspiring and not frustrating to still be learning. Sometimes the path is difficult and frustrating, but when I can tell I’m learning, I’m progressing, then it is all worthwhile. Life is learning, always.

So I hope that you’ve been able to learn something new this week and have shared what you’ve learned with someone else. I’m learning more each day about writing and reading. I’m in the process of revising some short stories to submit, again, so keep your fingers crossed. I am still learning, too.

Have a wonderful day full of many good things and I’ll write again soon. Thanks so much for stopping by.

 

Doing Things

/ dianathormoto

So the weeks just keep sliding by and here we are almost into the last week of April! I’ve been doing well in keeping up with my weekly calligraphy posts for my door, but have to remember to keep posting them to this blog. This week’s quote to share is from Ray Bradbury and is something that we all need to remember as we create our art and lives.

"You can't try to do things; you simply must do them." Ray Bradbury

“You can’t try to do things; you simply must do them.” Ray Bradbury

This quote reminds one of my friends of Yoda’s “Do or do not; there is no try.” As for me, I’m also reminded of part of Neil Gaiman’s speech, “Make Good Art,” when he talks about pretending to be able to do something but not just pretending to do something.

I think too often we say, “I’m going to try to [insert whatever good thought or intention you have here]” instead of saying, “I’m going to do [x].” I know it happens to me a lot and I’m trying to be more conscious about it and change what I say. I do believe that we make time and take the energy to do what is important to us and so should be true in saying what we will do and won’t do. (There’s also a whole other lesson about learning to say no to unwanted time sinks, but that’s for another post.)

So I hope that you have the courage to simply do things, whatever things those may be. That you aren’t kept up at night by wondering about the “what ifs,” but instead sleep soundly from a day of good work. Let’s all go boldly into whatever journey we want and remember to help each other along the way because doing things is hard and it is nice to have some company on the way.

I leave you with the video recording of Gaiman’s, “Make Good Art,” speech. It always brightens my day (the book designed around the same speech is also lovely).

Finding a Better Way

/ dianathormoto

I hope your week is going well and you have time for both your work and your play. I’m continuing to do my weekly calligraphy and wanted to share this one that was on my door. Quote from Thomas Edison.

"There is a better way to do it; find it." by Thomas A. Edison

“There is a better way to do it; find it.” by Thomas A. Edison

As we move forward on projects and in our lives, it is important to remember that we always have the opportunity to find a better way. Whether that is creating something new or fixing something that is broken, we have the opportunity to find our way of doing things. I love that and have to remind myself that whether I’m teaching, or writing, or practicing calligraphy I can find a better way. I love using the quote as a way to think about our work and our lives.

So my wish for you is that you keep searching for a better way, in whatever you do, and that you share it with others.

Hope

/ dianathormoto

So it is already April. How did that happen? I turned around and now we are into the fourth month of the year and soon the first quarter of the year will just be pages turned over on a calendar. Time flies whether we are paying attention or not.

Because of how fast time flies, I’ve been thinking of ways to incorporate doing more calligraphy (and writing, but I’ll talk about that another time) into my life. So each week I’ve been writing and posting a new quote on my office door at work. This one, from Stephen King, I particularly like.

"Hope is a good thing-maybe the best thing-and no good thing ever dies." Stephen King

“Hope is a good thing-maybe the best thing-and no good thing ever dies.” Stephen King

I like to think that hope is a thing that can never die. It keeps me going on days that are hard and hectic, days when it feels like I am doing nothing but treading through a pile of emails and not making any forward progress. But with hope and effort, there is progress and motion, and some of it is even good.

So I’ll be sharing my quotes I’ve been writing here each week. As a way to keep myself accountable for continuing to practice my calligraphy and to hopefully add a spot of brightness to anyone’s day who happens upon these posts.

I’m off now to get going on my day’s work. Remember to hope.

Happy National Handwriting Day!

/ dianathormoto

Happy National Handwriting Day! It’s a good day. It’s Friday and it’s a day to celebrate handwriting. That’s pretty amazing to me.

The last two weeks have been a slog. I got sick just in time to not feel like going to the art store for calligraphy supplies at all and spent the next two days on the couch, which my cat enjoyed. This rather put a kink in my plans of calligraphy practice over the weekend and through the next week. This week has been so hectic at work, I’m not really sure why, that I’m very much looking forward to the weekend.

I did manage to start doing a mock-up and paste-up of a piece I’m doing for our friend’s upcoming wedding. As you can see from the photo below, I’m playing around with sizes, spacing, and centering right now. The calligraphy isn’t perfect, but I’m more interested in the overall feel and figuring out how large the piece will be in the end. Now if all my handwriting only looked that nice!

paste-up

Also, in exciting writing news, we got our first shipment from Ink Drop. A subscription service for fountain pen inks is something I can get behind. I’ll use up ink faster than beauty products most likely. I was excited to get the verdigris color as it might be useful in the project I’m working on now.

ink-drop-samples-jan-2015

So, while I didn’t get as much done as I was hoping the last couple of weeks, it hasn’t been a complete standstill on the calligraphy front. Now I just have to dig into some revising of stories to make a submission deadline coming up in the next couple of months.

Have fun writing today and encourage others to write a letter by hand today. It’s a perfect excuse to take the time to create some beautiful writing before the weekend. 🙂

Being Brave

/ dianathormoto

I want to see you be brave callifgraphy

I heard Sara Bareilles’ song, “Brave” on the radio as I was driving home from work and thought it was a great theme song for new year’s resolutions. So I wrote out one line to remind me to try to be brave this year in my work and my life. It can be scary to share work that isn’t perfect and the journey, at least for me, but I think it is hard for a lot of people. But it is important.

This weekend, I’m hoping to acquire some more calligraphy supplies. I really need to get a T-square and a new compass (I can’t find mine; I’m blaming the cat). I need to start ruling my pages so I can do more practice. I should probably get more tracing paper, too. Tracing paper is totally a secret weapon in learning calligraphy. I’ve found it super-helpful for when I’m having trouble with letterforms. Tracing the proper form and feeling how to form the letters has helped me immensely.

So here’s to the new year, to being brave in our work, and to being brave in our lives.

Happy New Year!

/ dianathormoto

happy new year 2015 in calligraphy

Happy New Year!

I hope you and yours are having a wonderful start to the new year. This year I decided to start a blog to document my calligraphy practice as well as my attempts at fiction writing. So on this blog I’ll be posting examples of my calligraphy work, maybe works-in-progress, and fiction writing (sometimes, maybe). One of my resolutions this year is to be more diligent about practicing calligraphy, which I love, and learning some new scripts. One of my other resolutions is to continue writing for fun (instead of just for work, where I write up research). I had so much fun doing NaNoWriMo and meeting other writers in my area that I really want to continue writing this year and not just in November.

The blog’s title, Beautiful Writing, isn’t because I have a huge ego and think all my writing is beautiful, but rather because calligraphy can loosely be translated to beautiful writing. And, I’d like to aspire to have all my writing be beautiful in form and content.

Also, fair warning, there may also some random bits of stuff that get in here that are only tangentially related to writing and calligraphy. You have been warned.

Have a wonderful start to the new year! It should be an exciting journey or at least a new 365 day trip around the sun! 🙂