Dian “felt” a desire to pursue a new form of art. She ultimately discovered a passion of practicing calligraphy as her way of artistically expressing herself.
My parents have always given me a rough time when it comes to my rather poor penmanship. In order to please them, I scoured social media for ways to ideas to improve my handwriting. And then I remembered... one of my friends is already striving to create art one stroke at a time. In November 2015, Dian delved into the hobby of calligraphy as a means to express her thoughts, relieve stress, and explore her creative side. This is her AHnecdote.
Draw It "Write"
Having been fully employed for a couple of years, Dian searched for new ways to spend time outside of the office. She was getting tired of the consistent weekly bacchanalia that ended with late nights and drunken surroundings. She was ready to move on from the "college-life" that is cliched as solely "working and partying". She wanted to find a new way to unwind after a busy work week, find a new hobby, and meet a new community. Dian had explored painting, but with all of the materials spread out in her apartment, it started becoming a mess and a slight hassle. She didn't feel that painting was her avenue of art.
That's when Dian discovered a different kind of art... the art of handwriting: calligraphy. She joined an introductory meet up session, led by Seattle Calligrapher Sarah Ward, which taught the fundamentals of calligraphy and Dian fell in love with it right away.
Font-astic Progress!
Five minutes away from Dian's apartment is an art supply store - a convenient location to stock up on pens, ink, and notebooks to begin her newly discovered hobby. She applied the techniques demonstrated from the lesson and took it a page at a time. To get onboarded, Dian practiced forming letters, repeating the same characters aligned in a row to perfect each of the 26 letters. As a kid, writing things over and over either feels like a form of punishment, or a chore in order to learn how to write. However, in adulthood, that focus is used to de-stress.
Several times a week, Dian opens her notebook to a blank page, breaks out the pens, cranks up the Adele, and starts drawing. "I can go for hours drawing random things," Dian told me. "I often start by finding some calligraphy on the web and try to recreate it".
One of Dian's goals is to surprise people with her penmanship by making a page look like it was designed by a computer. She could create something like a wedding invitation or a motivational canvas (things that are often created by Photoshop®) and tell others that she didn't make them on a computer; she did it with her pens and a little ink.
"One day, I want to create something and show people that my hands made that."
Dian continues to practice her calligraphy several times a week in order to prevent her passion from "drying out". She frequently posts her new work on her Instagram page.
