Tag Archives for art

Gratitude And Creativity: Heart In Motion

A few days ago as I scrolled through the pages of one of the many blogs I follow, yet another post led me to an artist new to me; and a wellspring of inspiration I otherwise might not have found. While visiting artist Deb Riley’s site, I followed links to a post she wrote about 103-year-old Japanese artist Toko Shinoda. This incredible woman works with a centuries-old Chinese art form: sumi ink paintings and prints. Her art merges traditional calligraphy with modern abstract expression, which immediately grabbed my attention. However, Toko Shinoda’s personal description of her work was what inspired me most. She states, “Certain forms float up in my mind’s eye. Aromas, a blowing breeze, a rain-drenched gust of wind…the air in motion, my heart in motion. I try to capture these vague, evanescent images of the instant and put them into vivid form.”

It was impossible for me to read Toko Shinoda’s words and not write poetry. It continues to amaze me that I started this blog because I was in a constant state of feeling overwhelmed by my illness and the strong pain medications I need to manage my pain. Even though my pain and illness stubbornly persist, my heart and spirit are positively affected each time I connect with posts shared by other bloggers, in this endless universe of talent and creative storytelling. Surprisingly, this space, meant to be a place to purge – somewhat coherently – all the things that are too hard for me to voice to anyone close to me, is transforming me with each post I read and write.

Heart In Motion

 

Gratitude and Creativity: Calligraphy Is Cool… Now

I might have stated once or twice before in my writing that I was a bit of a nerd when I was growing up. I was definitely not a “cool” teenager – nor am I a cool adult. If the category existed, someone might have labeled me a “nerdy-jock” because I was athletic but also focused on academic achievement. A lot of reading and studying balanced the sports I played, and practiced for hours, and I participated in other extra-curricular activities that “cool kids” would never join like band, public speaking, debating, and creative writing. In some of the spare time I had, I explored other solitary creative pursuits like writing poetry, drawing, and calligraphy.

I’m not sure what sparked my interest in calligraphy, but I do remember buying my first kit that had a pen with varying nib sizes and dark blue ink cartridges. I used to sit in my room practicing how to write with that pen for hours on end. I sometimes wrote my poetry with it to give it a unique and slightly aged look. I gave copies of my poems, written on coloured paper in calligraphy, to my friends and family as gifts. Sometimes my family would ask me to use my “fancy writing” to write up tags on presents or cards. Unfortunately, like so many of the creative things I did when I was younger, calligraphy fell off the list of things I enjoyed doing.

Lately, as I’ve been reconnecting with my creative self, my interest in typography – the design of lettering and typeface, which for me includes calligraphy, has resurfaced. Countless tutorials are available online that teach the basics of lettering from drawing simple lines and shapes to ornate Gothic fonts. It’s wonderful to see the broad range of resources available to anyone interested in typography as a hobby or on a professional level. It’s even more wonderful to know that something I might have been laughed at for having an interest in as a teenager now has a cool factor.

One of the people making calligraphy cool is Seb Lester. He is an English artist, type designer, and calligrapher. Videos of his work have gone viral. A few nights ago, while I was unable to sleep – again, I stumbled upon one of those videos that I had seen before but never paid attention to who the artist was or the significance of how he is exposing droves of people all over the world to an old art form in such an interesting way. The fascinating thing about his work is that he is able to create beautiful works with incredible precision without any specialized tools. He relies on the steadiness of his hands and his pens. The video below is a quick look at his talent for reproducing some of the most recognizable logos in the world.

Seb Lester – Hand Drawn Logos

 

Seb Lester has more than one million fans across social media. I’m one of them now. In a few weeks, I’ll also be the proud owner of one of his stunning prints, titled ‘First Time Ever’; and I’ll never think of my love for calligraphy as uncool ever again.

 

Echosmith – Cool Kids

 

Gratitude and Creativity: Inspirograph

Yesterday, Christmas day, while I was resting I became a bit bored so I went clicking through the interwebs to ease my boredom. I was fortunate to find a site that brought back some great childhood memories about toys my cousins and I begged for when we were children. The specific toy I remembered yesterday was Spirograph. It was amazing to create colourful designs using plastic discs that looked like cogs with holes in them and coloured pencils and pens. With those few things it was possible to spend hours hypnotically filling the white space of sheet after sheet of paper.

The site I spent a couple of solid hours on yesterday is Inspirograph. Inspirograph is a website where you can use a digital application to mimic the movement of the Spirograph discs. When you open the site in your computer’s browser, you can create designs as intricate and colourful as if you were using the toy from your childhood.

These are only some of the designs I created yesterday using Inspirograph. If you find yourself with some free time on your hands check out the website. I’m certain I’ll be using Inspirograph again to occupy my mind creatively.