Amazeballs!! I have reached day 23 of the 365 lettering project, and am so drunk on my success that I have started using corrupted superlatives. Anyhow, here are some highlights of the last 23 days…. apologies for the rough photos, they look better on my Flickr feed, which is Here.
Mystical Conclusions
My will is secondary?????!
Really?
Conventional alterations…
Compromises…!
In some respects I am very pleased with myself… BUT, in relation to calligraphy, lettering, decorative writing…whatever… I NEED A BREAK!!!! Yep, I am questioning why I am doing calligraphy, again. I am not really enjoying doing it for the 365 project. I mostly enjoy writing calligraphy when it surprises me… when I sit down and mess around with a pen, and a flourish or an unplanned squiggle jumps out and makes me smile. This diligent pursuit of calligraphy every day is perhaps too workmanlike to be enjoyable for me. We shall see.
Wonky Words 
Your calligraphy is gorgeous, Scarlet, but I can understand the tediousness of having to do something every single day. Maybe just do one word? I don’t think anyone will berate you for not continuing with 365 challenge. I could never stick to that kind of a thing. I would get bored with it! But whenever you post some of your lettering, I love to admire it. 🙂
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I have a history of not completing these types of challenges, Ponita! This one has proved helpful and not helpful in equal measure… maybe I should aim for a good blog post once a week featuring calligraphy. Maybe this would be a better idea?
And thank you!
Sx
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I always enjoy seeing the squiggly lines you share with us here.
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Thank you, Mr Lax! Here’s to happy squiggling!
Sx
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Darling Miss Scarlet,
In our eyes you are very much an artist. The creative way in which you use lettering not only to pen the words but to also convey feelings is a talent. We can understand, therefore, that this whole project with its rigidity, discipline and work does not sit easily within the creative process. But, you are producing wonderful works and that is a great measure of success. Maybe 365 days is too stressful but, whilst you are developing new ideas, honing skills and moving forward, then it is a worthwhile pursuit. When it ceases to be so, then it will be time to stop.
We have looked at these examples very closely and are impressed with your absolute precision and control of a style. The consistency is amazing and the execution impressive. You really are a perfectionist. Do you give each variation a name or is each a particular, defined font? Whatever, these works go to a creative level that mere rationalists could not reach!
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Hello, Jane and Lance! Thank you for your encouraging comment. You are lovely people. You are spot on, I am most definitely learning from the discipline of writing every day… but having to do it is the bit that’s making me sulky. I feel as though, for the time being, I should plough on, until, as you say, I am no longer learning from the experience.
Most of my styles are derivative of widely used calligraphy styles, but I may well name them for my own amusement 🙂
Thank you!
Sx
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In my opinion – you do things you enjoy when you enjoy doing them (you could quote me and make me famous here). Of course we all need to do things we don’t enjoy – they are called tasks. It’s best if you get paid for tasks. Not knowing much about this art – the type with the shading – do you go back and shade it or do you have some fancy instrument that shades as you flourish. An activity with the word flourish in it does sound fun.
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Hello, Mr Bill!
I have to go back and do the shading… the red one was done with a special felt tip type pen and I did the shading with pencil.
I think the 365 challenge is a task… I’m kind of enjoying it and not enjoying it at the same time. I’m hoping it will get easier once I’ve finished with the Sol LeWitt sentences…. I’m determined to get through them… I reckon they’ll be done in just over a week and then I’m going to move on to some fun stuff 🙂
Sx
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That’s an amazeballs banner you’ve got there. And there’s nothing wrong with your photos. Stop apologizing for the things you didn’t do.
You do calligraphy because you can’t stop. The world needs as much beauty as it can get. Carry on.
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Monsieur Pain, you are correct! I can’t stop! Calligraphy is like some sort of hideous addition… a quest to find the best way to express a few words. I have ink in my blood 🙂
Yep… I ought to stop apologising. Sorry 😉
Sx
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Be glad it’s something beautiful and elegant like calligraphy and not whiskey, gambling or the Home Shopping Network. It could be oh, so much worse.
Ha. I saw what you did there.
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Indeed, it could be much worse!!! Although if the home shopping channel started trying to seduce me with nibs and ink I could be in trouble!
Sx
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I have just read this and marvelled at your penmanship while listening to Mago’s Sunday Music, and it all goes together rather nicely.
I don’t know what to say if you’re not enjoying it, other than: stop.
Or: stick it out for a bit longer?
Or: Just re- Oh, look! That dog’s got a puffy tail! Hee hee heee!
* rushes off outside to chase puffy-tailed dog *
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Mr Devine, thank you! It appears that Mr Mags is ignoring me because he is sulking about the lack of Mogwashian posts on this blog… I will have to right this wrong at some point…
Maybe a puffy tailed dog enters the Mogwash Arms and disturbs the members of the used tea bag collectors club whilst in mid brew?
Sx
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*pfff* I’m just waiting until you come out with your own Schreibmeisterbuch …
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scarlet, as always, your works are stunning!!!
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Thank you, Patty!
Sx
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I’m rubbish at the follow-through, too.Rubbish! I say.
But I like looking.And I quite agree with The Banished One, some compulsions are decidedly unhealthy and destructive.
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I replied Dinah… I’m sure I did. I blame the WordPress app – hopeless fiendish thing.
Yes… well… I don’t think my follow through on the 365 challenge will follow through completely 🙂
Maybe my calligraphy/iPad habit is destructive, as I seem to have acquired a repetitive strain injury. So, less will have to be more!
Sx
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Well hello there Miss Scarlet,
Your calligraphic talents astound and abound. But like many “Creatives” we become bored easily and the initial fun and excitement eventually wears off and it becomes a task… daily postings for a year??? it is a big ask! I’ll continue to encourage you in your daily challenge…
As for me… I sit around on my lazy arse doing diddley squat. It’s nice for a change 😉
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Hello Princess! I swear I replied here, too! Yes… 365 is too much for me. And you deserve a rest after all those wonderful costumes!
I enjoy doing diddley-squat. It is a favourite pastime of mine that has been sadly neglected for the last 20 minutes.
Sx
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My writing is terrible, and clearly on that basis, I could have been a doctor, disregarding the need for a medical degree or two, but your calligraphy is really something else. I’m not worried by challenges and that sort of stuff, but \I do love to see how clever you are at this stuff
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But you write your heart out every week, Mr Ducks! How do you do this? I do love writing – both calligraphy and creative writing…. but I am an undisciplined wretch with a distractible brain disorder.
I wish I had good habits.
Sx
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From your description, I suspect we are related
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Oh, Mr Mags – I am getting comments in a muddle… and I will have a calligraphy leaflet published soon… I think the date 29th July 2025 is penciled in my diary… isn’t it always?
Sx
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