Writing; It’s Alive Not The Dying Art You All Think.
“Writing! Isn’t that a dying art?”
When people
find out I am a writer of the hand written word this is a comment I hear often!
My reply is, “ Actually, there’s a resurgence, it IS alive and my aim is to give it breathe & the beauty of a legible, stylish hand that empowers and gets you noticed at the same time.”
As I write
this it is on paper with my favourite tool: the pencil. The feel & glide of
lead when looking back at my marks made on the pages gives my words creativity
& meaning. Somehow, it helps my story telling to flow & my thoughts to
ponder & strategise. Sure, you can do this on your pc but for me it’s
honouring the engagement of lead & paper, the hands on movement with
sincerity to it all.
When a hand
written letter was delivered in the mail it may have taken days, weeks or
months to arrive with news from elsewhere in the world. Can you imagine
that? That very act of reading a newsy
letter often reveals life’s details more honestly & intimately than that we
may load on instant social media. It’s
the tactile exchange that comes from receiving something either private, news
worthy or an invitation to a special event.
To me,
somehow the importance of the written word is showing you care enough to put it
down on paper. If you receive a Thank You note or card by post, actually
delivered into your mail box (the sort out on the street), it means someone has
taken the time to offer you their appreciation & gratitude in a meaningful
way. I believe the art of writing is about impact & connection & combining
the power of the written word to deliver your message.
I wrote
addresses on 150 or so beautiful, quality, thick envelopes in nib & ink a
while ago & one of these was delivered to a well known Perth lawyer &
he said it was the most beautiful invitation to an event he had ever received.
Apparently, he had received many & this very compliment made my heart sing.
It’s the fact that it went from my handwritten words to the bride & then to
her guest’s. The conversation that caused, the amount of people who actually
phoned her & commented on the beauty they received was over flowing
appreciation. That flow on effect is why I write by hand.
The art of
the handwritten word has been proven to slow you down & as you form your
shapes, link up your letters & design your flourishes the mindfulness &
wellbeing engage. You get into the zone & forget everything else.
It is also
proven that the act of writing down your information is a beneficial way of
learning. Eye, hand, brain all connecting.
Students are
still required to handwrite exams up to three hours & the problem with this
is they are out of practise. I taught Guildford Grammar students to write legibly
& quickly with only a few, too short lessons for Year 9. Obviously, they,
like any computerised student had to practise, to build up the flow so that
muscle aches in fingers, arm & shoulder did not occur. And let’s not forget
the finger blisters! This is exactly what happens when daily writing is not in
our schedule. Iv’e taught a Qantas pilot, real estate agents, a poetic builder,
an international model & the challenged to write & I love to see the
evolution of skills advance because of the confidence it gives them.
Once upon a time, everyone who hand wrote did
so beautifully. Today, people hand write but because we have no marker of
beauty the youngsters seem to think that just because anyone can form a letter
it’s fabulous. Style & standards have gone. Culturally, we’ve lost the art of writing
due to technology & are really just finding it for the benefits of learning
& mindfulness. However, we still have to concentrate on the formations for
style which gives us the beauty.
Think back
to the 1740s when copperplate engravers like George Bickham was the noted
engraver & calligrapher who overlaid fine flourishes, swirls, spirals,
featherings & volutes by hand. Extreme decoration in writing indeed.
However, it is these very basic exercises which I use today to capture the
beauty of the hand written word & teach it.
Most of our
youth are embarrassed to pick up a pen & write today because they have not
been taught how to, it’s not high on the curriculum. Interior design, architecture students are
being asked to perform a sketch on the spot, on a note pad to quickly elaborate
something to their client & they will probably have to write a few words
too. Not corrected on how to pick up or hold a pen they write with fingers
crooked around their biro unable to actually view what they are writing. It’s
not their fault; we’ve just been remiss in assisting them in this detail. However,
the biggest thing that disappoints me from a legible point of my lead pencil or
fountain pen is that the letter formations have gone beyond being fashionably
“imperfect”. I quite often see a modern style brush lettered quote &
deciphering it becomes a typographical challenge. There is a time for artistic
lettering but I have to question if the word reads; “happy, nappy or pappy:? I
desperately want to run up and erase or fill it in & finish off one minute
detail to read it easier. Yes, artistic letters are great when required but we
are forgetting to finish & close off the joins & meet ups & messing
with incorrect height & unclosed shapes too much. Let’s not lose the art of
letter construction completely in our modern world & let’s not break the
rules too much so that the illegible is fashionable. This is something I
encourage when engaging in calligraphy, lettering class at E.C.U. Shape, form,
space, flow & rhythm are still the stand fast rules of writing anything by
hand. As I tell any of my younger
students; “Writing is a skill that takes time, weeks, months, sometimes years
depending on how much you observe & practise so be patient with yourselves
& in this instant world, if you do not grasp it immediately you are not
failing but learning.”
Writing with
style, like manners can open doors, it gets you noticed, admired &
utterings of surprise & delight occur when it’s beautiful.
The
signature has the power to also give you status no matter what your handwriting
is like. The signature has the presence to bring the senses together into a
visual majesty of sight, sound & mark making. The signature has been
forgotten too, however I have developed an hour long, one on one, trialled
& tested recipe that will give you, the owner, and V.I.P status. It joins with
handwriting to give you confidence & I so wish I had taken a photo of a 15
year old teenager whose handwriting was somewhere between printing &
scribbled writing. I didn’t even think he was going to turn up for his
appointment but the glorious, beaming smile & the way he shook my hand
after he stood up was good enough indication that he had something attainable
that no one else in his class had. He felt good about himself with a sense of
pride & the firm, thankful handshake made me feel glad. If nothing else his
signature was a kicker to go forward with.
A signature
to me is the mark of a man or woman.
So let’s
strive to keep the art of the stylish, handwritten letters & words alive,
unite the signatures of penwoman & penman & stand out from the rest by
connection, beauty & the joy of our own hand.
Poise our
biros, let the fountain pens flow & the pencils glide. Dip your nib in the
ink & let the beautiful words flow, like all the words inside you waiting
to mark the page.
Write on,
forever.