A Love Letter of Sorts

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Little gifts of romance to my Valentine's exchange group.

Washington, D.C. — The Flourish Forum is a wonderful community for calligraphers and letter artists of all skill levels. I'm so grateful to have stumbled upon the forum while working on a wedding job last summer. It is the generous advice and open camaraderie of the community—not to mention our mutual love and enthusiasm for all things handwritten—that make the forum so special. One of my favorite aspects of the forum are the theme exchanges, in which we send our most creative letters to our assigned list of members.

I'm not a big Valentine's day person, and my family and friends can attest to my very non-romantic personality, but I found the Valentine's exchange to be especially inspiring and engaging. I took an old-timey approach and sent a Victorian love poem by Robert Browning, wrapped up in twine, to my exchange group. The different shades of pink, creme, and bronze made for a neat little Valentine's gift.

Letter Patterns

Letter written on pale pink parchment in the Copperplate style.

Letter written on creme parchment in a freehand calligraphy style.

Washington, D.C. — I love discovering graphic patterns in everyday objects. In the midst of photographing one of my daily letters, I was surprised to see how beautifully the double-sided writing melded into one another when held up to the light. The result is a chaotic but elegant mashup of letter forms. Sometimes, as in the case of the copperplate lettering, there's a serendipitous symmetry in the letters reflected from the back side.

It is the little, simple—and unexpected—things in life that give us pleasure. 

A special thanks to my pen friend Star Lively, whose beautiful and fluid calligraphy inspired me to loosen my grip and go freehand.

A Hundred Days of Letters

The second and third pages of my log, slowly becoming a mess.

Washington, D.C. — I have reached the 100th letter in A Letter A Day. This art project to write a letter every day not only serves as valuable calligraphy practice but also as a creative wellspring for my illustration work. I make sure that each letter I write—both in form and content—is unique and tailored specifically for the person receiving it. You can view the project thus far on my Instagram.

More importantly, this project enables me to get back in touch with long lost friends and family. I appreciate this opportunity to reconnect with people I care about. But what I appreciate more is to hear back from them with news that they are healthy and happy. Letter writing gives us the chance to have deeper connections with the people around us. It is an irreplaceable art and tradition worth keeping alive.

Quality Control Patrol

Washington, D.C. — I was just about to photograph a set of handmade wedding invitations, when along came Frances to review my work. She's the resident QC'er at Handmade Letters. It's her job to hold me to the highest standards—I think I got away easy this time.

Letter Received

Instagram post of the my letter by Marta Staudinger of Latela DC (@StopArtYoga and @lateladc)

Last month, Marta Staudinger commissioned me to send thank you letters on her behalf to the many supporters and collaborators of Latela DC, a multi-platform arts and yoga community. When I started brainstorming ideas for her letter to the Art Museum of the Americas (AMA), I remembered the striking image of one of Latela's collaborators (@jabber_walking) doing a tree pose in front of the blue tiles of the AMA during a #StopArtYoga instameet. This instantly became the inspiration for my letter. Coloring the tiles in different tones of watercolor was especially fun.

I am honored that both the AMA and Marta posted the letter on their Instagram accounts. Marta's post with a side-by-side comparison of the original photograph (taken by @ashleysinha) and my interpretation of it is especially cool to see.