In just over a week, April 7-8, in Albany, CA, I’ll be teaching this style of calligraphy — Neuland (not to be confused with Neuland markers, though you can certainly DO Neuland calligraphy with Neuland markers! Although we’ll primarily be using Zig 5mm markers and steel pens) — at a two-day workshop for the Friends of Calligraphy.
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I’m going back to my roots, coming full circle. Not only did I used to be a professional calligrapher and calligraphy teacher, but Neuland was what I taught at my first-ever workshop, way back in the 90s!
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I gave a demo of Neuland at the Friends of Calligraphy Spring Retreat a couple of years ago, which is what led to this gig. But it’s been so long since I’ve taught the full workshop that NONE of my lesson plans were in digital form! Just handwritten scraps.
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Guess who has been putting everything into MS Word this week? 😁
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I hope teaching is like a 🚲
I know it’s one of my favorite things, ever.
And I know I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve that I didn’t have the last time I taught, thanks to all the new tools I’ve been learning! 🖍
I’m always nervous before I teach, but if past experience is any indicator, learning will happen, and a good time will be had by all, including me. 😊
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#calligraphy #neuland #walnutink #originalart #automaticpen @friendsofcalligraphy #friendsofcalligraphy

Creative Sandbox Challenge, Day 13: Raven. My goal for this challenge was to expand my visual vocabulary for graphic facilitation. In other words, to find QUICK ways to draw things in order to communicate visually. 🖍
This did not accomplish that goal. I could not figure out how to communicate “raven” in a quick drawing!
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So instead, I decided to simply take ten minutes and learn how to draw a raven, period!
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I did a Google search for “How to draw raven,” and found a lesson. Boom!
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This is not going to be possible in a workshop—I cannot take ten minutes to draw a raven. I cannot even take five minutes to draw a raven. BUT, I figured if I learn to draw a raven the slow way—if I understand RAVEN—then maybe I’ll be able to come up with a quick shorthand for raven that I can draw in twenty seconds or less.
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First, though, I have to understand RAVEN before I can even hope to draw it. Hence this much-more-complex drawing today.
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I am not an illustrator. I have no desire to be an illustrator. My interest lies in art as PROCESS, art as a THINKING tool. I’m not nearly as interested in producing something refined and perfected for show. (Been there, done that—it sucked the life out of me.)
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That’s not to say I don’t want my work to be aesthetically pleasing or as well-produced as possible—I do! But what excites me the most is the potential for what I create to assist with and create TRANSFORMATION in the people who see it. 🖍
If all people say is, “Wow, that’s gorgeous,” then I’ve failed. 🖍
My goal for my work is to shift people’s lives. Help them learn something new. Inspire them to try something they haven’t tried before. Get them to see something differently.
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If my work does THAT, it’s a success, even if nobody says, “Wow, that’s gorgeous!”
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As a recovering perfectionist, this is a real paradigm shift. I like this new perspective, this new art form I’ve recently discovered. And I confess, there’s still tension between my desire to impress and my desire to stay rooted in process and service! It’s a blurry line sometimes, because beauty can help the process and service.
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To be continued…
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#originalart #creativesandboxchallenge

Sketchnoting a webinar on Mastering Crowdcast with @taragentile. .
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#sketchnote #sketchnotes #visualnotes #visualcommunication #doodle #doodles #newskill #originalart