My Story

September 1, 2021

As in many cases of the “closet artist”, I’m a shy and awkward soul. But, I’m owning it and finally putting myself out there. I’m intensely empathetic so I sincerely feel the stress and pains boiling over in all of us right now and I want to help. Calligraphy and art is one way I’ve used to rejoice in healing, in love and the natural beauty of the world. Hand written lettering has something so much more raw and beautiful than directly digital lettering, in my opinion. Both are beautiful, but I gravitate to the natural lines and imperfections of hand-written lettering.

I love, love, love colors! When asked, “What is your favorite color?” I answer – awkwardly – I like all colors but I LOVE colors when they interact with each other… I find it hard to choose just one color when it’s on its own. I am also a stationary hoarder – I love paper – all textures, types, colors, formats. I just need to start using it instead of saving it and dreading I’ll never find the same paper again, haha! I also apply my love of crafting, color, and paper in bookbinding, jewelry art, and paper crafts. Do wandering heARTists ever stick with one thing for very long?

But, how did I get to this point of self-awareness, you ask? (said with sarcasm btw – I’m still working on that “self-awareness” thing.)

I was on the road to being a lifetime student working odd jobs along the way – it took me roughly 8 years to finally complete a college degree in Psychology (I probably could have taken a handful more classes and completed 5 more degrees with all of the expensive soul searching I did in college!) – all because of the haunting image I’d convinced myself to accept and still terrifies me to this day: I’m not good enough, so art can never be my career.

With my oh-so-valuable college degree in hand to convince family and friends that I am a worthy human on my way to success in life, I could now finally search for a career. HA! If I wanted to continue to help people with my psychology BA, I would need to turn it into a PhD… with another 4 years of schooling – specifically research, which makes me cringe. Sadly, this path in my journey slowed to a crawl. I am still grateful for the knowledge I gained and still use it to understand people I encounter every day, but it was not to be my career path in the end.

I made a husband of my ever-patient college bf in 2009 and we decided that we’d live abroad and teach English in Korea for a year. We stayed 1.5yrs – He taught English in an elementary school, as we had anticipated… I taught science, writing, grammar, and art… to Korean speaking students… in English … sorry my students! I loved the time we spent abroad. I still look at that time with nostalgic affection. Traveling in SE Asia sparked in me again a heart to teach and a passion for the beauty in this world. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I silently carried and grew these passions and am following through with them 10 years later.

My husband began his journey in the culinary industry in 2010 when we returned from our travels – deviating, also, from his own college degree. I justified my wishy-washy enthusiasm in finding a “just-job” with “supporting his career journey” which bounced us around from city to city chasing experience and ill-advised dreams of money rather than actual goals. Our first baby girl was born in 2013 giving me more (very cute and wonderful – and tiring) excuses to ignore my own dreams. I eventually took a “just-job” because the opportunity presented itself. My second squishy baby girl was born in 2016. When returning to work after my maternity leave, I realized I had been working in a toxic environment. Not realizing it before had been like this: imagine working in a room where they gradually introduce a nasty smell… you’d kinda notice it, but then you might get used to it and ignore it after a while. Then it just increased and thickened over time, but you had no idea it was so bad… until you leave the room for long enough, and then have to return to the reeking environment. That’s how it was here. It was bad. I quit a couple months after returning. [This period in my life is another story and another website altogether… maybe I’ll pick up where I leave off here someday and you’ll see a link added if there is enough interest. J Short story – there were bullies. My self-deprecation increased until it nearly messed everything up (but that is the other story).]

Finally, after I quit, I asked my husband “I was able to see where you were passionate, and helped encourage you to a career you now love… maybe you can see mine?” It’s amazing how one can deny something so obvious, when convinced the desire is a dead-end. His answer wasn’t just “art”. That would have been the generalized answer that I’d associated with being “dead-end”. We narrowed it down and specified a focus. He pointed out that I gravitated towards calligraphy and paper… two things that so easily skip down the road hand-in-hand. I snatched up the answer and… moseyed with it… still wary, still unsure of my potential, and unsure of myself. I took a smattering of classes, joined a calligraphy organization, and wandered in practice, but never was able to build it into something bigger because I just didn’t know where to go!

I regretted and associated all “just-jobs” with the trauma of my earlier mentioned job, but still eventually moved on to another “just-job” when another opportunity was strongly promoted by my mother, who saw I wasn’t making any headway in my creative art career. I am still officially here today, in my “just-job”, but I’m hoping that you’ll find my information useful and fabulous enough that you’ll be a part of my journey towards a career in helping people the way I actually wanted to from the beginning.

I’ve been practicing calligraphy since 2016 and I’ve studied under some wonderful teachers. I’ve learned that working with an actual mentor (rather than self study – see my 2016 self-study practice! Haha!) is vital in developing an expert eye to improve your own calligraphy. Along my journey I’ve picked up some priceless tips and tricks and now I’m here to share them with you! I’ve also been a prisoner to “perfectionist shaming” my own work but I want to encourage you to take deep breaths and accept and see the beauty in the mistakes and smudges that come along with the practice of calligraphy. What would be the most useful thing I could teach yOu in your calligraphy journey? Follow me on Instagram and be my email friend! Let’s have fun with calligraphy, and art, … and color and paper!