Category Archives: Random

Come to the woods, for here is rest

In 1891, John Muir published an article about a valley situated on the south fork of King’s River that’s grander than Yosemite. One of the deepest river gorges in North America, Kings Canyon is more than a mile deep. Some of the features in the area include 14,000-ft peaks, high mountain meadows, swift-flowing rivers, and some of the largest giant sequoia trees.

I had the best time visiting King’s Canyon National Park in October 2019. It was a glorious four days spent in the middle of the mountains and the woods, and what a treat it was to be able to walk amongst giant sequoia trees!

Of course, I penned and took a few of my favorite Muir quotes with me into King’s Canyon, and had so much fun hiking and taking photos of these quotes. Being in nature was exactly what I needed and I hope to be back again in a few years. There is so much more to explore!

Pick Your Own Battles

I know I am not alone when I say that recent news have left me feeling sad and hopeless. But we must keep trying, because we must have hope, for there are so many things to fight for. We obviously cannot fight for all, so we must pick and choose our own battles.

I choose to fight for our wilderness, our national parks, and our environment.

After hearing about the rogue national park rangers in the news, I got inspired to follow them as well as alt-NASA on Twitter. I have always been a liberal, and have always voted. But this time, voting was not enough. Following the rogue scientists’ lead, I decided to write all 42 members of the House Committee on Natural Resources, urging them to protect our wilderness, protect our public lands and national parks.

25 Republicans and 17 Democrats. From coast to coast, all going to hear from me, and getting a John Muir quote. This is how a calligrapher resists.

Whimsical and Romantic – Southern California Bride

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A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of collaborating with some of the most talented wedding vendors here in Southern California for a sweet and dreamy engagement session!

The full feature is now published on Southern California Bride!

Event coordination: JenEvents
Photography: Theresa Bridget Photography
Dress: Adina’s Bridal
Hair & Makeup: Beauty in Motion Studio
Prop rental: Party Pieces by Perry
Floral design: The Flower Story

Bee’s Knees

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I have been active on Instagram (IG) for the past two years or so, and in the past year I have made so many like-minded friends who are just as enthusiastic (if not more) as I am about calligraphy!

Heber is one of the calligraphers I met on IG. Not only is he an excellent calligrapher and designer, he is also a skilled artisan. He has been hard at work making adjustable flanges by hand. When he decided to share his work, I sent the above beloved penholders to him and he gave new life to them by adding adjustable flanges! Now I feel like I just got three new penholders.

Thank you Heebs, you’re the bee’s knees!

Waking Light

Here I go being a music geek again. I’ve had Beck’s latest album Morning Phase for a while now, and it continues to blow me away with every listen from beginning to end. Do most people still listen to an album from start to finish?!

“Waking Light” is the last track on the album and it’s just so beautiful and powerful that inspired me to write down the chorus.

Gold gouache on navy archival cardstock.

Happy 2014!

Happy New Year, friends! My one resolution is to grow and improve at calligraphy. Thanks all for the inspiration and encouragement. Here’s to a great year of learning!

Inspired by Lyrics

“Maybe I’m Amazed,” one of my favorite McCartney songs.

Everyone who knows me know that I am a huge music fan. I’m especially fond of beautiful melodies with lyrics that I can really identify with. Sure, I enjoy happy music like everyone else, but songs of introspection, sadness, longing, and loss always make me stop and listen.

Inspired by the word of a few lettering artists on Tumblr, I started setting lyrics to calligraphy and lettering as practice and have been getting so much positive feedback when I shared them on Instagram and Tumblr. I’m so thankful to everyone who has been supportive with their “likes” and comments.

Here are a few more from my notebook:

Continue reading →

Instagram Leads to Letter-writing!

My letter to Joy (photo by Joy)

When I was in my teens, one of my favorite things to do was to write notes and send letters. I prided myself on excellent penmanship, vast collection of cute stationery and supplies, and a great, big, glorious callus on my right hand from years of writing. Of course, when email came along and became the standard of written communication, I traded my pens and pencils for my mouse and keyboard like everyone else.

I missed writing of course. There’s nothing like sitting down with a pencil in hand and a clean white sheet of paper in front of you. For some reason, expressing your thoughts via brain to hand, to pen, and then to paper feels differently than clicking away on the keyboard and seeing letters form into words and into sentences. with the physical act of writing, you compose your thoughts and organize them in a better way. So when I met fellow calligraphy/writing enthusiasts on Instagram who suggested trading envelopes, I jumped at the opportunity!