I promised myself that this entire week, all the way through Saturday, would be devoted to one thing: art. More specifically, to hand-lettering a whole bunch of signs. Some people might see this as an onerous task. Me, I think this is the reward I am giving myself for a very tough couple weeks leading up to this. I absolutely love this sort of art. It amuses me that I think most word art that ends up as a vinyl graphic on a wall is trite and insipid. I never really wanted to stencil "Live, Laugh, Love," on any of my homes. But hand-lettering in elaborate fonts on paper? I can't get enough of that. The first time I remember doing this was in middle school, when I wrote a piece of short fiction for a language arts class in the style of a newspaper article, and I carefully wrote it out in Courier font (although I didn't call it that -- I just wanted it to look like it was off a typewriter). Right around the same time, I wrapped all of my Christmas presents to family in white butcher paper, on which I carefully drew each recipient's name in precise old Dutch initials heavily decorated with scrolls and flourishes. In high school and college, I used to write out song lyrics in this same manner. I always used Pilot razor point pens. It wasn't until I was in my late twenties before I tried to use a calligraphy pen. I knew I was better with the Pilots. I couldn't get enough of this. I am absolutely certain if I had lived 800 years ago, I would have been a monk somewhere in Ireland, carefully illuminating a bible, and perfectly content with my life (assuming they didn't think I was the devil for using my left hand).
I ran out of excuses to do this for most of the last ten or fifteen years, but once in a while I managed to get some sign work for myself. I weaseled myself into several lettering projects for Rotary last year. This year I've carefully carved out this as my lane when we were assigning jobs for the Foundation picnic/fundraiser. I have a ton of signs to make, and I'm as happy as a pig in muddy poo. I've only just begun. I am most of the way through two signs recognizing donors (we all get one for our $100 donation, with whatever we want on it). I will be preparing another 6 or 8 of these, plus all the signage for the event. I'm going to make one more yellow sign before bed, if I can maintain focus. I'm already starting to drag my left hand through wet paint, smearing it across the surface. Lucky for me these things are on plastic, and will wipe off with a wet Q-tip. But this means no sign will be done until I've sealed it with some sort of fixer. I wonder what will work best. Spray on Polycrylic? Hair spray? I'll need to experiment.
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