So far this week, I have highlighted the artwork of my husband and my two daughters. This post – fourth in the series – will highlight my artwork.

I enjoy doing art; I don’t consider myself an artist (at least not in the professional sense). I’m more a “copier” and “collator”. When I see something that pleases my eye, I work to copy or reproduce it, then I collate and coalesce it with other pleasing factors and ta da! – maybe it works. I am trained in Calligraphy which I enjoy and use daily.

I am never far from pen and paper; if I’m not writing, I’m illustrating. Nothing formal: I illustrate sermon notes as I sit and listen; I illustrate answers to my children’s questions; I illustrate shopping lists for my non-reading children. And I doodle. I doodle and watch an idea develop; I doodle because I enjoy the repetition of lines and the combinations of lines, and dots and curves; I doodle because I must…it’s the way I’m made.

I am trained in graphic design and I enjoy designing printed materials: books, flyers, cards, whatever. Most recently I’ve used my art to design and paint sets for a puppet stage production; to decorate a costume for a stage play (puffy paint) and to enter a piece of art into a themed art exhibit. For each project I undertake, I do not feel greatly confident; but I figure I have some tools available and I learn as I go. Each project presents some sort of problem that needs a solution: sometimes it’s a design problem, sometimes it’s a hardware and design problem: sometimes it’s a lack of supplies, a lack of time or a lack of ideas. The problems are challenging and invigorating to me. And generally the pressure they bring tends to propel me forward.

I think my best contribution in art is to encourage my children to not be afraid to experiment in art, to encourage them to give it a try. I see them moving forward in this direction and it thrills me. They see me “easily” using art in daily life: that is, informally, without a lot of fuss. I pick up a pen and add a flourish to an ordinary note; they see that and are encouraged. Soon many notes with flourishes appear around the house. They see me “trying” things. (One day they came home to find Mom painting large flourishes of color on the walls! These flourishes were to “frame” some calligraphic lettering…right upon the wall.)

Many of my art inspirations are more like a science experiment: I put some elements together and see if they work. If they don’t work…no big deal – it was an experiment. It they do work – COOL! Through the whole process my daughters are my observers, but when the pen is put into their hands, they become the experimenters and the artists.