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Sunday, January 25, 2015

A Writer's Art: The Alphabet

 Alphabets are a fascination with me.


It might come as a bit of a surprise, as I do not incorporate too much lettering into my work at this point. Calligraphy is an art which I have not the time to practice (though I do practice) and so until I have mastered it enough to make something folky I have chosen to simply work with motifs. For now, my calligraphy dances across the page, and not gracefully. 

That is not to say I do not do letters, though. Ah, yes, thankfully I can do illuminated letters. In fact, they may have started me down the whole fraktur trail. Armed with sharpies, I drew letters on every scrap of paper I could find. I happen to have a few of those scraps, too, so I thought I would share. To the left you will see an example of how I kept sane in school at 13. It appears to be on the back of a recipe for home ec class. (The historian in me notes that we were making Mississippi Mud Cake). 

Letters were my doodles, and with some helpful direction (and a bit of persuasion) from my mother toward frakturs, letters became my art. I do find what opportunities I can among the tulips and the houses to illuminate those strange bits of language that make all the difference. And I am planning to incorporate them even more in the future. 

I find it very apropos that I love letters so much. I am both artist and writer, after all, and so live "in awe of words" (Anonymous). I live in awe of letters both on the tome and the sketchbook page. If you want to see more of the letters that inspire me, check out my Pinterest board devoted solely to letters, called "serif or sans?"  here.

February Sale Note: I will have some new items for sale February 2, 2015 starting at 8pm EST at www.rebekahlsmith.com. I am very excited about these latest pieces, so enjoy! 


3 comments:

  1. I have always believed, that when we look back "we are always who we once were".
    :-)

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  2. Kelsey ~ you work is so very, very beautiful.

    Doreen

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