{art + innovation} #inspiration
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How My First Fountain Pen Made Writing Special Again
June 4, 2012
One cannot help but feel refined while using a fountain pen. No, it’s not images of a preppy cashmere sweater tied around your shoulders as you pen your day’s busy schedule of tennis, luncheon & spa. Fountain pens actually create a physical, mental and ritualistic distinction. It feels special writing with a fountain pen whether it’s daily doodles or occasional epic poems.
I kept it simple and affordable for my first fountain pen: LAMY’s Safari line in a bodacious yellow designed by Wolfgang Fabian. The German engineering’s modern, straight lines appeal to me more than the traditional tapered design. Safari is fresh and classic at the same time. Disclaimer: yes, fine (pun intended) pen nerds exist out there at international pen shows and on the Fountain Pen Geeks forum. I’m not at that level. I just like the bright yellow color, light plastic weight, and easy to use ink cartridge to pop in.
Let’s Get Physical
Let’s start the most noticeable trait: the shiny metal nib, ending in a wide, medium, fine, extra fine, or left hand point. The delicate, yet strong steel nib forces the writer to slow down for fear of ripping through the paper. Fountain pen ink flows with almost no pressure that they’re arguably the world’s most “laid back pens!” The two flat sides for your index finger and thumb feels so comfortable that one wonders if carpal tunnel syndrome would exist if people used fountain pens instead of keyboards.
I like how the ink pools a bit darker at the end of a letter by gravity. The slightly uneven gradient holds more personality for each word. The paper’s surface becomes extremely important to how the fountain glides, impresses, or slips off the paper. Using fountain pens on thick sketch paper is a delight!
So Mental
It’s also the revered approach in using the “ultimate writing equipment.” No, I do not use fountain pens for the mundane like domestic To Do Lists or furiously fast work notes. Office Depot’s industrial Pilot G ballpoint is relegated to that. Since fountain pens will not be used for everyday writing, whatever I do use it for becomes even more special. Mysterious missives. Random doodles get elevated to Super Doodles. Who needs handmade cards or scrap booking when you can just write with a fountain pen?
Rrrritual
Rituals fall into two categories: intentional and unintentional. I have an unintentional practice of analyzing my handwriting in real time while using fountain pens. By slowing down and paying attention to that LAMY’s trail, I self-consciously wonder, “Geez, has my handwriting been that bad all this time?” It feels odd trying to change my personal typeface since one’s handwriting is usually hard coded.
The intentional ritual is how I now prefer to write thank you notes with fountain pens; for that extra care. I don’t care if the recipient doesn’t know that their snail mail came to life by my fountain pen. I would know.
Perhaps some people only journal with fountain pens. Would copy editors be less stressed if they used fountain pens instead of red markers? How would old school nerds be perceived if they carried fountain pens instead of mechanical pencils in their shirt pockets? Would these same nerds be hipsters who now wear black rimmed glasses without lenses? The application of these beautiful metal nib astounds and abounds!
Limited Edition Mont Blanc, anyone?
Great Photographers Who Use Crappy Cameras
June 4, 2012
The Art of Slowing Down
May 18, 2012
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It’s insidious how it creeps up and permeates your life as the norm: The Instantaneous Schedule. Four hours of sleep from the energy drink while gulping down the fast food lunch on the way to the third meeting across town about another meeting for the 4PM deadline that’s late for the team waiting in France for immediate broadcast, hoping the sister picks up your daughter and dog before you bring home pizza for dinner.
E x h a l e…
E x h a l e some more…
As society speeds up, it’s actually more urgent that we slow down. The current pace of change, competition, and consumerism in developed countries can easily create burned out 10 year-olds now.
Since we have Meatless Mondays, why not start Slow Down Sundays?
It’s not radical living off the grid, wearing self-made animal skins while foraging in the wilderness. It’s not just sitting around doing nothing for extended, mind-numbing hours.
Slowing down is deliberate.
Slowing down is selective.
Slowing down is simplifying.
I’m unconvinced of all the different factions of the Slow Movement. For example, can Slow Fashion really be practical? What is Slow Art exactly?
Instead, simply pause and ponder for whatever works for you. Studies have shown that more creative ideas emerge when we relax our minds.
Some Super Slow Stuff for Any Day
- Sleep in| repair and rejuvenate.
- Meditate| the fuzzy time in between sleeping and waking up is an ideal time to meditate.
- Make breakfast from scratch| have fun nurturing yourelf and others
- Write a long lost friend a snail mail letter… with a fountain pen or manual typewriter| everyone loves snail mail + help out the postal service.
- Ride a bike| notice the sights, sounds, and streets previously sectioned off while in cars.
- Walk an unfamiliar route | it’s muscle confusion for your regular tendencies.
- Lie down on a grassy field to gaze at the sun slowly setting| go to your happy place.
- Plant anything| you created a new life’s blossom.
- Sketch the first thing that intrigues you| take the time to notice the nooks and crannies.
- Slow cook dinner| savor that braised flavor… yum.
Slowing down means disconnecting to be connected deeper… Heck, it’s not even about a list of slow things to do. Rather, it’s about a mindset and a confidence that it’s okay to take the time. It’s a quiet assuredness to set your own pace against the tide to ultimately enjoy more. That’s the art.
Hark! Pablo Neruda’s “Dazzle of Day.”
April 22, 2012
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April has been National Poetry Month since 1996 in the U.S.
With one week left of stanzas, sonnets, and iambic pentameters, perhaps the stunning beauty of each day or changing season is enough for the brewing summer.
May I present Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971. From the hardcover book, Intimacies, Poems of Love, which beckoned its used pages to me from Dog Eared Books in San Francisco’s gritty Mission District. Likely composed from Isla Negra, Neruda’s house on the Pacfic Coast of Chile… intimismos.
Drawing as Thinking According to Milton Glaser
April 14, 2012
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How I Rediscovered Sketchbooks and Their Magic
April 7, 2012
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The constrictions happen slowly over the years so you don’t even realize it.
As a Kid: we’re given white, blank pieces of paper to draw whatever mess we wanted. Splotches of paint, curves in crayon; it didn’t matter because that masterpiece always got proudly promoted to the big refrigerator for everyone to admire.
Grade School: we soon learn the beauty of cursive writing by practicing constant contact using handwriting guides… dash dash tucked in between solid lines. We sometimes still draw on that white piece of paper, now stashed away deeper in the drawer.
High School/College: College-ruled lines defined our notes next. Those light blue horizontal lines bring a sense of order to copious classes. Perhaps that Algebra class sprinkles in graph paper periodically. Who really likes those cumbersome yellow legal pads? Those blank pieces of paper and colored pencils have long been forgotten through entrance exam rigors.
Real World Work: Did you know that Excel 2010 has 17,179,869,184 cells? The increase happened back in Excel 2007 where each worksheet has 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns now. Shit. How many more pivots, equations, and macros can a person handle in their shrunken 5′ x 5′ cube?
How did this creep up on us? The older we got, the more boxes literally and metaphorically filled our space. Our left-sided, analytical brains have been in the driver’s seat for decades, driving on a one lane, straight highway.
For Milton Glaser, the revered patriarch of graphic design, “drawing is really a kind of thinking.”
Think about that. We look at common objects daily, but we don’t really see it until we sit down, concentrate, and try to draw its details. The curves, the texture, and the depth of that rose are actually a different way of thinking.
My trip back to Sketchbook Land started out meekly with a small reporter-style notebook. I needed space to collect lists and words with my black pen.
An eventual trip to the craft store procured a proper Strathmore sketchbook spanning 5.5 x 8.5 inches of 60 lb. Series 400 paper. Soon the lists expanded to concepts and stick figures with bold markers and colorful colored pencils.
Soon after, I discovered Canson’s cleverly sized 6″ x 3″ notebooks and Rhodia’s graph paper books at an independent art supply store. Yes, I now compulsively acquire and use sketchbooks. A small sketchbook is now a required travel item whenever I hit the road.
For people not trained in the arts, this transformation is a big step. I’ve rediscovered the fun, relaxation, and inspiration from doodling and sketching. The pre-defined lines and boxes are gone. You’re finally exercising atrophied neurological highways. The blank page is like the Grand Teton’s vast, open valley. Majestic. You start appreciating paper weight, and a new trove of pens, pencils, and paints open up. You now understand why people have those annoyingly cute pencil bags.
I haven’t graduated to full illustrations yet, but there now exists a place and practice to chicken scratch out concepts in a collection. These disparate dots will connect like Steve Jobs referenced. Perhaps I’ll participate in Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project with the 5,000 other fans.
Why aren’t sketchbooks required school supplies along with notebooks? Compare how it feels to brainstorm on a blank piece of paper vs. making lists on lined paper. PowerPoint should not be the only chance we get to craft “pretty pictures.”
Check out these intimate sketches from famous artists like Andy Warhol, Tim Burton and Frida Kahlo. You can see their creative process in process.
My precious sketchbooks are not stored in the technology cloud, and that’s just fine. I still need something to carry out if the house burns down.
Tempting TED Talk: Connected, but Alone?
April 4, 2012
Life in a Nutshell According to Winnie-the-Pooh
March 24, 2012
Eeyore: Sigh. How am I ever going to get out of this Thousand Acre Woods, Pooh? What can I truly do in this short life? I am but a depressed donkey.
Winnie-the-Pooh: Well, my emo friend, your general place in the big world falls into 5 puzzle pieces.
Natural Wiring: everyone is born with innate, undeniable wiring, which expresses through his or her natural disposition and penchant. Visual learners. Compulsive organizers. Effervescent talkers.
Nurturing & Schooling: we grow up with our natural wiring around some verisimilitude of family and hopefully get a dash of education. Although we can’t blame irascible parents for everything, we cannot expect the world based solely on a university or high school degree either.
Lifestyle: as we work like dogs to earn an independent living, we ponder various lifestyles when the silence fills the dark space. What’s the meaning of that jet set life versus persisting as the bare boned artist? The pulse of the singleton, married, parent, and divorced beat differently.
Legacy: what can you leave ultimately behind in this world? Well-rounded offspring? Bleeding edge software systems? Perhaps a tree, poem or recipe? Years of different lifestyles can default, vapidly accumulate or be purposely designed. How will the world be better, worse, or indifferent after your blip?
Randomness: this is the Universe’s wild card. It’s the unpredictable curve balls like freak storms, winning the lottery, or beating cancer.
Take all of these pieces and hit the spin cycle to get this:
Eeyore: Pooh, you’re telling me that life looks like a bad paint ball fight? Gosh, I’m really screwed.
Winnie-the-Pooh: life isn’t a pot of hunny all the time, Eeyore. The adventure lies in forging your own creation from what you’ve been dealt with and what you solely construct. It’s a wild mix. The point is to go get dirty and to have fun while trying.
Eeyore: Wow. All I’ve been trying to do is keep my own tail on. I’ve never looked at life like this before. You’re my best friend, Pooh.
Pooh: you’re my best buddy, too, Eeyore. Let’s go harass Piglet. Got your tail?
Freehand Life 