Hello everyone,
Today I thought I would share with you all something a little different. Something I really love is seeing 'behind the scenes' videos or photographs from artists. I find it fascinating to hear about their process, what inspires them and how they go about making what they do. I came across this video of Master Penman Jake Weidmann and just had to share. His work is incredible! I thought it was also rather fitting with back to school. Something I wish I had continued from school was my handwriting practice. I used to have really quite nice handwriting and write with a fountain pen but now my handwriting after not practicing and using the computer so much has changed. It is a lot bigger, less swirly and not always completely joined up. I have been watching calligraphy artists on Instagram for a while and although I don't think I could ever do calligraphy well I would love to start trying to improve my handwriting. Perhaps this can be one of my goals for September! I will let you know how I get on.
Jake Weidmann - Master Penman and Artist
Jake is a certified Master Penman and received his certificate from the IAMPETH in July 2011. He currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado and this influences much of his work. He is one of just eleven Master Penmen in the world and is the youngest by three decades.
His work is a mixture of calligraphy and art.
Jake receives a lot of comments that he 'makes it look easy' but reality he spends a long time perfecting each letter and often works later into the night. There is little room for error in his work so mistakes have to be binned and the work started again.
Jake explains,
"I will fill a page with the same letter over and over and over just so, that when it comes time for me to execute that letter in an actual piece, I am able to do so without thought. It's already imprinted into who I am, into my makeup, into my muscle memory that I am execute it when the time comes."
I think lots of crafter and artists who are reading this will have heard that at at least one point during their career. People see the end result but they don't see the process in between and the hours of trying to perfect something.
In his artwork he says he is trying to "preserve the past and forge the future". He says that he takes what other artists have learned to be beautiful, the shapes of beautiful lettering and how to do certain calligraphy, and makes that into a new artwork.
"What was once beautiful, in the past and is still beautiful today, holds the promise that it will still be beautiful in the future"
He believes handwriting to be "deeply personal" and that it is important to use handwriting especially in an age in which we use computers so much.
And as if this calligraphy and art isn't enough Jake also carves and his carved work is also highly detailed and beautiful.
And as if this calligraphy and art isn't enough Jake also carves and his carved work is also highly detailed and beautiful.
I hope that you have all enjoyed reading this blog post, I hope to do more features on artists on my blog so if you liked this post and would like to see more blog posts like it please let me know by leaving a comment in the comments section below.
Please be sure to take a look at Jake's work and particularly his Instagram account (it is really addictive to look through, especially watching the short videos on there).
The Dorothy Days X
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