The Wed Lament (about art as a livelihood)

Rather than ranting, I will simply lament the fact that making a decent living from art is very challenging. Not just the applied arts (including penmanship and calligraphy) but many other kinds of art - music, dance, acting. A few people get to be rock stars, but in general, it's hard to make a decent living at art. 

On the other hand, it is not uncommon for people who make a career of their art to find that they use up all their energy balancing the art and the business and maybe it would have been better to have a day job and keep the joy of their creative endeavors as a personal outlet.

I would not normally re-post a GoFundMe for just anyone, but Alan Blackman is special. His work is a full 50% of why I ended up devoting my life to envelopes (and teaching.) I won't go into the details I have learned about Alan through my scribe friends. I'll just say that he seems to be cut off the same bolt as so many other scribes who devoted their lives to the art. He chose teaching/sharing that art for his lifelong career. Countless scribes have benefited from his teaching.

Scribes who choose a path that does not include a back-up career live modest lives. They are amazing teachers, they produce volumes of work, they have a huge fan base, they make a fabulous contribution to an art that is usually relegated to the world of *craft.* In the world of fine art, there is opportunity to make some serious money. But, in the crafts, you only make money if you can build a studio and have assistants churning out the work. With calligraphy - you can't use assistants - all of the work must come from your hand.

Graphic design does offer an alternative - but that is an entirely different set of skills - and not all calligraphers are cut out to dovetail those two disciplines.

Another feature of professional scribes -- a lot of them live a very long time. It is often noted how many of the really top notch scribes lived into their 90s. Maybe it is the meditative aspect of writing that contributes to health and well being.

So, if you are already a big fan of Alan, or if you simply have means to be generous - here is an opportunity to contribute to a lovely man. In addition to the GoFundMe link, which has heart warming details -- there is a link to his website. You can see a gazillion lovely envelopes. There is also a page called The Lords Prayer, which I do not recall ever seeing. It is a lovely page to review if you are interested in seeing a wide range of design ideas using the same text. You can ignore the text if it not something that speaks to you. Just look at the styles/colors/arrangement etc.

Blackman GoFundMe.  <<<<<link

Blackman Website.  <<<<<<link

I've been putting in   <<<<<link.  next to links because when I see them on the screen, they blend in with the text and I can't tell if it is obvious that there are links.