A week ago, the daily post covered ChuckS and his quest for better penmanship. That post was getting too long, so I figured I would jump down a week in the line up and talk about Chuck's motivation for improving his penmanship. Chuck has to write things by hand at work. I don't know exactly what it is - but he thought that if the penmanship looked more polished - perhaps the words would have greater impact.
IMHO, that's an insightful way to look at handwritten communication. Several years ago I wrote a blog post about a jeweler who had no interest in penmanship and made a comment in passing (as I was painting a beautiful quote on a wall in his house - at the request of his wife). He knew I taught penmanship and his comment was: You could never improve MY penmanship. My response was that I could prove him wrong and I only needed an hour. He accepted the challenge and with his wife joining him - made an appointment for a private lesson at my studio - and I won.
My victory was almost *too much of a good thing.* The wife let me know that I had turned him into a bit of an obsessive and he was spending way too much time at his desk at home with his penmanship. They had small children. I'm not sure he was all that interested in penmanship - I think he might have been hiding from small children because small children are exhausting.
However, I did hear from him a few weeks later that everyone at the jewelry store was thrilled with his new penmanship because in the world of jewelry, people bring things in - orders are handwritten (usually on small envelopes) and they need to keep track of lots of different items - so - legible penmanship is essential. This was especially funny (to me) because prior to hearing this, the jewelry store had in fact - misplaced something that I brought in. They found it (after a couple weeks) - but, I did have first hand experience at the challenges of keeping track of all kinds of items placed in envelopes with handwritten labeling.
My goal with penmanship repair is not to force people into Palmer or some pre-designed style -- but to take the way they write and renovate it - keeping some of the original flavor - but adding some symmetry/consistency/rhythm - ending up with a personal style that is pleasing to the eye as well as fun to write.
Here is what Chuck sent on May 4. I see improvement. He has some very nice loops on the g's and the overall look is getting smoother. I sent him one quick page of capital letter - and will be sending a more helpful set of caps that show how some of them can be joined.
The number one thing I suggested - was to tighten up the word spacing. But, overall, I am so proud of Chuck's progress.
Leslie left a comment below - wondering how Carolyn did her envelope. Answer will be at the top of the post tomorrow. I can't figure out how to leave a comment on my own blog. Grrrrr.
Love the env.! Is that just ink "splattered"?
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