Encouragement Between The Strokes
When I started learning calligraphy, I knew I would need practice sheets, brush pens, lessons, and a whole lot of practice. What I didn't realize was how much encouragement I would need. One day, you're looking at a letter thinking, Wait...I think I'm getting this! The next day, you're staring at your practice sheet wondering what in the hell happened between yesterday and today.
Because Learning Calligraphy Will Test You
Maybe you've practiced the same stroke over and over and it still isn't clicking. Maybe you've been practicing for weeks but don't feel like you're improving. Or maybe you finally wrote that letter you've been fighting with and you're sitting there thinking, “Wait. Did I just do that?” The struggles deserve encouragement, but the little victories deserve to be celebrated too.
Your Beginning Doesn't Have to Look Pretty. You don't need every practice sheet to look beautiful. You don't need to learn at the same pace as someone else. And you certainly don't need to have everything figured out before you're allowed to feel proud of your progress.
Some Days You'll Need a Little Boost
Your motivation meter isn't going to stay at 100%. There will be days when you're excited to practice and days when that brush pen can stay right where it is, thank you very much. 😂 That's normal. Sometimes you need encouragement to keep practicing. Sometimes you need permission to take a break. Sometimes you need to laugh at the letter that has completely lost its mind and try again tomorrow. And sometimes you need someone to say, “Look at where you started. You’re doing better than you think.”
This Space Is for You
Encouragement Between the Strokes is a collection of encouragements for the real experience of learning calligraphy—especially those beginning stages when your hand is trying to figure out what you're asking it to do. We'll talk about patience, practice, frustration, confidence, comparison, breakthroughs, messy practice sheets, motivation, and all those little moments that happen while you're learning. There will be encouragement. There will be humor. And there will definitely be a little sass because learning calligraphy doesn't always need another lesson.
Sometimes the calligrapher just needs a little encouragement between the strokes.
-Felecia Scott
Paper Ink & Patience