fire

calligraphy by Jeanne

from Caroline Myss

We have embraced the idea of self-empowerment, but loved it when it just applied to us in our individual lives. Weaving ourselves back into the whole, and using the empowerment of ourselves collectively and realizing the power we have to co-create is a profound mystical truth. It’s not a small time mental acuity we use to get stuff – it’s not an ego-driven concept.

When we look at what’s happening, one way to approach it is through that truth that these predicaments, these crises we are in are somehow going to require all of us to navigate through, one way or another. Everything that is facing us requires all of us to transform within us. To see the world differently, to approach the world differently, individually within our lives, within ourselves, as an incredible act of personal and thus global transformation. This is what we’re going through.

It is a challenge – make no mistake about it. Especially as we see the world on fire – whether it’s on the streets or in the forests. Everything is engaging with that one message – we cannot not see it. We cannot avoid the messages around us any more that we are intimately connected to everyone, that we are each other’s caretakers.

celebrate

photo by Jeanne – art by Jeanne –  studio Quicksilver – July, 2019 – Calligraphy and Aria from Romeo and Juliette

 

Aria from Romeo and Juliette lettered by Jeanne

simplicity

calligraphy by John Stevens

 

wing a flourish

from a heart

rotate

fly across an “O”

tap a shoulder of an “r”

and drop kite-like

deflate gently to the bottom

where “amore”

breaks the ground

 

( Note the harmony possible with the fine point pen, the extra thin lines, and the

itsy bitsy Majuscule letters)

 

 

Definition #315 Calligraphy

Calligraphy
The Seventh Martial Art

hold breathe-zing brush-stroke

lift-drop  push-pull  graphic dance:

descenders drop down

to view a wonderful video posted by Ewan Clayton go to:

http://j-laf.org/letterarts/english.html

Definition #223 Reality

Calligraphy by John Stevens

Nature’s flourishes

fly like seeds, seeking roots, spores

real, verdant, fertile.

Definition #81 Visit

Calligraphy: Bob Boyajian and Jeanne Poland in tandem

flourished strokes by folks:

soul-mates hearing grace’s chants

dancing lover’s steps

Speed

besides
speed
we
need:

besides
speed
we
need:

a creed
to breed
feed
bleed
be freed
heed our call
with Godspeed!

Love’s Chemistry

Bob Boyajian in the Newport Art Museum

Awakening burst
of color, form, style, flourish,
dance of lettering!

Epitaphs

In Sedona Az, I teach a Calligraphy Workshop at the library twice a year.
This June 11, we explored a personal epitaph
chose a favorite hand designed alphabet
and illustrated our statement.
Behold Victoria Norton’s handiwork in the library’s quiet study room
and my InDesign file.

Here are some notes on famous last words from some people you might know:
The last words of Luciano Pavarotti

The Italian tenor Pavarotti (1935 – 2007) was both commercially successful and critically acclaimed. His rendition of Puccini’s ‘Nessum Dorma’ at the 1990 World Cup Finals in Italy has become probably the best-known operatic performance of our era.

His final words were:
I believe that a life lived for music is an existence spent wonderfully, and this is what I have dedicated my life to.

Background to Luciano Pavarotti’s last words
Pavarotti, already in poor health, gave a (pre-recorded) performance at the opening ceremony of the Turin Winter Olympics in February 2006. In July the same year, while touring his ‘Worldwide Farewell’ performances, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was determined to complete the farewell tour, but was unable to and died in August 2007. The words above were the last words that he spoke, to his manager, Terri Robson.

Becket, Thomas (c.1119-1179) “I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace.” (One version of his last words.)

Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886) “… the fog is rising.”

Gandhi, Indira (1917-1984) “I don’t mind if my life goes in the service of the nation. If I die today every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation.” (Said the night before she was assassinated by Sikh militants.)

Thoreau, Henry David (1817-1862)
`Have you made your peace with your God?’
`I never quarreled with my God.’
`But aren’t you concerned about the next world?’
`One world at a time.’
(Discussion with his aunt on his deathbed)

Emily Dickinson: “Called back.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty I’m Free at Last.”

The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer (like the cover of an old book,
its contents worn out, and stripped of its lettering and gilding) lies here,
food for worms. Yet the work itself shall not be lost,
for it will, as he believed, appear once more
in a new and more beautiful edition, corrected and amended by its Author.
Benjamin Franklin

My Autobiography

Table of Contents

Farms in Queens
German Ghetto
St. Thomas the Apostle Parish
Dominican Nuns
The Band
Girl Scouts
The Elevated Train
Brooklyn Catholic High Schools
Convent Life in the Sixties
Coming Out
Meeting the Trappist Priest
Teaching Art in the New York City HS
Having 3 babies in 4 years
Raising Children on the North Shore of Long Island
Equality in a Marriage
Relatives
Divorce
The Midwest
Art & Teaching
Calligraphy
Non-Retirement
Budgets
City girl goes to the Mountains
Home Owners Association
Elder Years
Being Published
Health Maintenance
Grand Children