This is the first issue of our digital Lettering Arts Guild Diary. It will fill those in who weren’t able to attend the Wind-up Party or our last meeting .......a little peak into what you missed!
Thank you to all the members that brought their pieces to be displayed at the Red Deer Hospital for our “ Thanks to Care Givers” exhibit.....a galleria of those works is included. The Education Team have sent out their tantalizing offerings for the fall sessions of classes and Lorna has a great line up of calligraphic activities for our meetings.....we will be experimenting and learning more about all our tools......coming to our meetings is a great to connect, exchange ideas and learn new things.
Blackened layout lines on a white piece of paper provides a guideline for lettering without measuring layout lines on every envelope. Materials used: Micron pen, pencil crayons, Wink of Stella (for a bit of sparkle), and clear glaze gel pen.
Thanks to Karen Wimmer, Christina Boychuk, Roxanne Fairbrother, and Darcy Edinga for their time and effort in this project, 75 envelopes!
Thanks Christine!
We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful June day or location for our end of year wind-up party.
Linda Waschuk was our gracious host and barbeque chef....lots of delicious potluck salads and deserts and good company!!
Bu et Jo naling
At our first meeting after the summer break, Karen Wimmer and Chistine Ahmad delved into a very brief overview of the bullet journaling method developed by Ryder Carroll..
I’ll be honest….I’ve resisted the Bullet Journal trend up to this point as I felt it would be just one more thing to add to my to-do list and that’s absolutely the last thing I need! I was always seeing cute little layouts & templates on Pinterest and stencils & journals on Amazon but I felt I wouldn’t measure up (you know how calligraphers are always comparing themselves to others?!) and, again, I really didn’t want to add any more to my plate. Then one day, Christine & I were chatting and I was lamenting (once again!) about the photo-scanning project that has been hanging over my head for some time. Christine asked me what it was that was distracting me from working on it…and, to be honest, I didn’t know how to answer her. She remarked that distraction was the opposite of traction and since I wasn’t getting any traction on my project, there must be something that was distracting me from it. Yeah, I thought, just about everything – I would even rather be doing housework than digging into that task! At that point, Christine pointed out that it was up to me to figure out what it was that was keeping me from getting on with the job at hand which led to more discussion about a recent episode on Workshop Week where Becca Courtice interviewed Ryder Carroll, the inventor of the Bullet Journal method.
So I checked out a few YouTube videos and information on Ryder’s website (BulletJournal.com) and decided I needed to look into this a bit more. Ryder originally developed the Bullet Journal as a way for him to cope with the challenges of ADD and, while I haven’t been diagnosed with the same, I think we could all benefit from more focus in our lives. Through “trial and a lot of error”, Ryder came up with a system that worked for him – “a cross between a planner, diary, notebook, to-do list and sketchbook”. Gradually, he “became less distracted, less overwhelmed and a lot more productive”. This was starting to sound just like what I needed! Maybe I could get rid of the 17 separate lists and countless more post-it notes around the house and be able to actually find a reminder that I was looking for…when I needed it!
Ryder admits that Bullet Journaling (now known as BuJo in the community) has “matured into a personal operating system that has profoundly changed <his> life for the better”. And while many might think that it’s counter-productive to be working analog in this digital-heavy world, it’s well documented that when something is written by hand, our mind is drawn “into the present moment on a neurological level unlike any other capturing mechanism” … in other words, it will resonate with you better using handwriting as opposed to entering an item in a digital calendar. Speaking of living in the digital age with so much information available at our fingertips, I thought this quote by Daniel Levitin (The Organized Mind) was timely: “Information overload is worse for our focus than exhaustion or smoking marijuana!”
I think most of us can attest that our lives are busy enough without adding more work to it so, to be sustainable, a new system needs to be a quick process and the Bullet Journal method promises that “you’ll learn how to journal at the speed of life!” (and, as we know, that’s FAST!). Your Bullet Journal doesn’t need to be a work of art (and probably SHOULDN’T be) in order for it to do the purpose it was intended for. Keep it simple….beautiful, artistic spreads are probably not going to be sustainable for most of us in the long-term.
Now, since two of our most precious non-renewable resources are time and energy, we need to use them both wisely & efficiently - BuJo helps by questioning whether a task is worth the time it’ll take to complete as well as deciding if your time would be better spent on something else. For example, a project that was started 2 years ago and is still on the to-do list may no longer be relevant so it could be crossed off the list and time would then be spent on something else more enjoyable … and relevant. If you can determine it’s not necessary to do a particular task, you can cross it off your list and then move on … guilt-free!
There are three questions to ask yourself about each task:
- Is it vital?
- Does it matter?
- Are there consequences if I don’t do it?
Ryder suggests that if you answer no to any of these 3 questions that the task will be a distraction to you, causing you to feel guilty and create a sense of failure. Why give time to something that serves no purpose in the end? In this manner, Bullet Journaling lets you accomplish more by working on less tasks and also “keeps us mindful of why we’re doing what we’re doing”. I’m a perfect example that being busy doesn’t equate to being productive – plus science is now proving that multi-tasking isn’t as efficient as it was previously believed to be.
There are 2 components to the Bullet Journal - the system and the practice (the process and the expression of the process). “It will help you track the past and order the present so that you can design your future. It can help us learn about ourselves, our habits, our likes & dislikes and allows us to reflect on priorities and decide how to best use our time and energy.”
Utilizing weekly, monthly and future logs, this method allows you to track tasks (to-do lists), events (calendars) and goals (note-taking/journaling) with the ease of personalizing it for whatever you need it to do – for example, track water intake, daily exercise, calligraphic practice, weather patterns, medication, hockey schedules, thoughts about your day, art projects, etc.
So even though I expect to dig deeper into this process, I hesitate to suggest that everyone should follow suit – I believe it’s more meaningful if you come to that conclusion yourself – but even if you get 1 or 2 takeaways from the process, I hope it leads to being more intentional and productive in your daily lives. And if you do decide to go further, there are tons of videos and articles to help you get on your way. The Bullet Journal Method (book) as well as Ryder’s website which was mentioned earlier are great places to start. Who knows? I may even manage to cross that photo-scanning task off my list…one way or another!
Christine has reflected how Bullet Journaling has helped her focus at various points in her life and she’s going to share a simple format that works for her – this could be the springboard for you to create a personalized version that works for you!
*Excerpts from The Bullet Journal Method
Submitted by Karen Wimmer
Here are a couple of examples of how to set up your weekly planner in your journal. A long vertical version or a more horizontal one ....make one that suits your needs.
I like to fold the preceding page in half, write a positive quote and then use the folded half to write down my weekly goals and ideas .
Version 1
Version 2
Did you know that the black ink in your Speedball calligraphic felt pen,The Elegant Writer, produces a delicate pink and turquoise colour when touched by clean water?
Make a small triangle at the end of the stem with the Elegant Writer
With a clean, wet, pointed brush pull out into a petal shape.
Do the outside petals first, let dry, then add a few extra dots with the pen and using the brush and water pull out the center petal.
Christine Ahmad
Karen Wimmer
Roxanne Fairbrother
Christine Ahmad
Earl Peavoy
Christy Austin
Gail Oxtoby
Jeanne Welch
Joan Farion
Karen Penrice
Nancy Verdin & Karen Penrice
