Why I Bought Calligraphy Pens
An old hobby renewed
There were two summer camps I attended as a kid: 숲속의호수 & the M.S.C.R. Daycamp. The former is where I was immersed in Korean culture in order to learn about my roots, while the latter was a camp where I would explore my interests. It was at the M.S.C.R. camp where I began learning calligraphy.
I couldn’t tell you much about that calligraphy class… all I remember is my final project (if only I still had it) in which I wrote, “One is happenstance, twice is coincidence, thrice is…”, I forgot the rest. I was in middleschool at that time, maybe even at the end elementary school, and it wasn’t until highschool that I continued again.
The other camp I went to, 숲속의호수, was a part of the greater Concordia Language Villages. Each village is an immersion camp for various cultures; the one I went to was for Korean culture. I was adopted, as were many other campers, and this was an opportunity for me to learn some Korean and learn about the culture as well. I’m glad I went. There wasn’t much for me at home in terms of this sort of immersion, though perhaps I didn’t pursue it enough. Such is life.
Come highschool, we are required to take language classes. I was a little bummed there wasn’t an option for Korean, although Japanese was offered so I took that. It satisfied my neeeeds because it was somewhat related to Korean. Anyhow, in that class (Hegge Sensei’s class) we got to try calligraphy with large paint brushes as we wrote Kanji characters as an activity. Once again the fluid movements and the beauty of words danced together entertaining my brain and captivating my heart. Learning the language whilst exploring its physical aspects, dope.
Sounds corny, yet it’s pretty true. Recently lacking a steady hobby — and looking for something to do as well as a way to continue my language studies while out of school — I decided to buy some calligraphy pens and some paint brushes as well. The calligraphy pens were less interesting than the brushes, for I love the swept look of the ink from the latter. Case in the point: the photo above. I like the pens though because they allow me to practice my writing in fun ways I study languages.
As dope as that is, that photo, I also began to try painting images. My friend Ayush and I were hitting up some garage sales last summer and came across a sick book of Chinese painting techniques. Good timing, although actually that happened in fact much before I got the brushes. Anyhow, I was flipping through it one day and decided to try my hand at painting one of the birds:
The Result: Bird With Extreme Problems
Do you dig it? Let me know by liking the pic on my instagram.
It was extremely fun to do and many other creations followed. Prior to bird taking violent sh*t, I had been working on Chinese calligraphy. Whilst at the University of Wisconsin — La Crosse, I took two years of Mandarin (I was going to acquire a minor, but I transferred out). Mandarin class was a lot of fun and I fell in love with the writing. 汉字is beautiful when written, no regardless of the medium:
Well, it is… I’ll get there. Anyhow, this is from those first few days with the paint brush.
an example of handwriting with a pencil
As of late however, 汉子 has not been my focus. I’d say that Nepali is the language I hear most often other than that of my native English, whereas in school I had Mandarin class everyday. Back to the now, along with Nepali, Hindi and Korean come in tie at a close second because I often listen to music in those languages. One fun way to learn a language is by studying the lyrics of songs. A lot of the time they have casual sentence structures and colloquial ways of expressing yourself, though of course you can find great depths within the words of certain songs.
Long story short, while trying to learn some Hindi I inevitably came upon Urdu and writing Urdu. It looks beautiful and I will keep practicing. Why not? Starting to combine ideas I began to write out lyrics I am fond of using a paint brush, both in the Urdu alphabet and the Hindi alphabet (plus paintings):
Of course, I spent a minute practicing writing in my free-time during college
The other day I heard somebody say, “You can’t give an artist a deadline, that’s just not how it works.” Not to declare myself as an artist, just saying, that resonated with me because I find that a timeline is hard for me to follow. Even when I am watching movies sometimes I lose the timeline. Whilst in bed at night I find myself about to doze off and it is those times when I find the inspiration, so I follow that.
Another cool thing about this whole project is that it grows organically, and somewhat sporadically. Bits and pieces of my interests are weaving together slowly:
I’m not sure how to wrap this up, so I’ll leave it at this. When time is crunched, there comes with it a thirst. To quench this thirst, you must revisit your birth. A return to innocence, exploring that which you ponder. Thoughts to reality, you already know they rest just yonder.
