Yesterday I was struggling to create a wedding invitation in a stunning handmade paper.
It had to be kind of an elegant/dreamy/romantic theme for the invite so I started sketching first.
When I had something that I was ok with, I started the inking process and following suggestions of other colleagues I attempted to use the Brause Rose Nib. And then, the struggle began.
It wasn’t that I was catching fibers of the paper or anything like that. It was just that I felt that it was too hideous to do it and it took me forever and even waste 2 pieces of that luxurious paper.
Anyhow, I did it. I created the wedding invitation and the RSVP.
Today, the final part came.
I had to finish the suite with a hand-drawn map. So I chose to go, for this project, with one of my favorites nibs: a Nikko G.
First I did my practicing sketch on pencil and just a regular US letter paper and then I started the inking process on the handmade paper.
I drew it all at once and in only 15 minutes. I was so surprised.
And then it hit me as a thunder. First, I was doing something that was totally out of my comfort zone (I was even trying a different lettering style, not one of my own) and that was what made it so uncomfortable and difficult.
But folks, we don’t need to stay in that uncomfortable place forever! Otherwise, life would suck!
I think that just trying new things, getting out of that safe place for a little while, leaves marks that will help create a bigger, richer, even more complex reality.
As in life we need time to be awake and time to rest, we also need to explore out of our comfort zone but then go back to our safe place in order to create with a wider vision after that experience.
But then of course, creative life doesn’t work this way but all together, like on a Möebius strip!
Now, a quick video from this morning sharing all of this on social media.