Words words words

319 0

Fauxligraphy. I did it constantly. For over 5 years. Now I have over 500 images scanned and uploaded here.

I know I have a lot of pages, but I didn’t know I had that much.

I did it during meetings, or phone calls, lunch times or coffee breaks. Always at my desk. When I have an occupied mind and a free hand.

My pen of choice is the Pilot G2 05MM, black or blue. I wrote on mostly A5 pieces of paper, all recycled A4 paper cut in half. These are documents that are meant for the garbage bin anyway. In my head I was getting more use out of them than originally intended.

It’s random words and phrases, snippets of whatever I was thinking at that time. It was Bible verses, song lyrics, quotations, single words – literally whatever was on my brain at the moment the pen was in my hand.

It’s not a hobby so much of a mannerism. I have a bit of an attention deficit. I can’t stand to wait for any amount of time, so the second that my brain is unoccupied, I have to fill the time with something. I would twirl a pen, or pull on my hangnails, or stroke a textured surface, anything to fill the sensory void.

So during meetings or phone calls there are microseconds when my mind is in-between thoughts, or when the intranet in my brain is indexing for the right word to say in response during a conversation. That’s when I feel the need to draw lines and make shapes and fill them in.

And it’s so satisfying! When the thin columns or fat swirls get filled in down to the smallest slivers – bliss.

I’m not very good at it. Of the 500 or so images that I uploaded, I like around 50, and that’s a generous estimate. There are ways to practice and get better (lined margins, tracing paper, actual technique, etc.) but I don’t want to go that far. Not for a habit that exists merely as a filler-in between thoughts.

Also, these are just what I have on the recycled papers. I also have some on notebooks, big ones and small ones.

Goodness maybe it is a hobby.

Anyway, I am an ocean of words. They reside in me in deep pools, and sometimes they overflow and pour out of me in droves, or in dribs and drabs, depending on the mood or level of conceit.

I just looked over at the big pile of paper I have to throw away now. It’s a lot. Maybe it’s time to start learning real calligraphy?

Maybe. In the meantime, I’ll just be over here. Scribbling away.

Leave a Reply