Writing like we used to pt.2

     Don't You ever think about how letter writing is such... An old-fashioned thing? It might seem even silly to You that I do not remember the time when writing letter was still kind of a thing. It does not change the fact that it had came to my attention how writing a letter seems so... Strange nowadays compared to even let's say... 8 - 10 years ago?

    I am sure nowadays there are some kids/younger teenagers who would laugh at me for saying "I'd love to write a letter to someone"... The reply I would be about to get surely is going to be "Just use Your phone"!

    In my life I wrote about maximum of 5 letters. Three to people I knew, just as an attachment to a package, the other two maybe as a child to a kids magazine. Still, at that time writing a letter did not seem so bizarre as today. I feel like people now see lettering as something so archaic, like it was never the way of communication for over 2000 years. Well, now when I am thinking about this It's ridiculous to me to thing, how the way of communication that was there for so long, has quickly became a dead activity.. Didn't it take like, what? 20-30 years? It's still, admittedly quite short period of time, comparing to how long letters were here. I know, technology is vividly running towards the main source of... Everything, but writing this, only made me realize how long letters have been here with us - humans and humanity.

    My looking at letters was changed by getting more into the art of penmanship. To understand, You need to dive more into it, understanding how much practice it requires and how beautiful it is. For me, letters are like art. They are like the human way of showing our true self through basic words, while being so open to Your closest ones. It is like the human art of our trueness, the sign of us.

    The art of writing with a  fountain pen appeals to me as much as the letter itself. It seems to me, as if fountain pens could be Your friend. Well, it's often that one pen You have always with You for several years, til You need to change it, as they are expensive. It's the beautiful art of having one, great, expensive thing that You love, instead of 10 alright things that are okay, but could be better.

    In my opinion fountain pens somehow look way nicer on a paper, I think it's the way the ink mixes with a paper... It seems like it's supposed to be like that, the way a cheap pen could never achieve.

    Writing a letter is not writing some random words on a keyboard. Because it forces You to writea whole, big message, You need to prepare Your mind well. It's like writing an essay, but under Your imagination. You can convey a lot in a whole letter, but not only Your words matter, but also Your handwriting. Is it welcoming enough? Or the receiver will already build an opinion on You, based on the sloppy handwriting? Even the envelopes are supposed to wanna make the receiver see what is inside!

    I might be writing this from a perspective of a person who never had to write many letters and maybe knows nothing about it, but it does not change the fact what I think of it. I would love to write letters as a hobby, find a pen pal idealistically.

    I wish to convey what I cannot in letters. Although, I seem to have a hard time finding a pen pal. I used one site for several months, but I have not gotten any particular requests... How hard can it be to find some person to write with?

    Having a person to write a summary of my feelings and life once a month, somehow seems to get a deeper bond than sending random images via social media everyday, once asking "how was Your day?" and replying "alright". I know this. I reply alright and never say anything more...

    I just do not like communication through social medias, it's so energy draining. A call makes a better conversation.

Sincerely and entirely Yours,

Vin.

Writing like we used to pt.1

    Why did we stop writing in cursive? Well, according to Google, technological advancement took away the need to teach young kids writing in cursive. I guess we the more technology there is the lazier we are and I am not gonna say otherwise... It only takes one look to see that.

    I was never taught cursive. I was taught writing of course, but school never tells You what is the best way to hold a pen to not hurt Yourself. I only saw the consequences of that many years later, with a lot of calluses on my fingers from drawing too much as a 7 year old... And now my handwriting is really stiff... What I mean is that I hold the pen like my life would depend on it and my handwriting is not flowy at all.

    Some people have the problem of "I need a perfect pen to write otherwise it's gonna be hell" and I am unfortunately one of them, making me have only one pen that I can decently write with. Pure hell.

    I used to write with cursive for 5 years maybe? At least it was my handwriting, but do not get fooled by that - it was a doctor type of handwriting... Cool looking, but unpractical. Learning from my notes was uncomfortable because of it... But I do not think the cursive might have been a problem, but my stiffness and overall style.

    On Christimas 2020 I got a Parker fountain pen... I was highly uneducated on fountain pens and my Parker was writing either too juicy or stopping all the time, I told myself that I got enough and left the fountain pen, till few days ago.

    Few days ago I cleaned it, by putting the nib in a warm water... It took a lot of water to clean it - it was really dirty after all these years, nevertheless I managed to cleanse it. I had some other difficulties, but ignoring that at the end I managed to make it work. But it was soooo thick..........

    I am using Parker IM, but in the long run I plan on purchasing Pilot Metropolitan. My Parker model is quite "wet" and writes thicker than I want and I read that this is how that one particular model writes...I thought that mine was somehow... Broken? So I wanna switch to Pilot - a little bit cheaper, with M nib as well, keeping in mind that Japanese M nib works like European F.

   

 I also decided that I am gonna learn writing like I am some 6 year old again... It's kind of fun! As a person who needs everything to be in a nice order and aesthetically pleasing, my handwriting was one of my nightmares to look at... It was not that bad, but I really wanted it to be satisfactory to my eyes. Let's see if I can change it, is it too late?

    In the next part I am gonna focus on my opinions on old cursive writing, fountain pens etc...

Sincerely and entirely Yours,

Vin.

Difference between Artist and an artist. The essence of primitivism and surrealism.

     There was one thing that was bugging me long time ago, maybe in 2019. I was an active follower of a particular person who posted their drawings at that time, but there was something significant in their profile, that 2019 me could not really understand.

    You see, for a context - 4, almost 5 (ah...) years ago I was not so educated and not exactly into art from the actual historical and philosophical point of view. I was rather a person that would draw and create, but without knowing much and not being enough fancy of the veritable sense of history of art. I would say "yes I am into art", while thinking about the circumstance of me drawing some terrible inhuman characters (pardon me).

    Returning to the subject of the person, whose drawings I followed... On their profile, there was a text

"I am not an artist". It struck me, as during that time, it was clear to me that...

"Artist = a person who draws or creates"

    It just became a big nonsense for me. It was a person who I would look up to, so I actually thought "they draw wonderfully like this and now they try to be sooo humble!". But I was too young to understand several things and the actual essence of art and it's philosophy. I looked at that person just as some kind of weirdo, who denies the truth to seem like a humble human. I was so wrong and I laugh now at the fact how shallow my mind was. 

    After these 4/5 years I have successfully formed my way of understanding the power of being an actual artist. It's not a topic that everyone will eventually understand. I have friends who rather don't understand it, but I already mentioned the fact that my friends are not so artsy.

    To understand this, You need to take a deeper dive into the artists of 19th century and even if it might give You a laugh - the stereotypes of it (I won't go into much details, but just take a look at the bohemianism for example). Usually the title of artist would give You a set of character traits pinned to You, it was not always associated with the form of action.

    If You were an Artist, You'd think differently about life, love, everything around You. And still, as an Artist You feel things differently. You do not stand with logic, numbers and dry facts, these do not come close to Your mind. As an artist, You can still think logically, but thinking will take You long. It's almost like being a philosopher, but You talk with a paper and pen/brush.

    Being an Artist changes Your brain. You no longer react to everything like a "non-Artist" does. You keep Your eye and interest on different matters, You see symbolism and deep thinking everywhere where a non Artist just sees a big picture. An Artist never follows trends and "what is gonna give You more money/Instagram followers", an Artist keeps close to their ideas and what they want to convey.

    An Artist sees humanity and the motives of it differently. Artist is not grieved or embarrassed by nudity, n Artist knows what is human and what it means to be human.

    Being an Artist is a state that cannot be exactly described by me... But I see a difference in everything.

    One fact - an Artist does not have to be a painter with the best anatomy and painting skills. As I grew more educated and into all sort of arts I realized:

Art is not about aesthetics in most cases. It's about sending a message.

    Long time ago I hated primitivism. Me - an enjoyer of painters like William Bouguereau, Thomas Sully, Alphonse Mucha, George Dunlop Leslie - all highly realistic and aesthetically pleasing painters had to be faced with the "ugly", visibly lacking skills pieces that people called art. It was driving me insane, as a person who paints on an advanced level as well, but It took me so long to start understanding these pieces and seeing my own feelings in them... I started feeling them more than feeling like one of the Dunlop Leslie's beautiful women in Georgian and regency clothing. Primitivism art seemed to hit more home, as It felt much more human, like an actual Artist, not just person who gained the skill to beautifully paint.

Marc Chagall.

Paintings by a Jewish artist, Chagall seemed ugly for me at first (I think It also was caused by the painting that I saw, which I still do not entirely like), but now I feel the emotions that I can't describe... Unease? Something that only an Artist can know about and feel connected to pieces like this. The unnaturalness of the drawn figures somehow represents how life feels and how Artists live. It feels like we and our inner feelings are just unnatural to everyone else.

There is just something that You need to get straight before jumping into the art of creation:

Are You doing this for aesthetics, or symbolism?

I think hyper realistic, classical etc. paintings will never truly show the emotions of these "wacky" unnatural pieces. Our emotion are so surrealistic to us, humans that showcasing them in a super natural and realistic light is impossible. Maybe it's the way we want to be portrayed: as unnatural, complicated and mostly misunderstood figures with stiff, but empty face expressions. Somehow I find myself being understood by the surrounding of these disturbing colours, figures and emotionless physiognomies.

Paul Delvaux

    An artist is a person who was taught and possessed the art of drawing, painting, creating, but Artist, is a person whose thoughts, sense of life and lifestyle is affected by their title.

Artist can be an artist as well, but an artist is not always the Artist.

    What made people change the way art is created are more known events of 20th century. That also happens to have a big impact on topics and understanding of these pieces, even if You did not get to live during that times, it's more terrifying to see some of the collages made during communism in Europe. While visiting an art museum, I think these collages made the biggest impact on my brain. They are supposed to make You feel disturbed and they did, deeply. It's like that type of art was the last thing people could make, exhausted, with only damage done to their mentality that is seen on artworks.

Janusz Tarabuła

Being more surrounded by art and getting older, also gained me a deeper understanding of art, beside it's function to "look nice and  be perfect". Sometimes being the Artist, gives You the opportunity to break the rules, because our emotions and thoughts are never logic and never have rules.

Ben Shahn

Artist = a person with a different way of thinking - finds interest in most twisted things, has the power or misfortune of their interpreting their feelings differently. Their art, being the essence of their mind."

 

"Drawer/painter = a person who draws/paints etc."

 

 

 Sincerely and entirely Yours,

Vin.

First post.

     Hello... Is blogging still a thing in 2023? I won't even dare to get an answer on this one... I've seen several people still enjoy blogging and I am trying to express my stupid thoughts somewhere that is not social media. I do journal, but I sometimes would love to openly debate. I thought that blogging may fill that hole in me, even if it's more like 2000s thing I guess? But I am not doing this for anyone, but for myself.

    I plan on making some more deeper posts, about my life analysis and various topics and etc. Sometimes I might put my favorite artworks & images in here... I'd love to take up subjects of art a lot as well, it might be even my main topic here.

    I really wanna post my poetry or poetic prose here as well, but sadly it's in my native language.

    I am young - personality and appearance wise, but inside I see myself as an old soul... that makes is so complicated to start deep conversations with people my age, when it comes to art debates - it's even 100% harder!

    Will I stick to this blog? Who knows. No-one may even read it, but it's okay, it's not about writing for 100 people. You're just gonna loose Yourself in this and become what these 100 people want You to be while blogging.

 Sincerely and entirely Yours,

Vin.

Beautiful 1870s fashion illustration, to catch Your eye.