Forty Years of Calligraphy #1

This fall marks 40 years since I began to seriously do calligraphy. This is the first of forty posts tracing my work over the years. It's an ambitious task to complete by the end of the year but I am looking forward to this opportunity to look back. The idea started this summer when I wrote this:

I feel the need to go back and review my experiences, in a way to tell my origin story. I need to do this to try to answer the question: why do I keep wanting to apologize for my calligraphy? It's kind of crazy. I have worked over the years to be looser, more free, to let the pen guide me. I try to let the work lead me rather than my lead it. And I like that. I really do feel that my calligraphy is an expression of myself. And yet...

I want to qualify. I want to explain. I want to tell you that I know the letters aren't perfect, that I could have worked harder, that I could have done calligraphy almost every day for the past 40 years instead of just the first ten. I'll be sharing past work and past writings about my work. And I'll let you know the ending up front. I no longer feel that need to apologize. What joy!