I’ve been doing Calligraphy since I was a teenager. I primarily work with Pilot Parallel Pens and Sharpie markers. It just depends on the project I am working on. I started working with sharpies as a teenager without access to traditional calligraphy tools. I imitated the graffiti I saw in Miami, my hometown. Eventually I developed my own graffiti lettering style. In 2020, I had paid off all of my student load debt and my car. Now that I had paid off my past, I had wondered what the future might hold for me. I decided to finally pick up a traditional calligraphic tool and took my first course on calligraphy with the Portland Society for Calligraphy which I am still an active member of today. Since then, I’ve learned over 10 scripts but mostly focus on 2 traditional scripts (Uncials and Blackletter).
In my late teens and early 20s I was in the Army. At that time, I still focused on my graffiti style work. With my respect for the military, I create pro-military and service member quotes from time to time. I am a fulltime federal employee working in the Forest Service with a goal of transitioning to making custom pieces for families. I mix nature in with some of my projects to my love of nature. I enjoy doing ink and charcoal prints of plants with fine lettering.
Alternately, my family is Scottish and so I do a lot of Celtic work. My favorite script is traditional Uncials from 6th century Book of Kells. I mix this up with some Celtic Knots. With this I am actively working on making Family Trees. These will be based around Celtic Knots, the Tree of Life knot, and Uncial Script. I want to bring families together with custom pieces which focus on the people they care about the most.
My workspace: as you can tell its not very large so my work spills over all over my home. I also enjoy making work while camping. I prep a wood burning project each trip and try to make as many calligraphy pieces as possible. It is peaceful outdoors and allows for better concentration.