Where the Beauty is.

This weekend I'm starting a big painting on canvas that includes lots of text and  types of typography! In my excitement, I began researching some of my favorite artists who use painted lettering. One of my favorite artists of all time is Margaret Kilgallen. If you have a moment to research her, she had such a beautiful story!

She was interested in the dying art of hand painted signs. She would walk around San Francisco and be inspired by all of the local shops and restaurants with signs painted by the owners...each so unique and beautiful to her.

*She was especially interested in "the evidence of the maker's hand." As she explained:

"I like things that are handmade and I like to see people's hand in the world, anywhere in the world; it doesn't matter to me where it is. And in my own work, I do everything by hand. I don't project or use anything mechanical, because even though I do spend a lot of time trying to perfect my line work and my hand, my hand will always be imperfect because it's human. And I think it's the part that's off that's interesting, that even if I'm doing really big letters and I spend a lot of time going over the line and over the line and trying to make it straight, I'll never be able to make it straight. From a distance it might look straight, but when you get close up, you can always see the line waver. And I think that's where the beauty is." -M.K.

(Watch more of her story here...http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/margaret-kilgallen)

Such a beautiful and thoughtful heart... inspired by people's everyday life and craftsman ship, graffiti artist, wife, and mother...she lived a short life, but she lives on in her beautiful artwork!

I'll be thinking of her this weekend as I create!

What inspires you? Can you see the beauty in a wavering line?

*Wikipedia