I have been doing calligraphy for nearly 5 years now.
It takes a lot of practice and a lot of patience. Along the way I have made many ugly pieces that will never make it to social media! For a long time, when I would come across offers for calligraphy classes I promptly passed. I didn’t need more instruction, I knew the basics and I just needed to practice. Slowly I saw improvement. Eventually, over time I have improved in the smoothness of my letter formation and I am getting better at composition. I am not there yet, but I am seeing a difference.
With this growing confidence I began to look at my calligraphy with a more critical eye. I could see that I was getting better, but I still was nowhere near many of the ladies that I follow on Instagram. I knew I was improving but I couldn’t quite put my finger on how to make my pieces look amazing, you know? It was then that I realized I needed more training. Very specific training. And feedback. On my work. So I went searching…
One of my calligraphy heroines is Amanda Arneill. I don’t remember how I got on to her IG feed, but I am sure glad that I did. Over the years I have taken a few different classes from her, but I was only at the beginner stages of my calligraphy. And then I noticed that she was offering a new class: Intermediate Masterclass and in that moment it sounded perfect for me. I wasn’t a beginner anymore, but I am clearly not a pro either. So ‘intermediate’ caught my attention.
The experience I had in this Intermediate Masterclass left me challenged, encouraged and re-energized toward calligraphy. Amanda has staged out the class so that there is a clear goal in each lesson. She provides the learning through worksheets, an instruction video and even live videos of her doing a calligraphy piece and talking us through it! I benefitted from her knowledge, her experience and her encouragement. Every lesson I found myself pausing the video and jotting down notes of wisdom and insight into how to letter better. Each week we uploaded samples of our own work into a private Facebook group for the class and Amanda went through each of our pieces and gave feedback on our work! This impressed me. Not only did I learn where my areas of improvement lay, but Amanda taught us how to look at any piece and see where something may be amiss and how to fix. This helped me tremendously.
Now, I don’t profess to be an expert after taking this class (after all I am still only an ‘intermediate’) but I learned more pertinent instruction for where I am right now in my learning journey. And for that I am grateful. Trust me, I still have a long way to go and I need much more practice on the things that I learned from this class, but I can honestly say that I am pleased with the difference this class is making in my calligraphy.
Amanda’s calligraphy class has taken me from here (don’t judge) to here (still don’t judge!)…
