Interview with Mary Anne Radmacher (part 2)

This is the conclusion of my interview with Mary Anne Radmacher.    All of her items are on sale right now - save 30%.

Your calligraphy style is unlike any others - are you self-taught? How long does it take you to complete a piece?

i did take a quarter of calligraphy in 8th grade. beyond that, I’m self taught. i created this lettering style over a period of five weeks in which i sequestered myself in a property overlooking the pacific ocean and lettered each letter of the alphabet thousands of times until I created a lettering approach that I felt uniquely represented my writing.

writing original material is a pleasure to me.  it often can come quickly.  lettering, depending on the quality of my “hand” can be good in a first take or it can take dozens of versions to get it right. art work – is like hatching an egg.  (okay: confession. i’ve never hatched an egg..but i imagine it would be difficult.) there are some pieces i work on for weeks, some for months.

Give us a peek into your daily schedule - do you get an early start? Stay up late? How do you split your time between writing and art?

I occasionally get up early. that means I get up early and then stay up late.  I’m a late night person.  my most alert, best thinking times are early morning.  my most creative time after after 4 in the afternoon until after midnight. 


split my time?   split.  defined,- “break or cause to break forcibly into parts, esp. into halves or along the grain.”


in the afternoon, my time isn’t so much split as it is, spilled.   one thing moves to another often naturally and then rolls back to the place it started. in the morning, I easily work to identify tasks and cleanly and purposely complete one thing before moving on to another.  I attempt to lay out my day to best utilize the natural tendencies of my personal clock.




What new projects are you working on?


i’m completing the lettering and art for my third gift book called, THE MOST IMPORTANT PROMISES.  and the research and interviews are moving forward for my next non-fiction work, THE SERVICE HABIT. both of these pieces are for RedWheel*Weiser*Conari Press.  I’m looking forward to the release of my second gift book, MAY YOUR WALLS KNOW JOY and my co-authored with Jonathan Huie book, SIMPLY AN INSPIRED LIFE in september. (also with Conari Press).    (Note:  SIMPLY AN INSPIRED LIFE has been released.)




Mary Anne included this as a P.S. to her letter to me:


i love meaningful mail.  i love sending mail and  receiving mail.  in fifth grade i did a research project on the u.s. forestry service just as prompt so i could write letters to rangers in those look out towers.


when i was a youngster i would spend my allowance on greeting cards and cover up the words on the inside and write my own. 


 
i’ve designed greeting cards with brushdance for almost twenty years.  it thrills to me to think that my words and art, translated through the language of the brilliant designers at brushdance, partner with people all over the world in their effort to communicate and connect. someone asked me just the other day what i do when i need cheering up.  as a practice, i write a friend a REAL note in a card at least once  a week.  when busy lifting another person’s spirits, my own are drawn up as well.