Early this year, an acquaintance asked me to graph this line from a patient who had passed. “She and her family were just lovely, and she was an intelligent woman and quite particular with her verbiage. There was a phrase that she used to say all the time and we (the hospice team) loved it”.
A pragmatic prevarication with a propensity for oratorical soneration which is too pleonastic to be expeditiously assimilated
Since privacy laws don’t apply past death, I was allowed to share this lovely line. As with all pieces, I tried a few different scripts, and a lovely text like this wanted italics with some flourishes. And as always, it’s a bit nerve-wracking as you get to the end, but that’s also the thrill of longer quotes.
Living in Vegas, I regularly use the slot machine analogy for calligraphy. Gamblers are addicted by the notion that a loss is "almost winning". It's the same while making these pieces. I'm rarely satisfied with a piece, so I keep trying until I run out of steam and move on to the next project. But in retrospect, I'm usually quite happy with the result.
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Since I was so busy at work, I was happy to tackle the project, but I didn’t ask for money—only for the time to do it right. After a long wait I sent these variants out and was reimbursed way more than the cost of shipping. I guess this makes this my first paid commission!
After my daughter was born, I discovered the On Taking Pictures podcast. Bill and Jeffery had a Google+ online community, where I met Tanya while tackling the weekly assignments. She’s a great photographer with an unreal portfolio of daily projects, it’s well worth checking out her IG and website.
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Both are spectacular, but I love the first rendition. And I'm trying to figure out the meaning of the phrase: A good lie with a lot of sound and fury is just too good to be believed. Did I even come close?
Thanks again, Justus, for the generosity of your time and castoffs. Everyone in the office approves of the final product. :)