So I'm Into Brush Lettering

Having a 32-letter name challenged me to practice writing it all the time so my speed would improve.  During exams and quizzes, writing "Rosario Anna Crisitina C. Araneta" slowly ensured that I'd miss up to the third question/item that was recited by the teacher.  I practiced and practiced so that I would not be left behind.

My mom, Mitos, also had a beautiful script she'd copied from the Paulinians.  Ate Lisa also had consistently elegant writing!  

At four year old, I remember asking my Yaya Maria to teach me how to write in Cursive.  The first letter she taught me -- I don't know why -- was "y".

During my grade school years, I was also inspired to write nicely by my then best friend, Mari Brias.  She is now married to a Fresneda and they reside in Spain.  We had the same bubble-type script, that our teachers in Poveda had a difficult time telling each one's penmanship apart!  

With my block letters, which would have put any engineer to shame, I was also able to write many a romantic novel with the then popular Puerto Rican singing group, Menudo, as my heroes.  

So last October 2016, at 44, I was reacquainted with a new form of writing using Brush Pens, Aqua Brushes and Paint Brushes.  The Little Apprentice Preschool teachers bonded over a 2pm - 5pm Brush Lettering Workshop handled/led by a former parent and our schools' t-shirt supplier, Mommy Margot Uy (@artsymargot).  Her slant was to prettify our letters to make them #inspiredbrushlettering.  She is into Bible verses and making notations of her pastor's teachings. She had a great presentation aka visual spread with flower centerpieces, free katsa bag, and materials. I was impressed and so it was a great start for me and Brush Lettering!

Brush Lettering is a type of penmanship using a pen with a brush tip (with pre-installed ink), a paint brush (think Chinese calligraphy but only not so big in writing proportion) and an aqua brush (a paint brush with a built in water-well that you use with watercolor).  The strokes are less rigid than the old style letters where metal/angular/straight nibs or tips are used (think Speedball) and therefore the resulting letters can be more fluid and flowery.  

You can use this penmanship to write key words, mottos, inspirational lines, philosophical lines, Bible quotes in pretty ways.  You could go even as far as making framed posters, place cards, thank you notes, invitations and signages that are deeply personalized and meaningful because of the effort you put into your work/s.

The strokes are easy to remember:  Go hard on the down strokes and go light on the up strokes.  The rest is consistency brought about by practice!  

Here is a sample of my lower case Alphabet letters done in Zig's pink and red pens, then blended with a Tombow N002 brush.  It was further given a shadow effect by adding a black outline and a very light gray brushpen shadow.

The great news is, that this skill can be learned, just like singing.  People who don't have good penmanship will have great penmanship if only they practiced, for PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT and always remember that THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT.  YOUR MIND IS.

And so, I practiced like a madwoman. I opted to finish a lot of sketch pads and just write anything instead of go out for Christmas.  I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote.

I wrote on menu cards, my planner's cover, old newspapers--anything I could get my hands on for practice!  I poured over visuals and video clips from Instagram, Google Images, Pinterest and YouTube because of my thirst for more knowledge!

I've ventured into flower wreaths and painting with watercolors because of the endless embellishment possibilities for my brush lettered messages! 

At some point, I decided to start using the water color I got as part of my take home kit, to paint florals and leaves with.  I'm self taught, with a whole lot of memory of Bob Ross and his 30-minute landscape How To's.

Today, I'm actively teaching my own workshops at The Roxy Events Place on Tomas Morato Ave., QC and in private locations all over Metro Manila and Alabang!

See my FB page for my upcoming schedules!  Check both WORKSHOPS BY ROXY and ROXY ARANETA.

Here is the poster for April 28 at TLAPreschool, Evia, Las Pinas.

Here is the poster for May 7 at The Roxy on Tomas Morato, QC.

Here are some more visuals to help inspire you to try this very relaxing and creative hobby!

Combined brush pen colors with highlights and shadows for a wonderful 3D effect.

If I know before hand who my participants are, I try to personalize my handouts with wreaths bearing their names :)

Using colorful backgrounds and white ink, you can make eye-popping messages!

Getting my old brush pens from 2008 a run for their money!

Adding shadows to words make them more noticeable.

Brushpen at work.  #Hugot

Here is a black surface plus a white gelpen that gives a stark effect.

When I waited for my GrabCar, I cracked open my sketchpad and here's what I wrote:

So far, the most popular workshops that I've done are:

Reconstructing Your TeeShirts
Tarot Card Reading
Action Greeting Cards
Scrapbooking
Vision Boards
Brush Lettering
Getting to Your Goals
Better Communication Skills
Persuasive Selling
Balloon Twisting
Making Home Made Spa Products
Party Hosting
Event Planning
Prioritization 
Stress Management
Making Mission/Vision/Goal Statements
Yaya Seminar
Boredom Busters for Kids Using What's Already In Your House
Discipline VS Punishment
Praise VS Validation
How Kids Learn
Music and Movement



For your very own private or money making workshops, for fun, for bonding, for personal enrichment or for team building, just get in touch with me through the following:

Cell : 0917.8111655
IG : @rosannearaneta
Email : imaninspirationtoothers@gmail.com
Link to FB Workshops By Roxy 
https://www.facebook.com/events/272281293196684/?ti=icl