Lefties like me are challenged in many ways, but especially in the fine art of calligraphy. I’d always envied people who could take a simple work like “bread” and elevate it to super-star status with illuminated swashes. But thanks to my friend Bonnie Houser, I can now write like a calligrapher! And I’m getting better at it – AND it’s fun!

Some of you may know Bonnie as the owner of Dry Comal Creek Vineyards and Winery and some of you may know her through her art work, She’s a great friend and teacher to a lot of people. Lesta Frank and I asked Bonnie to give us a quick calligraphy lesson on an alphabet called AKIM. It was “invented” by German artist, sculptor and musician Hans-Joachim Burgert, who said, “The spiritual material is the simple line. . .the line is a medium of free graphic discipline.”  Because this is a monolinear alphabet (no chiseled shading), anyone, even left-handed people, can do it well.

It was amazing how quickly we picked it up with Bonnie’s help. And the great thing is that there are as many personal variations of the Akim hand as their are writers. If you do a web search, you will see this for yourself. Take a look at some of the work we did with Bonnie, then give it a try!