Family Is a Choice

As I am creating a calligraphy piece for each day this year, I have been playing with a lot of new tools and ideas. As I work it can be daunting to find new words for each piece, so I began a series using each niece and nephew’s names and all the names in their families. This one has Zack, Chris, Aiden and Adler. I created the letters with a fine liner needle tool full of Sumi ink. I let the letters overlap and the ink run. I then colored in the negative spaces on the right side with various grey markers.

This piece reminds me that the path to family is not always the path we thought we would take. Sometimes family is the people we choose not just the people we are related to via genealogy. Family can be children from different parents, parents from different continents and a real mish-mash of every other kind of demographic all rolled into one. Family is really the people we love no matter how they ended up on our door step and in our hearts.

What does your family look like? Who would you get out of bed for at three in the morning to help them, no questions asked? And who would do the same for you? Sure that may be someone you call a friend, I call those people family. Be sure to contact your family and let them know how much they mean to you. In these strange times what matters most is health and family, so take time to appreciate the family you know and love.