Can you write like that other girl??

This is my fourth wedding season being a wedding calligrapher. It has been my busiest season yet. I love working with brides and grooms to make their day special. There have been many lessons that I have learned along the way, especially in the beginning. When you are first starting out, it is tempting to look at how amazing everyone else is in the art form you are doing if you are an artist and think- “That’s how I need to paint”. “That is how I need to write”. When I teach my classes I hear “Well my letter doesn’t look like yours. How do I get it to look like yours? To which I respond. “It isn’t supposed to look like mine because you are you. “ Art is individualistic and personal to each person. I have many stories of how particular clients have wanted me to write just like someone else. One story stands out from about three years ago. I was meeting with a client to do some calligraphy for her daughter’s upcoming wedding. We met and she said “You are not my first choice of calligraphers to work with. I really like this other girl I need you to write exactly as she writes. “ Well I had JUST started my business and I remember having a lot of doubt in my head about if I would be able to do that. In fact, I couldn’t do that. I learned a big lesson that day. I can never write like “that other girl”. Whoever the other girl is- the other artist, the other friend, the other maker, the other teacher. You are the best you because you are you. No one can do what you can do. Whenever I hear that now which I do from clients from time to time. I say simply “I can mimic that style for you”. I cannot be the other girl. I am privileged to know so many amazing calligraphers through instagram and I love looking and admiring their work. Everyone has something special that is to be admired. But, at the end of the day, each of us has to be the best us that we can be.