I've been reading a lot of poetry lately and thinking about how to approach words and symbols in new ways. I always go back to my journals for inspiration. You can spend all day making an absolutely perfect "x." Or you can walk out and find the letters in the trees and listen to what they tell you.
Personal work from The Wayfinder's Journal Photography and transferprint in Moleskine © Iskra Johnson
Last week Christopher Hoff, one of our best plein air painters, passed away far too soon, too young, a huge shock to the community. I had fallen in love with his work, much of which is about the street, and which often featured the Walking Man and other signs that are part of my real and mental landscape. On Facebook and the blogosphere people have posted beautiful tributes, one of which is from Joey Veltcamp which you can read here.
Christopher's passing, and the equally sad passing of the fine calligrapher and font designer Teri Kahan has put me in a reflective mood about life in general. How quickly our days are consumed and how easy it is to lose track of what is important. Typography and lettering design are my job, but also my passion. I pulled out my journal to remind myself to stay on track. From Wayfinding:
© Iskra Johnson
Pages from this journal have been published in Martin Dawber's New Illustration with Type
See more of this journal series at Wayfinding, my Flickr page.
All images © Iskra Johnson and may not be reproduced without permission
Designer, calligrapher, lettering artist. Read more 
