about

my mom's calligraphy: Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
my mom's calligraphy: Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

My name is Mary Kay. I’m also known as MK, Roadrunner, and (by my favorite smol hooman) Mini-Kay.

I am a nurse who likes to make letters and marks on paper and other things that are sometimes pretty, sometimes funny, and sometimes just plain weird.

This all started when I was a young teenager and I found a half-done piece of calligraphy in the basement. I asked my mom who made it and she told me it was her work. It was water damaged and ruined but I thought it was one of the coolest things I’d seen. My mom was an artist. She painted, drew, worked in pastels, watercolors, oils, most of the things, but I didn’t know she knew how to do calligraphy.

I asked her if she could teach me, and she found a pen, some nibs, ink, and an old Speedball textbook and that was pretty much all the guidance I got from her.

That was a long time ago and my creative life has done about a million or so shifts since then. I dabbled in things along the way, but didn’t dedicate much time to any of it. Then, we had 2020 and BAM. Like so many others, I started thinking about what I wanted to do, my priorities shifted and I decided to create a dedicated space for making stuff.

I have become a more “productive” person since then. That’s in quotation marks because I don’t mean that I am making a product. But, I am doing more of the things I like to do:   writing, rhyming, drawing, collaging, making zines, doodling, making stuff out of garbage, copying, learning. I’m making more.

Is any of it good? I quit worrying about that question and started making the art I want to make. The things I want to put in the world.

I'm no expert. In anything. Well, okay, I’m a darned good speller. That’s the only skill I can claim to be darned good at.  Okay, typing, too. I can type pretty fast. That’s about it.

But I am having lots of fun here. And now when people ask me what I’ve been up to, I can show them.

About the website name:  I don’t like it. But that’s what it is. I don’t work on Fridays, so these days my Friday mornings (and if it’s a good day, afternoons, too) are reserved for my creative stuff. It’s Friday Morning Studio because it sounds better than Friday Morning Spare Bedroom.

 

Thanks for being here. I hope you find something here that makes you smile.