More post hurricane and mail art

 By the time we took our walk on Sunday, the tree that had fallen on our side street, had been cut up and stacked. (View looking toward Davis St. from our alley.)

 Another photo from the kitchen window while the wind was blowing and the rain falling. The gate between the two houses was blown over and the roof on our neighbor's storage shed (red shape on left) was caved in.

 This tree lost a big limb which landed in the street, hanging by a thin strip of bark. (On Floyd by Strawberry St.)

 Lots of police tape everywhere.

 Late last night, after all the excitement post hurricane, and lots of cooking an eating en famille, and the book club meeting at my house (cause we had power) I went into my studio and altered a landscape card. There are Renoir's dancers on a lily pad.

I made this alteration this morning. The figures are from a 1965 magazine. Very fashionable ladies, taking the short cut route to town, through the lake! ha ha ha. I'm amusing myself with these alterations.

About the hurricane and mail art

 I got a book of Landscapes of Canada postcards from my friend in Ontario. I'm having a challenging fun time altering these cards. I made this one on Friday, with the hurricane on it's way.

 I made George in the lake during the power outage while it was still daylight, so I could snap this photo with my cell phone and send it on to the MailArt365 blog.

 Here's my bounty of potatoes from our CSA, garlic and basil from the farm in Maryland where M worked for a few days with her friends. We're all set for some good eating.  We have a gas stove and oven so cooking food was possible even with the power out.

 The wind was blowing when I took this photo through our kitchen window. The little tree to the left was waving like crazy! The leaves layered the patio like a carpet of green. When it was all over, my honey filled 7 big bags with them.

 Yesterday, we took a walk in the neighborhood. The old tree in Paradise Park had fallen over missing the houses and a car. The only thing, it appeared, was some damage to a wood fence.

 A closer look at the fallen tree.












A tree had landed on this house. The odd thing was that trees mainly fell across streets.

 This is our kitchen on Saturday while the power was out. We were the lucky ones that we were without power during daylight hours. It came back on at 5 p.m. Many, many people are still without power, including N & J. Their food is in our refrigerator and freezer, so we've been taking meals together. Nice. 

The paper lanterns melted and unraveled in the storm. We wondered at first what those thin strings were at first. Aaagh, the lanterns. Needless to say, my honey removed the remains while cleaning up the leaves.  The nice thing about the storm, people calling each other to find out if they were okay, and afterwards people coming out in the neighborhood to see what had happened and hanging out and chatting.

Hurricane Irene day

Power out. Winds strong. Mailman Clyde said he'd be by later. Must get my mail art done so it can be picked up. Oh! Need to save fone battery!

Note: Clyde did not return and for good reason. The winds and rain got worse as the day progressed. Our power returned about 5 p.m. but we didn't turn the computers on as their were some power surges. No damage here, just lots of leaves in the yard, a big urn blown over, and the gate between the yards blown down. Lucky us.

A quick trip up the pike & Mail Art, of course.

 We drove up to Washington, D.C. yesterday to meet up with M, who'd been visiting friends in Maryland. The sky was lovely, the weather a bit on the humid side, and the Interstate wasn't jammed with traffic.

 I snapped this as we passed the Washington Monument. it looks curved but that's just because I snapped while moving, I guess. We couldn't see the crack, which must be on another side, but the monument was cordoned off so no one could get close to it.

 This is a wild mixture of architecture. Mainly Roman but with sphinx-like statues in front. It's one of the Freemason's buildings in the district.

 We were stopped at a traffic light on 16th street and realized that we were in front of the Mexican Embassy and then realized that there were lots of embassies on this street. I couldn't catch the names of the countries as we drove by them, however. Some were very elaborate buildings.

 This is the Jefferson monument. In the distance you can make out the tip of the Washington monument. I snapped this as we were leaving the district. I'd been reading about Jefferson and his home, Monticello, in the book I'm reading (and highly recommend) At Home by Bill Bryson. Also, read about how these monuments are like the Palladian buildings in Italy.

 This is the view of the Pentagon from I 95 as we were heading south. Those diagonals are lights by the interstate.  We get to see a lot of famous sites just driving home.  During our drive home, the weather changed, rain and horizontal lightening, and bad traffic at times. oooh scary lightening, but we made it home in 2 hours. Now, we await the arrival of Hurricane Irene.

 I made my mail art for Thursday before we left home. I used images that I found in a 1965 magazine. I love them and was excited to be able to use them. I wanted the focus on them so my composition had to be direct and simple.

 The colored paper background is from my source of old paper, a box of Craftint Colormatch, which I inherited
from my friend.

Before I mail these, I'm going to re-scan them in higher resolution. My family is wanting me to consider a book of my Tiny Town series, but I scanned in low resolution, oops my bad, so I'm now going to do too scans per piece.

What to do about the Tiny Town series? Ask recipients to scan them for me? Maybe.

Yesterday's mail art and some other stuff

 When I posted these on my MailArt365 group site, someone commented on their complexity because I'd been so minimal recently. And I do prefer minimal, but...

 I discovered that I still have a few of these commercial cards left over from a tin of them that I was given as a gift. They called out for alterations.

 The last two needed tape to obscure some element that I didn't particularly like, compositionally. I think Washi tape is like another default for me. If it needs something USE TAPE!!

 I've temporarily moved my essential mail art materials into kitchen along with the computer and scanner, to work there, while the A/C installation is going on. It's pretty nice in the kitchen with the overhead fan whirling away and the blinds closed. It feels coolish and a bit less humid.

  I was able to complete today's mail art early. It just all came together. I'll post that later today. It's minimal (or Mimimal, as Katerina says.)

 These macaroons (macarons) are made by someone we actually know. They were made for a fundraiser, which we attended. They were so delicious and beautiful in colors related to the event.  Veronica must have a mighty good dehumidifier to make macaroons in Richmond VA USA. You can see her web site here.

Yesterday, it was less humid so I sat on my patio bench to read and drink some iced tea. It was so lovely. This is the view down the walkway to the front of the house. Just beyond that gate is our broken, soon to be fixed, A/C unit. Isn't this a pretty view? The plants on the left are what I call "four-o-clocks." They bloom late in the afternoon. I have white, fuschia, and yellow blooms. They make me smile because they were all around my neighborhood, when I was growing up. They're my nostalgia flower. Do you have a flower,  that you remember from your childhood or a special time in your life?

Earthquake, 23 August 2011

Here's our damage, broken glass in a small framed snapshot. It was on top of a bookshelf and fell off in just the right way to crack up.

Having been in one really bad earthquake in Los Angeles, I feel so grateful that this one, though it felt very strong, did little damage.

It was the most exciting day in a long time. Now we await Hurricane Irene.

Mail art, produce, and buttons

 I still have a few of these Greek Cycladic figure postcards. They are a challenge, like the pig postcards, but I think I've got my default for them: hats and something to balance on.  The hat is from a map I received from Alexis in Canada, who recently sent me a package full of maps, and stamps, and buttons (see below.) Lucky me, a present and it's not even my birthday!

 All of yesterday cards were altered cards with something red on them. It was fun to set a "theme." Doesn't this red bird look like he's just popping out through the gate?

 Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch, but the title is something about a red square emanating orange squares in the sky above Tiny Town. I wish I'd left enough room on the card to write a response from the Tiny Town residents. What did they think about this? What was their response?

 The pig cards give me a challenge and I have no default for them. This dream was all I could come up with, and I wrote something like "The pig had a strange dream about a red thing." Can you come up with some alternative?

 Yesterday was pick up at the Farmer's market. I couldn't resist the bell eggplants. I got this lovely striped one and a solid purple one. I've got one of them cooking on the stove with tomatoes and onions in a sort of caponata/ratatouille dish. Yum, my favorite thing to make with eggplants.  Tomatoes were abundant as were small pickling cucumbers, potatoes, onions, basil and more.

 My honey's fruit share was a peck of peaches and one small container of raspberries. The peaches are firm, I hope they don't all ripen at once! I think I see peach preserves in our near future.

Here are the buttons I received. They're big, which is perfect for use on my Pocket/purses. Love the colors, too.  My next batch of purses will be from vintage tea towels, which my honey has been buying for me on eBay. They aren't big sellers in my Etsy shop or even at fairs, but I'll be participating in a MadHatters Tea Party in the spring, so I'm preparing for that.

Good news, our weather is cooler than it's been, no earthquake after shocks, and our new A/C might be totally installed by the end of the day, just in time for autumn weather!

Monday, cool mail art and more.

 This series is my "Sunday, oh it's so hot in my studio I have to work with cooooool colors."

 I had a good time going through the box of color paper finding ones that were cool.

 Choosing the colors to layer to best effect was fun. It's like playing!

 I gave these mathematical titles and added the ink line for action, since the coolness made activity seem possible. Otherwise, I stay still or move slowly. Yes, this is how I've come to understand the need for iced tea, a fan, and moving slowly.

Oh yes, our Air Conditioning is no longer working. We have so many windows and so little window covering, oh for awnings and shades!

 Today is day #265 of the 365 project. I made two more Tiny Town cards today to commemorate that I have only 100 more days to go.

#265 "Bernie was a body building enthusiast. The women of Tiny Town found his visits a visual treat."  This is actually a photo of Bernard Baruch, who was a physical culture adherent.

 

For this second card today, I used a painting of a woman by Degas, that was done while he was visiting his family in New Orleans.
The title is "Maylene envied the residents of Tiny Town and their neat streets."
I have a sense that the streets in Maylene's times, and Utrillos actually, were quite messy.

 I was able to have my morning coffee out in my garden. It was not humid, it was breezy, it was soooo pleasant.  This arrangement of potted plants is by my honey. He's quite good at this.

 I got another mini-rose bush, from Canada,  on Saturday night at the supermarket. It was only $2.99, but turned out that I got it for free. The price wouldn't scan, so the clerk told me it was free!  What a surprise treat. I had  one of these in the past and it lasted a very long time.

This is the little cat that N. and SDIL have tamed and had neutered. They already have resident cats so are looking for a home for this lap sitter, with the tuxedo suit, whose been temporarily named Benoit. Is he cute or what? I'd love to take him but we aren't ready for a new pet, yet. If you know anyone in our area (Richmond, Virginia, USA) let them know this little cutie could be theirs. He's going to a shelter in a few days. A cuddler, lap sitter! Puleeeze pass this along.

Hot Saturday!

 We awoke this morning to the news that the air quality was ORANGE ALERT, which is not good. The fire is still burning in the Great Dismal Swamp and the wind blows this way. 

Aaagh, I decided to stay indoors and make mail art and work on my Etsy shop.

 This is one of the Pockets (small purse) that I made for the festival. I decided to scan it and see how that turned out. I took photos of some of the pieces to post in my Etsy shop but I do like the way the scanned piece looks. I didn't have anyone to model a bag for me, wish I did. I think that shows how cool they look on the body.  I'll get one of my friends over one cooler day to model.

 More of my minimal mail art; old paper, circle and line.

 I'm finally making use of the brush tip ink pen that I got awhile back.

 This morning, I used some of the tracing paper that I'd been practicing line work on, as collage bits.

 I like the way these turned out. The transparency works great with the old paper and circles.

Friday, I brought a basket of my bags to my Spanish meet-up at the Science Museum coffee shop. One of my amigas wanted a bag but didn't have cash the day of the festival, so I brought that for her. Another amiga asked if my little Purse for Change could hold a passport. We thought it was too small but she bought one, then later sent an e-mail to say that it fit. Wow, now I can tell people they can be used as passport keepers. Cool!