Mail Art + clouds + book club

#26

 With this piece of mail art, I made use of cardboard cut from a box of penne pasta. I used the window part, sandwiched some bits between it and a backing. I used some of my new Washi tape to hold the cellophane (or whatever that clear stuff is called) in place. The bits move around inside. Hopefully, this will make it through the post without ripping.

#27

For this card, I punched out holes in the top piece and backed it with a piece cut from a cereal box. I used the two punched out circles to make a subtle difference in the art work.  When you touch the card you can feel the difference of the indentations and the added circles.  Mail Art for the site impaired? Hmmm, an idea!

 Yesterday, our little Club de lectores (book club) met to talk about three more chapters in the book Senderos-Fronterizos by Francisco Jimenez. Last month, we read his book Cajas de Carton, known as The Circuit in English. He actually wrote the books in English, then they were translated into Spanish. They are very moving stories about the author growing up in the 40s and 50s as the child of migrant workers. He, also, worked as a picker in the fields.

Some more lovely clouds. That puffy part standing up is so cute looking. I though it had to be a toy bear, seen from the back, looking to it's right. What do you think?

Mail & non-Mail Art +

#23

 I'm catching up on all of the Mail Art that I've made so far.

#23 is going to a Mail Artist who is celebration a birthday and like skulls. I found some very tiny skull images that I liked a lot. I hope he enjoys this card.

#24

 I'd gotten a few postcards at the Guggenheim, Bilbao, including this one of the interior. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside. I decided to alter the card before I sent it, as it really wasn't all that interesting unless you'd been to the place. I decided that it needed an invasion of postage stamps to make it more lively.

#25

Someone sent me a lovely postcard of a vineyard in the Napa Valley, in California. It was fun to find bits to change the scale. I might add some shadow under the large man to integrate him more into the landscape. 

 This looks like my Mail Art, but it's not. It won't get mailed anywhere. I made it for the VMFA studio school faculty exhibit. I wanted whatever I put in the show to relate to the workshop that I'm teaching. My honey will frame it for me in a simple black frame, mounted on a cool gray background.

 Here's something fun that I did yesterday with a friend. We went to look at cars. She's going to buy a new one. These are her favorites. I think the cream with the brown top and racing stripes might become her's. Don't tell her that I told you.

I loved the way the clouds looked yesterday afternoon. Actually, I like the way clouds look any day, any time.

I shot this through the windshield using my little flip phone. Not bad! 

The usual and More!

#20

 Three bits of paper and random text, what fun! I'm not sure what's going on with the baby, but it's quite an expression.

#21

I'm tearing up more of the 1906 French business receipts. Here I got a bit fancier using 4 bits of paper and a circle.

#22

I'm so surprised that the letters "J.B.G" are so bold. They are under that brown piece of translucent paper. Interesting! Scraps glued to recycled cold cereal box.

 This mural is on the side of Snake Oil Records/Recording studio. It was painted by young people in an Art180 project. It's so wonderful to see how it changes up the look of a space. I hope the kids involved go by this and feel pleased with themselves.

My friend BeeBee gave me a new Hydrangea plant, and N picked it out and delivered it to me. It has HUGE flower "petals." I painted my nails with new green polish, O.P.I. Jade is the New Black to coordinate with my plant. Having green nails makes me happy (okay so lots of little things make me happy, I'll admit that.) I now have 4 different shades of green nail polish. Is that too much?
Honestly, this silliness, nail polish, keeps me from getting too sad about some other things in life. What do you do when you feel sad and want to pick yourself up?

The usual, Mail Art +

#16

 As you can see, lower left is still in my mind, and using fewer elements, 3 in this example. I love the minimal-ness. How little can I use and yet make a composition that is satisfying to me?

#17

I had this man for awhile. He's someone famous but I can't remember who he is. The paper in the background is from 1906, a receipt from a French company.  The paper is surprisingly not so fragile as one might expect. This guy needed to be lower right, I wanted him looking off the page. Only 2 elements in this composition, very minimal.

#17a

Here's more of that old receipt. The woman was cut from an image attached to an promo for the State Library of Virginia. Find your ancestors! Not mine, unfortunately. As you know, I can't find out much, not even my maternal grandparents' name they used when they arrived at Ellis Island. 

Mom & family

Here's a photo I took of a large, framed, photo of Mom and her family. I posted it awhile back, probably, but I'm thinking of mom a lot right now. She's 98, and not doing well mentally. In this photo she is to the right of her mother. They, my grandparents,  arrived in the U.S. maybe 1911, through Ellis Island, from Kovno Goberna (that's what grandma said.) She told me that the closest city was Riga. It was all part of Russia back then. I know little about their lives, as they would not share much information about their past in the "old country."   Once my grandmother saw me wearing clogs and told me she wore them in the "o.c." and that she worked the bellows for her father, who was a blacksmith. I'm free to make up any details that I like about their lives. Do you know our ancestry? Or are you free to make up stuff, like I am?

Mail Art & some more

#14

 I awoke and went back to sleep early in the morning, the other day. I envisioned this card as I was drifting off to sleep again. I don't know why it did, as I don't remember having Mail Art images pop up like that before.
So here it is. A head on the lower left of the rectangle.
By the way, these cards are all standard postcard size - 4" x 6" (10cm x 15cm)

#14a

Using a larger head for this second one changes the relationship in space. The paper behind the heads had a nice corrugated texture. Does this make the cards "haptic?"

#15

Here's a variation of the head in the corner theme. The random letters make this "asemic."
I never had run across either "asemic" or "haptic" until I became part of IUOMA. I love learning new things!

  The shelf had reappeared on the light pole on the corner. It was a very substantial structure - like an open-faced birdhouse. It was quite nice. Since we don't have a dog, I don't walk around the neighborhood much and I forgot to take a nice photo of the shelf to report on it, and then one day last week, it appeared by our front door with a note from a neighbor. It said that she's found the shelf knocked down & the contents strewn in the street. She knew I'd be able to return it to the maker. And I did.

I went by the pole and was able to take this photo with my phone. I think the finder of the destroyed shelf put the note up, and passers-by made the comments. I'll go by it again today and see what else has happened. I'll keep you updated on developments.

Here's an image of my table when I got back from Chicago. Lower left, cards I'd made while away. Upper left, the pale green handled scissors I'd bought at Walgreen's in Chicago, which did NOT get confiscated by security at the airport! Also, a lovely little mail box stamp dispenser from my dear friends T & B in Chicago. Upper right, some of the postcards about water that I'll be altering, and lower right, some CDs (sent to me by B) which will be collaged and sent out.

Mail Art & a Little Free Library

#11

 My scanner is not showing colors well. The substrate for this is a nice recycled cardboard tan, not as yellow as in this image. Not that it makes much difference, since you won't see the original. I sent that off across the  ocean.  Paper collage & a Turkish stamp!

 I received Poulty Press. I don't know why, but I do. This hen and the compassionate mother statue are from the cover of the latest issue. The Chinese text is from a newspaper. As I mentioned in a Facebook post, I doubt that i has anything to do with compassion or chickens. I just like the way it looked.

#13

Here's another example of my color experiments. The colors are not what they are in the actual piece. How odd.

 The substrates are the same in this one and the one above. You can't tell that in these scans but no matter. I just love punching holes in colored paper. You know that by now, right?

 A few days ago, my honey was driving to the high way, through the Museum District and saw something interesting. He drove round the block so I could see what he spotted.

 A Little Free Library!! I'd heard about these but never thought there was one near me. It's on a quiet street so I don't image it gets much business. I've put the street sign here so that, if you are in Richmond, VA, you can check it out for yourself.

Look at the books in the library.
I have several hard back books that I was going to release through BookCrossing but now I'll bring them to the Little Library.  As you might remember, the paper back books get sent off to the troops. (Booksforsoldiers)


There are so many nice surprises in this world.

Mail Art, my workshop, and a cool thing

 This is an altered card. You can see in the previous post what I did with another one of these. I used a strip of dotted Washi tape, some postage stamps and a little girl. 

 Do you recognize the man peering over the water? This is a painting by Paul Signac that I altered with 2 bits; the man & the postage stamp. Watch that light house float away!

 Here's another altered card. I added the circles and the statue. My new set of 50 cards related to water is a lot of fun to work on.

NOTICE: For any of you readers, who might be in the Richmond, VA, area who want to make some Mail Art, I'll be leading a workshop on 15 September, a Saturday, from 10 to 4 at the VMFA Studio School Click HERE & scroll down to #16, to get the information. Sign up, register, and join me. There is room for more people to have a day of fun. I'd love to see you there.

 My young neighbors are very creative. I was walking to the store and came across this latest creation. I love that the plush bald eagle is getting a ride in the boot.

Isn't this so clever? I didn't get to see it in action but I'm sure I will. Applause for the young women inventors!

Mail Art and some blue-ness

 This card has one of my favorite paintings on it. It's in VMFA & was painted in the 1800s. The peanuts look so real! The bird was done by an illustrator, not me.

 My honey gave me a box of 50 postcards having to do with water. I altered this one with the sinking postage stamp and some pots of hydrangeas. Fun!

 This is the reverse & shows the repro of an old French postcard. It's larger than standard and was on a brochure for kids at MoMA in New York. I picked up a couple of these brochures, knowing they'd be great for Mail Art.

 Here's the front of the card, altered with a strip of striped Washi tape, a guy with a camera, and a thin line of map. The circles were already there.

 Some blue sky and interesting clouds; of course, all clouds are interesting! Right?

Some blue water from the pool this morning. I was shooting down on the top of the pool with my little flip cell phone, while standing in the water.  I like the ambiguity, sky, water, sky, water???

Mail Art 365.2 - I begin again

#6

This is the 6th day card, when we got home and I used paper I picked up in Chicago. I liked that it was translucent and the text was fun for a piece of Mail Art.

#3

Here's a very busy composition. The substrate is a piece of cardboard I'd cut from a something while I was in L.A. in April. I liked the crudeness of the shape, which I'd cut using a child's scissors.

#4

In the background of this card is a piece from a painting that I'd torn from an Amtrak magazine, I think. I found it tucked in the travel kit. Since Chicago is the home to the largest collection of impressionist paintings, I thought this would be a good image to use.

#5

I made the 5th card on our last day in Illinois. It was a successful trip, though by the end of the day, or rather night, since we arrived home in Richmond at 11h30 p.m., we were quite exhausted. 

#6a

This card was a second one that I made on day 6. This is an altered art show card. The substrate is from a card that I picked up in Paris last winter.

I can see that, as per the first go around, I won't just be making one a day. I have way to many people that I want to send mail to these days.

It feels good to get up and just get to play in my studio again.

Back on track!

 We went to Chicago for a quick visit with my honey's cousins. The five cousins came together in the city for 2 days, then 2 days out in the corn and soy bean fields at the home of one of them. It was a lovely trip and I felt inspired to begin my 2nd 365 Mail Art project. Here is card #1 using some scraps I had in my traveling Mail Art kit. I'm labeling them 365.2.

 This is the second day, using scraps from things that I picked up plus some bits from the travel kit. I had taken blank cards with me, knowing I'd be making Mail Art. I just didn't think I'd make the commitment to a daily practice again. But I did.

 This is a view from the Charles City Tavern. It's a lovely location on Route 5 east of Richmond. Very historic area of the country, this route leads to Jamestown where the earliest English settlement was established.

 I never tire of taking cloud photos, or photos that include Robinson House, on the grounds of VMFA.

These are glass pieces, reeds, set in place behind the museum's main building. They are, in my mind, one of the nicest installations of Chihuly glass pieces. The red glass is gorgeous in the sun and the reflections are so nice.