Jane's Post Office, and mail art update

#178

 So far this week, I'm making Mail Art using old paper - receipts from France dated 1902 and an old Paris map book dated from early in the last century I'm sure. Very fragile paper which I'm hoping will make it through the postal systems.

#179

 All of the quotes on the reverse of these are about travel.





SAVE A POST OFFICE- how about writing a note, or sending a postcard to help save a tiny post office. It's a simple thing to do and costs very little in time or money.  Read on -

#28

Jane owns the post office in her small town in Vermont, USA. It's at risk of being closed. You can help by sending mail there as the volume of mail handled counts for keeping a post office open.

You can send mail to: Jane Davies, PO Box 45, Rupert, VT, USA o5768
To see more about this, click HERE.
She'll send mail back to you.

#180

 I added the rubber stamp to each of these cards. They are facsimiles of old stamps, which I really like very much. I wish I had more of them.

 I've added this image because it's also a facsimile/replica of an old time-y apothecary set. Actually, it's kind of old time-y as we got some of it a long time ago, from a dear cousin, and some we purchased. So cool. We took it off the shelf to dust it, while our bathroom was being repainted. It's quite nice, and fits with the vintage of the Mail Art, don't you think?

A Mail Art project

An artist, who has taken my Mail Art workshop, has just completed a Mail Art project with a group at her church. They have decided to do a Mail Art call of their own. This is how I posted it on the Mail Art Projects site for them. If this interests you, please participate. They'll be delighted to receive your Mail Art, and the cause is a good one. Thanks for reading on:

 

 

 

 

 For 30 years, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Virginia,
 has provided transportation for relatives to visit loved ones,
 who are incarcerated in prisons where no public transportation is available.
On the return trip, the church serves a meal to the families.
This service, our Prison Project, is provided at no cost
to the families.

All participants' Mail Art will be exhibited in a show
at the church in April.

 Viewers will be allowed to purchase the cards
with sales going to support our Prison Project.
We hope that you will help us to help these families stay
connected to one another.

Theme: Family Ties


Standard postcard size
Any medium
No Jury/No Fees/No Return
Family friendly content, please.

Send art work to :

Family Ties
Janice McMurray
1514 Westwood Ave.
Richmond, Virginia
23227

Deadline
March 31,2013

Include your e-mail address so that you can receive documentation that your work has been received.

More circles!

365.2 #177

365.3 #27

 This morning's Mail Art for my two 365 projects. I'm putting away the circles, unless tomorrow I can't think of NOT using them. They are so satisfying in so many ways.









I found a new way to toss the circles onto the background. I put one or two circles on top of a big one, and while holding it, flick my wrist up. Voila, the circles pop off and land. Fun! Does that make sense? Maybe I need to do a video, ha ha ha.






This is the way they looked before I glued the pieces down. It was hard to do the tiny circles. I used a blade to pick them up. Then the background would move. I needed to glue that first but didn't want to take the circles off and reposition them. yikes. I ended up using a bit of Washi tape to hold it in place. Lesson learned. Glue background down first then toss circles. As you can see, I didn't exactly get the circles back into their original drop position. Oh well.









We had a party yesterday. I rediscovered my old, vintage, "pump pots." They are thermos jugs that keep hots liquids hot for a looong time. One has coffee and one tea in it. Notice the floral design? My parents gave them to us - one year we went to Los Angeles and they gave us the first. We brought it home on the plane. My honey didn't like the pattern on it. The next year, we visited them again, and they gave us a 2nd one! Oh no, same pattern. We brought it home on the plane. They ended up getting a lot of use over the years but I usually tied a black napkin around them to hide the colorful pattern. Then I stored them away.  This time, I left the old pattern showing as it's SO vintage. Right? I love them. And they are so useful.
Today is our actual wedding anniversary. My honey and I have been married for 46 years! Amazing. We always tell people that we got married when we were 10. Do they believe that? For sure!

Look what happend Friday!

 It snowed. This is the view from my studio window. People were out and about in their cars though the roads were slick. People drive crazy here as we're not used to snow.  This morning (Saturday) the sun is out. It's 26F so no melting of snow yet.

 This is a view from the back window upstairs. Lovely dusting of white. It's so pretty to look at, but I don't want to go out. I've become a weather wimp from living in a milder climate for so many years. In Chicago, where I grew up, this would be nothing!

I've added to my studio window sill collection. The driftwood bird is a gift from a friend, the two tiny ceramic birds used to live in the downstairs bathroom. I ike my little clutter of cheery things.

Saturday catching up

#173

 Here's my random circle collages from the past 4 days. I'm doing two 365 projects concurrently. Why? Because I had a moment of foolishness and flattery. Oh yes, flattery still works. But, since I sometimes make more than one a day, why not.

#23

#176

#26

 Have I mentioned my process for random circles before? I might have. I used this method to teach fundamentals of basic design both at university and at the museum studio school. How I did that is a story for another post.

#25

#175

#174

Making these cards: I choose a background, in the case of these I tore up photos from a book of photos of flowers, close ups.  Then I dropped or tossed random circles on top of that. I allowed myself to move ONE CIRCLE in each case. Then carefully glued them in place.



















As you look at each card, try to guess which circle I positioned. I think you can do figure it out.

#24

More Mail Art, what else is new?

#22

#172

 I never know what will come to hand. I open up a tin, and there's a face, or a piece of paper with texture on it.

on reverse: "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." Søren Kierkegaard

#171

 I never know what conversations will happen between the background and the foreground.
On reverse: "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." Robert Frost







And I never know when I'll feel the need for a circle to complete the composition or suddenly a dog will feel right. It's so random and so much fun.
On the reverse: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Martin Luther King, Jr.

My childhood neighborhood was a mix of single family homes and apartment buildings, and factories. This huge factory was the Rock-Ola Factory. As we'd drive by it, or ride passed on the bus, my mother, or father, would say "There's the Rock-Ola Factory" and I thought they were saying "the Rah Cola Factory." I thought they made Cola drinks there. Instead, they made juke boxes. Wanted to share this little memory with you.

#21

 On the reverse of this card: "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too heave a burden to  bear." Martin Luther King, Jr.
I used King quotes to commemorate the celebration of Dr. King's life.

And here is what my studio table looks like today. I can't decide what to do for today's Mail Art. I dropped some circles onto some white blanks. Not sure how these will end up. Stay tuned.

Mail Art catch up +

 The Daleks attempt to annihilate a landscape, but it's Mail Art, which is immune to destruction, for the most part.

 Here are some more of my landscape pieces.

 I was really pleased to use the magazine images of textiles as landscape images.

 I think these worked out quite well.

 I accidentally punched out an orange circle and part of one on a fold over and got this crescent. How could I let a good crescent go to waste?

 I am so happy about this little mini-rose blossom. I purchased the plant at a grocery market for a small amount of money because it wasn't in very good shape. Probably someone forgot to water the plants!

I "nursed" it back to life - okay, I gave it water on a regular basis and put it in a spot with lots of light, and voila, it started to grow. And then a bud appeared on a long stem, and voila, a tiny rose blossomed a few days ago. Isn't this amazing?

Here it is in a temporary spot where it got a bit of filtered sunlight this morning. I brought it away from the window it was near as the temperature outside is quite cold, and the window area is chilly.

Maybe in the spring, I'll plant it outside. Or not. What do you think?

Mom's birthday - 99 years old today.

Estelle Golub

 I'm so happy to have this photo of my family.  The photos is small, about 3" x 4.5"  in a paper frame folder.

Mom might be 22 years old in this photo, with my father, my paternal grandmother and my sister.

Mom doesn't live near me, so I won't be seeing her today. I'm happy though that she has received many birthday cards from my friends around the world. Thank you, everyone of you, for making Mom's day more festive.

Some Dr. Who fun.

 The Daleks confront Chopin, who is properly startled.

 Daleks relax while watching some nature photos.

 More nature photo viewing gives the Daleks some time off.

 A rainy day view from my studio window. Me, viewing nature from a distance, like the Daleks.

Oh no, the Dalek confronts a snow baby. In this image, you see the small Dalek before I added a piece to the body. I'd misplaced it then found it. It makes the Dalek taller.

Mail Art catch up continues

 These are the companion pieces to my 365.3 - they're the ones that I'm doing for my concurrent project - 365.2.

 These are numbered 164 through 168

 This was done before I realized that I really wanted to do landscapes.

 So other worldly.

This is #168 done this afternoon.
I'm using quotes about landscapes on the reverse of all of these cards.

Catching up on Mail Art

 This is a series of cards for my 365.3 project. #14 through #18.

 I was in a quandary about what to do, since I wanted a break from altering existing postcards.

 Tearing up old magazines came to the rescue. Photos of fabric gave me the idea to do a series of landscapes.

#18 done this afternoon.

 My results!