Caught up with myself, whew!

 This morning, after I quickly made and posted my 365 Mail Art, we drove up to Washington, D.C. with friends, to see the Smithsonian Craft show. And a special treat at the Sackler, the Cyrus Cylinder.
Amazing! It's sooo ancient. Check out the link.

 My friend took this reflection of our honey's. You can tell that she's a professional photographer, right?

365.2 # 267

#365.3 #117

These two pieces of Mail Art were made on Saturday after I hosted the Slow Art Day 2013 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art and had dinner with friends. It was late, I was tired, what to do, the day was almost over!


Because I was rushed I grabbed the Washi tape and put a strip down on each card. What to do? Circles of course. And you know what, I actually like them a lot.

365.2 #268

365.3 #118

Since I felt that yesterday's mail art was successful, I used Washi tape and circles again today. More tape, more circles.



I'm quite satisfied with the results of these, also.


What can I say, I'm just satisfied to be making Mail Art every day. I think that sums it up for me.

Here's another view of the entry to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. I was relaxing on a bench, a couple days ago, after having done a walk through to check on the route for Slow Art Day 2013.  I really like the reflections in the curved window. I like how Robinson house is condensed and it appears that there's a vista beyond.

More catching up to do -

 I'm so thrilled at how our back yard/garden is coming back after winter. The plants seem to grow over night, really. It's getting very lush. I did plant a yellow calla lily, and a couple new hosta plants, but so many plants from last year are reappearing and seem stronger. Yay, plants!

365.2 #264

365.3 #114

These babies came from some 1960s era magazine. They've been waiting around for awhile to be used. 







I added only one thing to each piece of Mail Art and called this pair "Things that startle babies."

Can you think of other titles for me?

#65.2 #265

 I had to get back to circles.








 My son had given me several copies of the graphic novel that was the case for his CD. The printing was off a little so he couldn't use them.

365.3 #115

 He knew that I'd do something with them.







Punching circles out of them seems ideal since the paper is heavy stock and the circles punch cleanly. I re-discovered the stick on letters, too.

These are very planetary, don't you think?

365.2 #266

365.3 #116

I wasn't sure what I'd do with this background which is actually a carpet, lovely, but I'd never actually put a carpet like that in our home. What better background than that to "hide" a moth.








I, also, used some press on letters that I wanted to "hide" somewhat, in the background.

Any thoughts on titles for these?

Amazing! A week has gone by since I've posted!!

365.2 # 262

365.3 #112

 I'd been saving the figurine image on the left for awhile and when I found the "companion" on the right, I knew that I had a perfect pair. I added something to the background and each figure got a pile of books to stand on. I'm really fond of these two pieces of mail art.

365.2 #263

365.3 #113

I was in a bit of a rush on this day, so I grabbed a couple of commercial cards and had at them. The closest thing at hand were the Victorian scraps, which I cut out of their back ground. I wish that I'd put some shading on #263 to ground the figure. Oh well. At least the foot steps look like they work with her.



This little gal seems oblivious to the pond she's standing in as she looks into her "whatever" she's holding.

A challenge - I was invited to participate in Josh Ronsen's project - Tiny Art Exchange. I had no idea that it was 1" x 1". This is the smallest I've ever played with. Of course, I had to keep it simple and in scale. Not bad for my first try.

Sunday - Mail Art and more

 I really enjoy having coffee at the cafe at VMFA. It's mostly quiet there.

 I was looking down at my back garden, from our bedroom window. Looks like a dolls garden, with tiny furniture.

 The Azalea planted along the side of our house have bloomed. They look great this year.

365.2 #259

365.3 #109

These two card on cardboard substrate are done with just 3 bits. Some tear off of an old French receipt, a scrap from a paper sample book, and a punched out circle.








I really do find minimal compositions satisfying. You've read this before so this is not news to you, about my preferences.

365.2 #260

I'm going to get a kitten. Finally, the house has felt bereft of a pet since our dog died 2.5 year ago. We used to have cats, as well as dogs, so this isn't new for us, but it's been awhile.


I'm feeling very cat mood now. Our friend took in a stray cat, which happened to be pregnant. 5 kittens were born - and after awhile, hearing about them from our friends, talking about them with M, who's
been

365.3 #110

 encouraging me to do this, I decided to put my name on one of the kitties. "The calmest one," I told my friend.

I've chosen to name it "Neblina." It'll come to live with us after May 9th.

You'll see plenty of photos of it on this blog.

So what do you think the cats are saying?

365.2 #261

365.3 #111

#261 is going to Seville, Spain for a Mail Art call for blue mail art.











#111 is going to Sicily, Italy, for a Mail Art request for an exhibit and book in honor of Gerardo Sangiorgio, who was a poet and humanitarian. He resisted the Nazis in Italy, spent years in a prison camp, was freed and returned to Sicily. This is what I can make out with my poor knowledge of the Italian language. In any case, I'm pleased to honor him with this collage.

VMFA & Mail Art

#107

#257

I'm back to fabric and circles. I really like the way these two pieces of Mail Art turned out. They have such a feeling of other-worldly landscape to them.

#258

 This little charmer in the sailor suit is a painting of a king of England as a child. Can't find the piece of magazine page that I cut it out of so that I could find out who he is. I like him so much that I didn't want to alter him at all, so, I just added the window behind him.

I'm think happiest with my work when I use only a couple or three objects in the composition.

#108

I was sort of happy with just the portion of the frame and the figure, just 2 things, but then decided to add a stack of random text. Not sure if that works or not, but it's done. Maybe it looks like the guy is trying to make sense of art?

This is Robinson House.
I went to my Spanish book club meeting at VMFA this afternoon and, as usual, I was taken by the beauty of this building, which is adjacent to the new entrance to the museum. Many years ago, the studio school was housed in this building and I taught drawing there. It was a hospital in the civil war, then a home for veterans. I'm happy that it wasn't torn down. There is something so lovely to me about the simplicity, the symmetry, and the proportions of the building. Do you have a building that attracts you?

Spring & Mail Art

#255

#256

#105

#106

As I was pulling my car out of my alley way, I stopped to take a photo of this tree with my 'phone. I hardly captures the beauty of this tree which is laden with pink blossoms. What a treat, spring, with the trees coming into bloom, things popping up in the garden over night, amazing. I came up the front steps tonight and looked at the front garden and there were the Solomon Seals, which had just poked up a couple days ago, not very tall, and lots of them. A real treat!


I had to add a circle, I just had to. I'd been missing them. In 2 of these pieces of mail art, I used some very pale colors, with not much contrast.








I used some brighter strips in the second set of two pieces of Mail Art. I'm not fond of bright colors. I have to force myself to use them.









I think this will really make sense to the recipient because they'll feel the different surfaces of this card, which can barely be seen.

Skull Appreciation Day 2013

It’s time for the THIRD ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF THE SKULL

Notice - a change of exhibit date but not deadline:
The third annual Skull Appreciation Day event will take place in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on 31 May 2013 from 6– 9pm, at the The International Museum of Surgical Science.

On June 4, the Mail Art entries will move to Design Cloud. for viewing in the evening. This is so exciting to get so many different people to see the work you will be entering.

Show your appreciation for skulls. Send your entry as soon as possible as we have a short deadline this year.

All entries will be exhibited in the museum during the event.

Send you Mail Art to:

 Skull Appreciation Day Mail Art
c/o Vanessa Ruiz
1033 W. 14th Place Unit 220
Chicago, IL 60608
USA


Format:
Standard postcard size – 4” x 6” (10.5 cm x 14.8 cm)
 Please include your information on the reverse: name, address, e-mail address, website/blog if any.

 Family Friendly please
DEADLINE: 
28 May 2013

No fee, no jury, no return, after the exhibit, works will be documented on the blog –
http://Skullappreciationdaymailart.blogspot.com

More catching up on Mail Art

 I think this is hilarious, so I didn't crop out the "fixture." I was at Lamplighter coffee shop last week, having breakfast with a friend. I realized that I hadn't seen the loo that my son had stenciled, so I asked my friend to take my picture in it. I didn't realize until I got home that she left the toilet in the photo. This made me laugh.

#252

#254

#102

#104

#103

#253

These first cards with the white ground were done as a pair. I like the way that the angle cuts make the pieces very planar and spatial. Floating shapes. I'm really happy using these paper samples.









For the cardboard background pieces, I cut paper samples into strips. These were random, but I adjusted a bit to give this a woven look.




































For these last two cards, I used the same strips for each of them but varied the placement and the amount of the color that is in view.  I was experimenting to see if one would look more lively than the other. They seem equally lively to me. Spring, that's what they say to me, spring time!


What about you? Spring time?

Catching up my Mail Art (again!)

#251

 The plants are popping up, it seems like over night. I looked in the alleyway yesterday and no iris, or so it seems, and today, several iris in bloom! Lovely to look at, lovely scent.

I used some cardboard for this weeks mail art;  scraps of paper samples in non-random placement for these 2 cards.

#101

I really like this #100. Somehow it just satisfied me. I used scraps of paper sample and looked for an arrangement that pleased me. Turned out that it appears that one part got cut off from the other, which I didn't intend. It works! Lots of action and space.

#100

#250