Bizoo - the cat

View from our bed!

Near you, it's where I have to be!

I decided to get back to my blog after a long absence, mainly because I think I figured out how to add photos.  I continue to struggle with my Toshiba Chrome Book, still learning to find my photos! Where do they go? I have to add them to my drive, I think, then I can't find them, oh whatever.

Here are two recent snaps of Bizoo, which came up on my drive, with a bunch of other photos that are boring and I don't know why I saved them, so I'll delete them after I finish this.

What's been going on - well, I've been writing lots more of those postcards to get out the vote. It's been really dismal for me, as many days I'm feeling distraught over what's going on in my country with the separation of children from their parents at our southern border. I think of my immigrant father and how he could have been taken from his mother. I think about our 5 year old grandgirl, mi corazon, and know how devastating a separation would be for her, for all of us.

  I write postcards. So far, since May, 600 for various campaigns. It's what I do now.

So what's going on for you? Do you have a cat? A dog? Do you participate actively in any political actions?

Odd and Ends

Patter of Amtrak Train views

I've been playing some more with the Layout App on my phone. It's such fun!

Pattern of my rain hat on a red chair

 These are all part of my Creative Sprint solutions.

A few days ago, the prompt was to make something in public then leave it there. So I made a small collage while in the library and left it there. I hope who ever found it, enjoyed getting it.

 Our cat, Bizoo looks very regal. He turned his back to the TV which was tuned to the Royal wedding.

I've been writing postcards to get out the Vote here in the U.S.A. I write for different candidates but all are Democrats. It's been very satisfying and feels like I'm doing something real. And I'm using really nice postcards. Maybe the recipients will keep them for awhile.

This is a perfect action for me as I love writing postcards and sending mail, plus I can do this from home.

Oh Dear, the year is ending. Good bye 2017!

Needs a caption, right?

The year ends, I did a lot of stuff.
I made mail art continuously though not every day. I did may be 150 + but I made other stuff. Mainly, a lot of knit mitts, because I was buying a lot of cool yarn and knitting was keeping me from getting crazy about politics.

He let everything go to his head!

Map of our favorite beach area

We went to the Outer Banks (OBX) for a holiday at Thanksgiving. We didn't plan on it because of financial constraints then said, oh dang, let's do it, so we did. Three days, the five of us. It was very nice. We walked on the beach, went to the giant dunes (Jockeys Ridge) and cooked and baked.

Bizoo

A sign on the OBX

The Atlantic at the OBX

The GrandGirl and her toy bat

Bizoo misses us when we leave though he's got a come-by care-giver.  He's also having some physical problem that has caused him to not urinate in his box, he uses the bathroom sink. Grrrr. Oh if only I had the patience to teach him to use the toilet, and flush it, too. ha ha



The Grand Girl continues to delight us, even though she's gotten a bit sassy at times.  Normal stuff, which is funny, and, thankfully, easily changed.
She's my cleaner-upper, baking assistant, art studio companion, and all around joy producing little person. She never fails to make us laugh, think, wonder, and feel grateful for her presence in our lives.


Happy New year, Bonne Année, Feliz año nuevo. May the year ahead be better than the last.  See you in 2018.

Some collage stuff, some mail art, and my cat.

#119

#120

A booklet from Fleur

one page

A second page

 I received a beautifully made accordian book from Fleur Helsingor, Mail Artist extrordinaire. I'm sorry that I didn't take a photo showing the folded our book. It was made from an old booklet that she'd had as a kid, from a science kit. Very cool.

She sent it as an Add and Pass along.

So I added to two pages, One opening the book in one direction and one page going the other direction, if that makes sense.



Rather than physical science, I used natural sciences for my entries.

Botany, biology, and entymology. Gosh, I hope that's the right word for the study of insects. I can't believe that I didn't look it up.

I tried to make the entry look like something old, by adding little letters by each bit, like in an old science book.

I'm please with the results. I hope Fleur wll be, too.  I'm sending the book on today to another participant.

 After breakfast, we noticed that Bizoo was in the front room on his favorite cloth. He appears not to be able to keep his eyes open.


We went upstairs to our studios.

After a bit, I went into my honey's studio to look at something he was working on and there was Bizoo.

He'd made his way upstairs to be near us and
had fallen asleep.

 He's so long, isn't he?

Oh, changed positions to take up less room.

A new month! When did this happen?

#92

#93

#94

 The sky/water series above were created by adding circles to some photographs that a friend gave me. It's rare to have an actual photo to work on these days, right?
I never have any of mine printed. I post to Instagram, or a blog, or Facebook, and that's it.

Working on top of the photos required my Pioneer brand glue stick to get a good adhesion to the surface. We'll see how they do going through the postal services.

Here's Bizoo on his favorite cushion, which I happened to be using in this chair. Soon as I got up, he went for it. So happy!




This is a sticker collage that Z made recently. I have to scrounge around on my work table to find new stickers for her. I'm giving up Cavallini stickers even! She loves doing this and I love watching her compose the composition. She likes to layer the stickers and she doesn't care about right side up or down. I want to emulate what she does. 
"J'ai mis toute ma vie à savoir dessiner comme un enfant." Pablo Picasso

Good Grief! A month has gone by?

#210

 What a busy month it's been.

I was knitting lots and lots in preparation for a pop-up shop, making finger-less gloves, giving myself some sort of on-the-job wrist stress!

But it all worked out well, as my Etsy shop is empty, the pop-up shop sale was a success, but I still have a few pairs mitts at NEST! Stop by there if you're in RVA.

Mail Art still happening, too.  #210 has a throw-back look, doesn't it. I'm making lots more using the prints made for both C's and my pages from the Artist Coloring book. Fun to alter, as I've said before.

#244

#237

 I made my "Peace" cards again this season. Adding swashes of Inktense color to them.

I numbered them but didn't scan them individually except for this one. So far this year, while not doing a piece of Mail Art daily, I managed to make over 250 pieces, with a few more to come. My experiences with my 365 projects has made my practice of getting into my studio such a normal part of my life. There's no question that I'll go in daily and make something, even if it's not Mail Art.

We celebrated one night of Chanukah with friends, at Perly's Deli. We enjoyed a little carafe of bubbly, and a whole lot of delish food. If you're in our neighborhood, go there and eat!

We were delighted by our grand's delight at all the candles. Our niece & nephew hosted their annual gathering with many candles and excellent latkes.

It's been a wonderful year, full of lots of enjoyable experiences. How lucky we are and we know it!


Happy and healthy New Year to all of you, just in case it's another month before I post again.

Here's a photo of Bizoo, contemplating the world outside.

Now where were we? What's going on in my neighborhood?

 At the end of October, while the weather was still warm, we took the grand-girl for a walk to the museum. She pulled "pull-dog" to but fro she needed a lift in her stroller. The pull toy is a Keith Herring wolf sent to me by a friend in Germany a couple years ago. The grand really likes it a lot. She's wearing her favorite spider socks in her starry shoes, by the way.

The weather has changed dramatically due to the Polar something and we are not liking it. We don't have proper clothing for these temps, or shoes.

We're staying indoors this morning, not just because of the cold but because we are hemmed into our neighborhood by the annual Richmond Marathon!! I can walk a block or two in any direction and see people running.

My African Violets are in bloom. Lovely to see them in this chilly weather. A reminder of spring.

I received a box of yarn from my niece M for my birthday. I've been making finger-less mitts and caps out of it. Nice colors! I've been production knitting. I have a dozen pair in my favorite little gift shop NEST, and am participating in a one day pop-up shop mid-December. My wrists will need a rest after this.

 I received this leaf from NSW, Australia. It's an alteration of one of the cards in my Installation last month at the Nowra River Festival. So far, only this card has been returned to me.  We're planning another installation there in May with triple the number of postcards.

These are the cards that I made for Banana recognition day, which is this coming Monday. I'm not sure it's a real "holiday" but my buddies in the IUOMA celebrate by sending cards. This is my second year of participating.

It's fun to have a theme, right?


So this is what's going on these days since we last met up.


Oh and we can't end without a photo of our cat, Bizoo, right?

No Mail Art - just some of my photos this morning.

Market Day

Market day

Tiny sweets

Chris Milk's chicadees

Bizoo (thinking of Chicadees?)

Brown sugar yogurt cake!

Shelf with Weather gram

Mail Art, Little Free Library, and more

#98

#99

 I made this Mail Art to send to someone who sent me a lovely piece of Mail Art back in March and I've been sooo remiss in responding to people. I feel awful about it. Slowly I'm getting mail out. Oh everyone who sent me Mail Art, please know that I loved getting it.




I made this altered card using a postcard that we got at our most recent visit to the National Postal Museum on my birthday last week. I added the colorful old postage stamps to it. It's going to my niece and nephew in Wisconsin. They'll get a kick out of getting real mail.

#100

I've been having fun punching out circles from old Art magazines. I'm preparing for a workshop that I'm going to do in two weeks, and I'm going to offer up a tin full of these circles as part of the project. More on this after it happens.



My workshop last week went really well. It was on Artist Trading Cards. Super fun to share. The participants were all teachers, grades kinder through end of high school, all different subject areas. 

#101

So these two cards are the start of some fun for me, as I plan to make use of the circles, also.  I like circles a lot, and these are so planetary, and minimal.

 I'd seen this Little Free Library a few weeks ago when driving by the Richmond Ambulance Authority building. How cute, I thought, and today, with a book to deposit, I stopped there on the way home from playing with my grand-girl.






This is beautifully crafted and painted to look exactly like the ambulances.  It had a nice amount of books in it, not crowded like some of the other smaller LFLs. I hope that more people pay attention to it.

Do you have any LFLs in your neighborhood?

 My niece and her husband joined us to celebrate the American Independence day, 4th of July. She brought head bands for all of us to wear. Here she is modeling one. Cute, aren't they?

 Bizoo waits on my bedside table every morning waiting for me to wake up. He taps my head sometimes, and other times just sits patiently. The treats are in the top drawer!!
He knows it, as does our grand-girl, who likes giving the cat treats. We did, however, find her munching on a few herself, yesterday.

I just had to share these flowers with you. They were among the bunches at Amy's farmers' market stand last week. Gorgeous, like a painting, yes?