365! I did it. Done!

#364

#365

 To me: Congratulations!











My kitties in the landscape will not end with this project. I have many more vintage postcards and several more kitties to go.








Voila! My last card of this 365 Mail Art project. I thought a lot about what I'd end with and since I discovered that I had a two or three more Tiny Town blanks, this felt like the perfect way to end the project.
On the reverse: Mme Brunau brought Simone to Tiny town on the last day of the year, to quietly wish the residents a bonne année. The residents responded, "merci." 

And again, here are the words of my offspring - the motto of their business, The Alternative Speakers Bureau.
Say this to yourselves and believe it.
Do something, make something, and share with me.

I'll be continuing to make Mail Art, and other stuff! See you in the new year.

Mail Art - Sunday catching up

365.2 #307

 Tiny Town is back, for a brief visit. I have one more "blank" to alter then it's done.

While the residents were not sure of the propriety of the new monument, or it's placement, they were somehow drawn to it's smooth, simple elegance. Tiny Town always worked around strange occurrences.

65.2 #308

Tiny Town residents were grateful that Simone took on the duties of feeding, and looking after the well being of, Phideau.

#365.2 #309

365.2 #310

I have to come up with stories for a few of these cards. Nothing has come to me yet.






Ah, a lute player, what will I have to say about her?  I'm using some of the cards that my honey had printed for his Body of Evidence exhibit. They were the ones that he was not satisfied with the printing. They work as cards to be altered, by me.

Check out my honey's website HERE. It's a work in progress. More of his work will be added on a regular (or irregular) basis.

365.3 #157

365.3 #158

 The brass armillary was suppoed to be installed in the new colossal garden. The error on the part of the moving company was not appreciated by the residents of Tiny Town.

I was taken by this item when I saw it in a magazine. It was tough to cut out but worth it. I had to look up the word armillary!




Marie Claire's visits were infrequent as she led a very busy life, and Tiny Town residents always enjoyed her pleasant demeanor.

365.3 #159

 This guy is a companion piece to #309. They look like they belong together when I have them side by side. Maybe the same recipient needs to receive both of them. No story for him yet, or the woman, in the red coat, at the fox hunt.

365.3 #160

Sunday - the usual, Mail Art and more.

#224

#223

 These are my Mail Art artist melds from
Thursday through yesterday.

#73

 Why some are tiny and others larger has to do with how they scanned, mysteriously, I had nothing to do with it, really I didn't!
I'm enjoying mixing up artists in this series. My favorite of all is the meet-up of El Anatsui and Renoir, #225. Artists used in this series are Yayoi Kusama of dot fame, El Anatsui, Renoir, Joan Mitchell, Kandinsky, Schwitters, and some artist whose names I forgot to note before cutting up their paintings. OOps, sorry.

#74

#225

#75

 I would like to try to make some small pieces that are based on El Anatsui's work. I've been fortunate enough to see a number of his pieces in person. They're made out of bits of flattened metal and linked, so that "cloth" is made. They are beautiful.

Well, I've been busy with two things - my upcoming Tiny Town exhibit, and working on getting my honey a functional website. I still have a few things to do for my exhibit, and some tweaks on the website, but in general, I'm feeling pretty good about both.  Here's the tiny show card that I made to handout to people. It's the size of a business card.

Here's a framed piece that will be shown in the small gallery space that I'm exhibiting in, that shows the postcard that I use for Tiny Town (at the top,) an altered card (in the middle) and a copy of the reverse of that card. When the exhibit ends, that piece will be un-framed and the card mailed out. The remaining unaltered card will be made into the last of Tiny Town. I might send it to the Utrillo Museum in Sannois, France. What do you think? Should I do that?

Sunday - catching up

#197

#194

#44

 I agreed to participate in a Banana action. 11 people signed up so I had to make cards some how related to bananas. After signing up, I was like "what do I do?" Then good mail art friend that he is, Dean suggested: Do what you always do but add a banana. How simple and to the point. So I did.

#45

This is more of my Washi tape and punched out circles play. Randomly dropping circles, this time I decided to use colors that didn't appeal to me when they were together. Somehow, this works.







I think they give a good spatial illusion, and a good example of defying gravity, floating off into the air. What do you think?










I had to get Tiny Town into the Banana Action.  I wrote on the reverse something about the residents of the town getting out recipes that used bananas. Of course, disposal of the peelings was going to be a problem.








I have two old watches. Not so old they're vintage, so they have no value, per se.
Actually, they have no value period. I was told by two different jewelry shops and a jeweler, that fixing them wouldn't be possible. Well, possibly possible if I replaced the works completely, sent the Seiko to the manufacturer maybe, and the other to some one else. Since watches have become inexpensive (or very expensive) fixing them is no long what people do. There are few repairers, and few parts. dang. So what to do with them? I just don't want to throw them into the trash bin. Hmmm, I think I'll pass them on to a person to re-purpose into new jewleery. Dang, is all I have to say. Dang!

Last Thursday, after my Spanish book club met, we stayed on at the cafe to hear the jazz group play. The crowd was large and there was lots of red clothing in celebration of St. Valentine's Day. It was a lot of fun; quite the Best evening.

Mail Art, Sketchbook & Dr. Who

 I only have a few more of my altered cards, as I'm going on hiatus from them for awhile. I'll post a couple more, then on to some other ideas for my Mail Art.

This is #162
Quote on reverse: "Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others." Rosa Parks


Tiny Town gets an iconic Mid-century rocking chair!

#12

#163

This altered Chuck Scalin assemblage has this quote on the reverse - "Memory is a compoicated thing, a relative to truth, but not it's twin." Barbara Kindsolver

#13

 Tiny Town residents love this girl's mischievous smile.

 Here's another page from the sketchbook that I made for The Sketchbook project.

 Here's the owl page, which I like very much. I used my own Mail Art as reference when creating the sketchbook. Birds and quotes and lines and circles, so me!

 This is the end. Something about me and an envelope of circles for people to add to and/or take away.

Oh look, Dalek's confront Tinker Bell. The red Dalek is a tiny torch which had been a key ring but the ring part broke off. The blue one is a recent gift from N, as was the red one. I'm having fun with Dalek's at my computer desk.

So long, on this rainy, gray, Richmond day. Have some fun today, have fun every day, that's my suggestion.

My Sketchbook & My Mail Art

#159 - this is the 159th day of my 365.2 Mail Art project.

The quote on the reverse is - "Nothing stands still except in our memory." Philippa Pearce

 Card #160 is another of Chuck Scalin's assemblage photos, altered with only the man. I'm almost ready to stop this series for awhile. Almost. Quote on reverse -
"Memory is the diary we all carry with us." Oscar Wilde

#9

 I feel fortunate to have discovered this woman in my pile of scraps. She's so lovely.  Story on reverse - Florrie's serene and gentle nature reminded eeryone in Tiny Town that they, too, could feel the same way."

 #10 I wasn't sure how the baseball would work. The addition of the shadow on the street helped. I used a soft graphite for the shadow. On the reverse - "The residents of Tiny Town were understandably perturbed by the nearness of a new baseball field."

These low number cards are part of my 365.3 Mail Art project.

The next three images are the cover and two of the double page spreads from my Sketchbook project for the Brooklyn Art Library.

Mom's Day & Mail Art catch up

#156

This is my Mom, Estelle. She was in her 20s I think when this was taken. I love this photo of her and use it as my photo on my Etsy shop. On 19 January, she'll be 99 years old. Wow. If you'd like to send her a card, let me know and I'll give you an address. It's be so cool if she got lots
 of cards.

#157

#158

 I'm enjoying finding quotes for my cards.
#156 "It is strange how we hold on to the pieces of the past while we wait for our futures." Ally Condie

#157 "The one charm of the past is that it is the past." Oscar Wilde

#158 "Do not well in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." Buddha

#06

#07

 For Tiny Town, I write little stories. #06 - Visiting Tiny Town was a special treat for Henri, who had learned early not to breathe too heavily, cough, or sneeze during these visits.






#07 - It became obvious what dessert would be at the Tiny Town community dinner that night.


#08 - Paulette had several points of view on every subject. The residents of Tiny Town preferred that she visit infrequently.





I amuse myself with these pieces of Mail Art. Are there any other stories that you can come up with? I'm open for any ideas.

#08

Making - my faorite thing!

 I love to make things, simple as that. I'm a maker, like my mother before me. Now that the weather is cooler, I've started to knit again.

I love yarn, as my mother before me. The yarn shop with it's shelves full of colors and textures is so comfortable, and exciting.

And I sold a number of my mitts at the holiday craft pop-up shop this December, which is satisfying.  Now, I've added a few pairs to my Etsy shop.

 I used Noro Japanese yarn for the mitts in the first photo.

The bright red mitts are made using yarn from Michigan.

And the gray and green striped ones are yarn from Peru.

 Now that I know how to carry yarn when changing colors to make stripes, I want to keep doing them. I'm going to make some mixed color mitts next. Might turn out good, might not, we shall see.

Speaking of seeing, you can see my mitts as they are in the shop HERE.

Here's another of my honey's Evidence Box postcards altered by Me with only one addition - a bronze woman.
Here's the quote on the reverse - "A mind at peace, a mind centered, and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe." Wayne Dyer

This card is for day #155 of my 365.2 project.

This card is another in the Tiny Town series. Day #5 of 365.3

On the reverse - For Tiny town residents, the raven was, usually, the harbinger of good, not bad, news.

Am I having fun making stuff? You bet!