A few altered postcards

 I always write a little story on the reverse. Something about what's happening in the image like, the legs in the first image look like tap dancers so I made a story about the noise, and in the lighthouse how the giant shell appeared and the effect it had on tourism. Can you guess what I might have written about the stamps falling from the sky at the new post office? 

That Post Office building now houses the U.S. National Postal Museum and I'm happy that I was able to visit it several times. It's located right by the Railway station. This postcard is one of the ones they offered for free, so I scooped up a few, okay, maybe more than a few. I can't wait until I can travel again and visit the museum.

Altered old Postcards

Finding cards in my collection to alter is a lot of fun for me. Finding the right bit to collage on it, to change it up, just a little or a lot. I like playing with space and size relationships. The top card doesn't look altered to me. The additions seem to blend in, as opposed to the observation tower where the hand comes in to terrify the person on the level. Or, at least, in my mind they're terrified. I would be. 
 

More Unusual Weather Phenomenon

The weather was unpredictable but the unusual circular phenomenon was quite unusual. And that random text that appeared at the same time, was disconcerting.

 

Weather Phenomenon

 

Mail Art Mail Art Mail Art

circa 2003

 I rediscovered a small cache of my own small collages that I made when US postage was $.23. I used them as samples in classes that I was teaching. So I added something to each one, and made them into current Mail Art to send out. I'm more minimal these days.

This card was sent to a VisPo mail art call.

 This card is going to a fish mail art collector.

I can't remember where I sent this one but it turned out interesting, spacially.

circa 2003

circa 2003

circa 2003

 I sent this one to Margate, U.K. for a fundraiser for Margate Caves something or other. A community center is planned and they're raising funds. AND since my pseudonym when I was worked in reservations for a now defunct airline was Miss Margate, I had to submit. My British colleagues were much amused by my pseudonym. It was like saying Miss Coney Island to an American.

This images is from the sheet of JFK stamps put out by the USPS. My friend used lots of the stamps for a mailing and I got the part left over. You'll be seeing a lot of JFK in the future.
This collage is on a CD. I'm not sure who'll receive it, yet.

Time to post more Mail Art

 A CD that I collaged and sent to Adamandia in Chicago. It got there without damage. I used the Dean, Artist in Seine technique of NO return address.

 My really good good news is that my Mail Art archive has been deeded to Special Collections of the Virginia Commonwealth University Library. And I'll pass along more this summer. I spent a lot of time sorting through my mail, putting artists work together, remembering all the wonderful mail days. Oh my, such fine work. And from all over the world.

I was excited to let everyone know, via social media and IUOMA group, that their work has been put into a library for ever! The work will eventually be digitized and made available to the public.

This summer, the librarian/curator and I will plan a program to be done at the library. She was very excited to learn that Mail Art is still being made and that the network of Mail Artists is very large.

Here are a few of my face pieces. I have such fun with these.

 This piece is a Persian card that a friend gave to me. I think the glasses and hand go perfectly on it. I feel so happy when things come together like this.

My friend Andrea, in the U.K. sent me the postcard awhile ago as part of her Lost Art project. It's an old tourist photo of Natural Bridge with a couple in the foreground. I added the hand only, which really made me laugh.

The year is almost over! Wow!

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I had fun altering these floral paintings that my honey got for me on his trip to London last spring. They called for just the right additions, and I'm pleased with how they turned out.







Here are more of my Inktense festive cards. I have a lot of fun with doing these, also.

I can make several at once, then after I cut them up, do the black lines.

Very meditative, as I might have mentioned before.

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The holiday season is just about over. We've had our share of Christmas festivities, but Chanukah does continue, so it's not quite over. However, it's a very low key holiday, with just candle lighting and tiny gifts for the grandgirl. For instance, we got her a tiny sticker book with sparkly Nutcracker Ballet stickers, and another day she'll get a Nutcracker Ballet sticker book of Clara with a wardrobe. There's a theme here, as you might see. The grandgirl got to see the ballet in person this year and was quite taken by it. The final gift will be a book of the Nutcracker Ballet that has a little pop up stage and figures that one can place on it.

She'll like that, we think.


Here's hoping we all have a good year ahead, in whatever way we can find that is good for each of us.

As my mother-in-law used to say "Take care on each other."

Mail Art, I hope

Well, my friends, I"m not sure how to get my photos onto this blog using my new Chrome book! Aaagh. I'll keep working on it.

Join me on CrestiveSprint.co in 4 days. It's a Global Art game and it's free and it's fun. I'm doing it, why don't you?

This is what I posted for MAM, Mail Art Monday. It was five days to the start of Creative Sprint. Get it. FIVE shapes!

An altered Mary Cassatt postcard. I love the depth created here. 

Guess what? More Mail Art!

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 I wasn't going to write anything about these. I was just going to let them speak for themselves, but I wanted to ask you if you have

Sunday eMail Art

 a favorite among the altered Mary Cassatt cards.


This piece, labeled eMail Art, is another of the pieces that uses the same scraps but rearranged, photographed, and posted but never glued down. I'm having fun doing that and then e-mailing them to people to whom I can't post mail to for various reasons.

And so we start a new month - hello February!

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Here #33 through 35 are more of the table scraps pieces. The scraps are the left over bits after I cut things out. I really like the way they turn out. Oh, I'd better get busy cutting out more things as I have no more scraps to use.

#37

New Mitts

#36 and #37 are alterations of more of our friend Keith Long's exhibit cards. I saved them from many years ago and glad that I did. I have such fun with them. So far, the response I've gotten from him is good. Whew!







I'm still knitting, though I have no local sales locations, at the moment. I'm almost thinking of stocking my Etsy shop again. I stopped because there are so many similar products out there and the competition is strong, and I can't compete price-wise with commercial work from other places, if you know what I mean. Meanwhile, I love good yarn. These are made from a Merino wool.

Lunch meeting

Just for fun, here's a photo of something our grand girl left behind after a visit. She plays with salt & pepper shakers that I keep just for her.  What's going on here? She surely had a story to go with this set-up.  Got a story about this for us? Let me know.

Altered cards, captions anyone?

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A friend sent me these postcards that she'd collected in San Francisco a few years ago.

                      I immediately set to work altering them.  As I found images to collage onto them, I found my self laughing at the captions that came into my mind.

Do you have any to offer?