Mail Art for two poets

Some with random text, a poem

Some with circles

 

Small collages - MailArt & a mitt

Altered Picasso

A proposed poster

altered graffiti - photo by Brassai

I made a few altered postcards recently to send off to specific people and one was a result of a prompt during October http://creativesprint.co  I'm posting my Mitts because I just re-opened my Etsy shop http://FritziMim.etsy.com  Which came about because I can't sell my mitts in-person during the pandemic at the usual holiday "shops." My honey suggested I re-open and it's been quite fun to see that people are actually buying stuff from it. Yay commerce, yay my compulsion to knit.

wool mitts with pompoms

 

Random Words and Circles

 I spent the morning cutting circles and words out of a magazine that was headed to the recycling bin. It was a very satisfying activity for a gray morning. I was happy to just sit in my studio and do this. And there are always small blanks at hand, ATC size, so I can just make a few small random word poems with circles. Yes, very satisfying. What do you think? Do you have a creative activity that you can do in a few minutes and feel satisfied?

A fun day of altering vintage postcards!

2020-14

The enormous shell appeared on day. No one knew who put it there or even how it was put there. It was quite an inconvenience. Too heavy to move, it remained there.

2020-15

When John Oliver popped over the door, several passers-by fainted and one was heard to say- "oh, dear."

2020-16

They were startled out of their boat when the large painting appeared floating in the calm lake.

2020-17

It was never discovered who placed the large shell on the monument. It appeared one day. Children loved to listen to the sound of the sea.







The large shell appeared one day and there-after was used as a marker - "go past the house with the shell and turn left at the next corner."

2020-18

2020-19

A large painting was installed on the lawn as part of The Landscape Beautification Project. Visitors found it saccharine and unappealing. It remained for years.

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.

The usual stuff and some funny stuff

#76

#77

 Here's a series of table scraps cards with circles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#78

 Our grand-girl added color and put some googly eyes on a fashion model in W magazine. it tickled me SO much. I took a close up photo of the face. and then made this triple portrait. So silly and funny. I laugh every time I look at it. What do you think?

Googly eyes

triple portrait with googly eyes

my car

On Friday, I drove over to the museum to attend Zona española and parked between two behemoths. I looked back at my car and was astounded at how tiny my car looked. I had to snap this photo. Doesn't it look like a toy car?

And so I get to 1000! YAY!

#998

 Somehow, in my excitement of uploading the final few, I got them out of order. Here they are. The last of this series.

#999

I used cardboard cut from cracker boxes. I like the color that they give for the substrate.










I'm not happy with some of my gluing on these. The paper is silk screened color and very sensitive to anything on it. The adhesive moved around a bit when I burnished the pieces down. Oh well.

#997

This is the front & reverse of card #1000. I'm sending it to Andy, who started the whole thing back in 2010. He was like: let's start a 365 project with Mail Art. Want to join me? And I did. Thanks, Andy, it's been a fun time. The 365 project was fun and got me started numbering, and then I couldn't stop when I was finished.
 You can see what I accomplished during my 365 project here.  And you can see what I've done since that project ended a year later here.

Making art +

#926

 I'm moving right along towards 1000 pieces of Mail Art since 1 Dec. 2010. Slowly but surely I'll get there.
I like the odd perspective in this collage.

#927

 I promised to send something to a gal in Zagreb, Croatia, who is doing a "Papergirl" project. I sent her 4 pieces, copies of other collages with collaged bits and sewing added to them. They're 8.5 x 11" in size. I rolled them up and mailed them today. Hopefully, they'll arrive.

 This is one of 4 pieces, 5" x 7" in size, that I did for a project here in Richmond. The call was for self-portraits, or portraits. I'm calling this a self-portrait. Can you see why?

 On Mother's Day, we took a stroll through Hollywood Cemetery.
It was a lovely day for this and there were lots of people there, mostly looking for the graves of the graves of the Presidents (2 are buried there.) My DIL and I came across a stone for a Prince and his wife (a Princess by marriage.) I'd never seen this before. We had to brush the pine needles off of the stones to read them. When I got home, I looked up Prince Wolkonsky and was I ever surprised at what I read. So fascinating.

Isn't this a lovely hand holding the flower wreathe? There are some beautiful tombstone in this cemetery.  This is definitely a place to take out of town visitors. 

Oops, the truth about my numbers!

 Ooops, I mis-spoke when I said that I was at #900. I think I WANTED to be at that, but, alas, I've still a little ways to go.
This CD collage got mailed off the other day, going very far away, I hope it makes it. It's #891.

#897

 Last night, while watching the wonderful PBS series ART21, which included Ai Wei Wei and El Anatsui (love their work,) I sat still and made 6 pieces of Mail Art. I was so inspired!

My friend Val wants to know the relationship between the music, the postage stamps, and the text. You decide. What could it be?

 I am so fond of this kind of Iris. These are, unfortunately, not in my garden. I spotted them on a walk in my neighborhood.

 Here is what my back garden looked like before I started the re-do. I didn't like those pencil trees at the right, creating a "wall" as I entered from the back gate. The pines along the fence were dying slowly from lack of sunlight. The entire area looked too stiff and regular for me.

Here's the re-do. It's not completed yet. Since this photo was taken, the round stone has been removed and a rectangle in it's place. I've planted more in the front section. I can't wait til everything comes up, so I can see what else to plant there. I'm definitely pleased with this  arrangement. My friend Shelia, made it happen. Less formal, for sure. Now to find a tree that takes morning sun, for the left corner behind the potted bamboo. Any ideas for me? I'd like it to get as tall as the fence.

Today is day 336, yikes!

 Back to Tiny Town. I have many more of these cards left, so Tiny Town will continue beyond the 365 project, for sure.

I'm still using the painted ladies and other painting bits. I think they fit nicely with the town, but I may have to go back to photos as I'm almost through with the old book I've been cutting up.  This is a Klimpt girl. Her stare is un-nerving.

 This Matisse bowl of fish seemed like a fun thing to place in the street. Can you image the shock of seeing it there? Tiny Town residents have a problem to deal with here.

 The Arshile Gorky painting made me think about Northern Lights, aurora borealis, or something unusual in the sky. I think it works nicely.

This is from a painting by Cezanne. The look is stern but I think the person really was someone nice, just had to sit for the artist too long.

Monday, cool mail art and more.

 This series is my "Sunday, oh it's so hot in my studio I have to work with cooooool colors."

 I had a good time going through the box of color paper finding ones that were cool.

 Choosing the colors to layer to best effect was fun. It's like playing!

 I gave these mathematical titles and added the ink line for action, since the coolness made activity seem possible. Otherwise, I stay still or move slowly. Yes, this is how I've come to understand the need for iced tea, a fan, and moving slowly.

Oh yes, our Air Conditioning is no longer working. We have so many windows and so little window covering, oh for awnings and shades!

 Today is day #265 of the 365 project. I made two more Tiny Town cards today to commemorate that I have only 100 more days to go.

#265 "Bernie was a body building enthusiast. The women of Tiny Town found his visits a visual treat."  This is actually a photo of Bernard Baruch, who was a physical culture adherent.

 

For this second card today, I used a painting of a woman by Degas, that was done while he was visiting his family in New Orleans.
The title is "Maylene envied the residents of Tiny Town and their neat streets."
I have a sense that the streets in Maylene's times, and Utrillos actually, were quite messy.

 I was able to have my morning coffee out in my garden. It was not humid, it was breezy, it was soooo pleasant.  This arrangement of potted plants is by my honey. He's quite good at this.

 I got another mini-rose bush, from Canada,  on Saturday night at the supermarket. It was only $2.99, but turned out that I got it for free. The price wouldn't scan, so the clerk told me it was free!  What a surprise treat. I had  one of these in the past and it lasted a very long time.

This is the little cat that N. and SDIL have tamed and had neutered. They already have resident cats so are looking for a home for this lap sitter, with the tuxedo suit, whose been temporarily named Benoit. Is he cute or what? I'd love to take him but we aren't ready for a new pet, yet. If you know anyone in our area (Richmond, Virginia, USA) let them know this little cutie could be theirs. He's going to a shelter in a few days. A cuddler, lap sitter! Puleeeze pass this along.