Saturday - Mail Art and more

#29

#30

#31

 My 365.3 series started the 1st of 2013. This week's series was made using very old paper, VERY old paper. I'm anxious to see if they'll survive their journey.







I've sent out a couple of them, but I'm waiting for the new postage stamps. I've used up all of the old denominations, adding 1cent stamps, but now I've no postcard stamps or any to make up the new amount. 33 U.S. cents. My branch post office had no new stamps. grrrr.








I'm hoping that the stamps I ordered via the internet will arrive today. I'm eager to send these on their way. Also, I've ordered a set of vintage post marks. I'm happy about that, since I've enjoyed using the ones I already have. They add such an old time-y look to the cards. Right?

 On Friday morning, I did volunteering at a nearby elementary school. It was first Friday reading day. I picked this book to read, purchased it at the local children's book store, and it was a winner! The kids loved it. I donated it to the school library. Don't you love the expression on the dog's face? The kids did.

This is just a sweet little image - these birds are salt and pepper shakers and I mostly forget that's what they are, so they sit on the shelf above the sink, looking sweet, near the bunny, waiting to get shaken.

Mail art, of course, and more.

 I used the last of my Louise Nevelson post cards, to alter and send off as Mail Art. This one has a stamp that shows Geo. Washington on a hill over looking rural Brooklyn, NY. It says "Washington saves his army at Brooklyn."

 I was pleased to find two items that matched this golden sculpture by Louise. This is #992, oh my, so close to 1000.

 I'm the August Mentor for IUOMA and I decided to create a Welcome image. I used one of my old altered cards and added the type. I'm really excited that I know how to add type. As mentor,  I say hello and welcome to new comers to the Mail Art union, and offer them any assistance. Today, I welcomed someone in Brazil, and 2 people in the U.S. of A.

 Yesterday, I did more baking, because the Amazing Award winning brownies had been devoured. I had 3 very ripe bananas in the freezer. I defrosted them and made a banana chocolate chip cake using the recipe from my
1965 cookbook. It was super good and we think it's because frozen bananas when defrosted have more liquid to them. You can find the recipe here.

It was sunny this morning and the pool water was a refreshing temperature. Ducky was back in the shady corner, getting some respite from the glare. This is the 2nd day that we've found him there. Hmmm.

We were fortunate to have the rain hold off until afternoon, so we could swim. And we're fortunate to have rain.

Monday, a new week starting!

 Little Sydney got picked up last night and we were so sad to see him go, but he was so excited to see his people again! So cute. We have offered to watch him any time. It was such fun to have a pup around.

 Syd's people brought us back some treats from their trip.  A whole lot of spices from the spice market in Istanbul.

 I can't wait to make some safran rice!

 Yesterday's mail art, another photo of that Lake, which I know think is Lake Tiorati. I found that it exists!! It's in New York State.

I'm using up old snapshots that a friend inherited and had no idea who the people in the pictures were. They make such fun mail art. I liked how one of the negatives showed up so nicely as a positive.

Clck on this link for something fun.

Wow, it's already Sunday!

 Yesterday was a sad day. It was gray and drizzly, and we went to the memorial service for our colleague/friend Jerry. There was a big bowl of button/pins for us to wear. They were photos of Jerry at all different ages. My honey chose the one of Jerry when he was a student and we first met him. I chose the photo of how he looked my last chat with him at the pool this summer.  We went off to lunch after the service and had a beer in his memory, balancing the pins on the rims of the glasses. He was a real sweet guy!

 I decided to add one of my sunglasses people and see what I could come up with. It seemed like comments were being made, by using more of those practice bits, which made it asemic. I like the way it turned out.

 Okay, I have to say, I cracked myself up with this one. I've had this guy in my supply of scraps for quite some time and never could figure out what to do with him. His smile was just so good!  To say I'm pleased with this one is an understatement. I love the way it turned out. 

 This is today's mail art. I was searching through the scraps for a face but this basket of apples somehow just worked. Maybe it's the crispness in our weather at the moment or my thinking about the good applesauce that we made, waiting to be eaten by us. In any case, the residents of Tiny Town are presented with a big problem. How the heck will they get those out of the basket, how will they distribute them, how will people get them into their homes? Notice how they stand their in confusion looking at the basket?

Our doorbell rang yesterday afternoon. It was the neighbor girls. Sage held this up! They were both excited to tell us about their new dog.  Cute drawing, right? They said that their dog doesn't exactly look like this.   I can't wait to see the real deal.

"art mail" from Sage and Nate

 Yesterday evening, as I was started to prepare dinner, the door bell rang. It was Sage and Nate, my little neighbors. They had on their cycling helmets, and I could see their little bikes out on the sidewalk. "Remember you told us about that art mail, well this here's some for you," said Sage." This is what she handed me.

Isn't this the cutest? I love the dog with the curly tail and action back legs, and the smiling sun. The message is quite clear.  Nate has a new dog of his own; Sage definitely thinks we need one, too.

I decided to make them some Mail Art, which I'll send off in the mail today rather than handing it to them. Since they'll show theirs to each other, I thought I'd make a bit of a story line.

I'm so fortunate to have small neighbors who pop in on me from time to time.

Mail Art, a note, a feather and some new shoes

 This fall, we have 3 weddings to attend. When I saw these shoes, I was tickled pink! They are so fem and yet so comfy, and on sale! They are now my wedding shoes.

 Yesterday's mail art pieces are more of the minimal (or as Katerina writes Mimimal) with graphite. With these, I made marks, somewhat in the Cy Twombly style, Oh I wish, with the 9B graphite, on a large piece of watercolor paper. I ran a big brush with water over the lines I cut the paper into standard postcard sized pieces, getting 4 cards and some book markers out of it.

 Then I wanted to add a piece of collage to give a focal point. I used my large hole punch on my 1965 McCall's Magazine to get these nice gray-ish circles.

 I was really pleased with how this circle laid on TOP of the line fits so perfectly. Doesn't it look like the graphite goes OVER it? It doesn't it. I can't tell you how satisfying it is for me when this kind of thing works out.

 I do think these aren't very minimal, however. Even though only one collage element, too much line work. Today, I'm going to try to minimalize my pieces.  More to come, or rather, Less to come!







My doorbell rang this morning, it was my young neighbor. She handed me an envelope that said "open it" on the back and a cartoon balloon which said "Hello, Mim! Buy a new Dog!" Inside was this note and a feather from a Blue Jay.

 

We'll have to be sure that the next dog we get will be child friendly and like to play ball. See drawing above.

#157 & 158 series of my Mail art 365 project

#157

 I decided to get back to the 3 or 4 element collage. I'd cut out a lot of words recently while catching up on some TV programs (okay, confession, I do watch TV.) I decided to ramdomly combine words with images. The first one is this REAL one. I like the little seaside town, but can't remember where it is. Watermelon fit the color scheme.

#158

 The birds were waiting to be used so I decided to continue the 3 or 4 item, random word theme with them. Interestingly, for me, is that they end up being narratives. What do you think? They tell some kind of story?

#158a

 The photo is an old view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

#158b

#158c

This little pup was riding in a woman's purse in some fashion advert. The background is from the same image as the big baby in the landscape (#101)

Snow day & mail art

 The snow fell through the night and morning. The yard, as always, looks so pretty to me, with snow covering it.

I could have used the same photos from last year, right? But I didn't. This is today's version.

 The wires are like white lines across my yard. It's very quiet. No one is out and about. I threw some crumbs out for the birds and I see evidence of their having visited, with little prints on the snow.

fish with color experiment

Dog with color experiment 

 Today's Mail Art continues with the color experiments. I didn't have anymore of these fish, but I found this fine dog. I'm sending the dog card to someone whose name is sort of connected to dogs. I don't want to reveal it at this time in case, the recipient reads my blog. This is pretty mysterious, right?

Feeling blue.

Taking a rest, recently

This afternoon, we said goodbye to Smitty. He came into our lives, from the city pound, 15 years ago (this past July) and was a great little dog. He was, as we say, house trained from the start, and didn't bark until he'd been with us for months. We thought he had no voice! He wasn't afraid of being hit, if we picked up a broom or newspaper, but didn't like big boots. He didn't shed, which we thought was a big plus though we didn't realize that until much later.  We weren't planning on keeping him, I was just getting him out of the pound to rescue him from certain death, but within three days, he charmed us with his bouncy fun personality and cute face. He wasn't sure about being picked up or held on a lap. He'd keep his legs out stiff. Gradually, he realized he was with his pack, and truly became our dog.

Studio Portrait 1995

I'm feeling sad but it was time. We had to make sure. We didn't want it to be about us, the constant cleaning up the kitchen floor from accidents, or the inconvenience of not being about to take a trip, but rather about his quality of life.

On the porch, snoozing

Our veterinary doctor was wonderful. She was so sweet to him and to us. We're sad, but it's okay.

Taking a stroll

Bright spots.

We had sun yesterday and today. Last night, it rained and the temperature went up, so today we have a lot less snow. The streets are all mushy slushy, and some sidewalks are totally free of snow. It's nice to get some clean up before the weekend when we're supposed to get snow again. The snow that decorated my tree has melted but it looked so nice with it's white frosting.
Smitty wore his Count Dracula cape for a walk yesterday. He couldn't walk too far but enjoyed the bit he did. When I got round the corner, I was nicely surprised to find a tiny hand on the pole, formerly the site of The Shelf. Plus a little note that said "good-by Bea." Hmmm.




Two of my African Violets are in bloom. I just love the bright spot in my bedroom. You can see the tree out in my back garden and the snow on the garage roof. The flowers are doing very well even though they never got watered once during the two weeks that I was in Los Angeles. I guess the soaking I gave them before I left and the soaking I gave them when I returned was all they needed. Me gusta mucho estes flores!

Dramatic Dog Rescue

We were glued to the television set yesterday watching a dog, who had somehow gotten caught in the Los Angeles river, usually a cement trench with a trickle of water, but because of the storms it was a raging, swift moving river. The poor dog was walking back and forth on thin pipe or ledge right in the middle. Some fire fighters were on a bridge trying to scare the dog into walking down to another bridge where there were other rescuers ready to rappel down to catch it. The dog headed that way, but the water got deeper and faster and the poor critter couldn't get a visual on pipe/ledge so he went back to where he could see it. The dog was shaking. A helicopter came, but there were over-head power lines, so they couldn't lower anyone. The dog got more frightened and started walking down to the 2nd bridge, we were so scared for it, that it'd step into a hole and drown or get swept away. Finally, he walked toward the side, but it was too steep, though a 100 yards down he probably could have climbed up, the announcer said. The helicopter at that point was in a place where it could lower the firefighter, who grabbed the frightened dog. The dog bit the firefighter numerous times, but the rescuer never let go and the helicopter lifted man and dog and flew to the bridge. Once lowered to the roadway, a number of rescuers surrounded the dog, sedated him it looked like because he looked limp as they carried him to the rescue vehicle. It was VERY dramatic. You can see the rest of the photos that I took of the incident HERE.