Random photos during time of Isolation

my "office-studio"

Made banana bread

wrote post cards

Sat in front and watched street

Important information

And I've started to write poetry. I've got 9 poems written so far, in 10 days indoors.  You can read them on my instagram @mimgolub if you'd like or on Facebook where a couple of them are in Spanish, translated by friends of ours because I wanted to have a collaborative experience with them.  Our kids business is going all on-line.    See what they're doing by clicking on the link. Be safe, wash your hands, don't touch your face (teacher voice)

more office but with book & breakfast

Noah's design for ALR

It's a lovely day in my neighborhood!

#73

#74

#75

 Some Mail Art collages - #73 uses very specific shapes, #74 uses left-over shapes (and I do like this one a lot) and #75 is an altered vintage postcard that my friend Andrea sent to me. It's sort of Colossus of Rhodes, right?

It's such beautiful weather today that I've taken my lap top outside; where, I can enjoy the garden, and the lovely, low humidity and light breeze.

Meanwhile, inside, a chard pie was baking! Here it is. I did it without the pie crust that the recipe called for. I think it'll be good!

 Here's my lovely little garden. All hosta and ferns and other shade loving plants. The couple bird feeders are back in business attracting birds. Yay.

On Monday, I got together with my friend to finish up day 21 of #CreativeSprint. The prompt was to call someone you hadn't spoken to in awhile, and have them give you a prompt. My friend suggested that I make a map of a place we could walk to easily, so I did. We walked the map together, first to a nearby "shelf" to leave some things, then to a coffee shop to leave books.

The book is registered on Bookcrossing. I hope that whoever found it will make a journal entry.

Whatever is on the shelf is anonymous, so we'll never know who took our stuff. And someone left a miniature china cup and saucer, and I took it for our grand-girl. She loved it.

So there you go, a lovely day in the neighborhood. I hope your day has gone, is going, or will go well.

Mail Art, of course, and some snow news.

#25-2015

#26-2015

Snow is coming

#32

 What an assortment of Mail Art -1) altered a card that I made from a print of my Artist Coloring Book collage, 2)used some circles, 3)altered a commercial card from our trip to NOLA - landscape beautification project, 4) made a batch of "snow is coming" cards. In between, I made some other numbers of cards. It's been fun.

The snow started yesterday about 2 pm. It was fine and continuous and stuck to the ground. I took this through the window in the kitchen (see the screen?)


It kept coming, and coming, and coming, so fine and so quiet.









This morning, the bird bath shows how much snow fell in our back yard.

See how the snow rounds things out? Softens the edges.

It's sunny now, but very cold, and, oh my, it's going to get colder.

Our city shuts down, meanwhile, in Chicago, where there's lots of snow and is as cold as it is here, my friend goes out and about with her life.

Me, I'm a shut-in - who'll catch up on responding to mail and knitting and hoping there'll be mail delivery.

What's weather like where you are?

Lagging behind - a confession.

 I'm going to confess once more that I'm lagging behind in responding to people who've sent me wonderful Mail Art.

I'm too embarrassed to even post a photo of the two piles on my work table. Eventually, I'll catch up - won't I?

Meanwhile, I continue to MAKE Mail Art. My process is once again, taking bits of scraps out of one of my tins and seeing how I can compose them. 3 pieces of paper. Yes. Satisfying.

 Our garden is looking good. The plants are growing back now that we've had lots of rain and sun. Our formerly shady back area has been exposed to sun by our tree being cut back a lot.

The cement duck, one of a pair, looks quite content in the foliage.

Here's the motto again - don't forget this as you move ahead in your own practice.

And don't forget, this is the motto for The Alternative Speakers Bureau.

If you're a reader in the Richmond, VA area, here's an opportunity (click on this) to participate in a creativity experience. It'll help you get unstuck.

Flashback Tuesday - the Atlantic Ocean, N.C. USA

THURSDAY Time for catching up

 My older sister sent me a couple packages of books and included some other goodies, including an old pattern. Since I'll never make myself a tee-shirt, I am going to use the pattern in collages.

 Random text always adds a bit of intrigue for me. An incomplete story, a bit of conversation overheard in passing, the start of a dialogue, all of that and more.

I received a lovely collaged Mail Art piece from someone but they forgot to put a return address on it. To make up for that, the artist sent me a color copy of the original collage with her address - how could I resist re-cycling the copy.

Anyone guess where this figure came from? It's a famous painting.

Here's another figure from that famous painting.  I found an old, 1956, National Geographic Magazine. That made me happy as I had new things to cut out for collages. I'm getting bored with my scraps and needed new material. Does that happen to you? 

A couple of days ago, after the snow had melted, I spotted this tiny plant in my front garden. 

The sun is out today, though chilly.
Tomorrow, spring is predicted. How nice.

Mail Art catch up!

365.2 #343

365.3 #193

 Had a red theme going on here. I used my newish big hole punch to make these circles and use them as a background. They make the scraps with the letter forms pop!

365.2 #344

This is card is for my friend BB as she sent me a photo with the "commit no nuisance" sign on it. I cut it out and added a girl from an old photo - no clue who this child is. Simple, a bit of a narrative going on, but okay.

365.3 #194

Here I go, back with the cut out fabric. I really like how these bits play out on a plain ground. They become so different. The feel is so airy and spatial.











We had a new fence built to separate us better from our neighbor to the east. We'll either paint it or stain it. I like it a lot.









Here's another view of my temporary studio, with the kitty curled up in the easy chair. This is working out. I could probably keep using this space except I don't have all my stuff.

Construction starts to repair the rooms next Wednesday. Yay.

Monday Mail Art and more, of course.

365.2 #274

365.3 #124

 Here are my Saturday Mail Art cards.

They just tickled me so. I really like how the woman appears to be bathing in the painting by the stream, or lake, in the woods. A perfect fit.























 I baked some tofu for a mid-day snack Sunday. I posted the recipe here.

It was yummy.

365.2 #275

365.2 #276

365.3 #126

Here are my Sunday and Monday Mail Art cards in my Beautifying the landscape series.
The red Rothko painting was positioned just right in the desert landscape. Travelers enjoyed the shade that it provided.

The large shore side painting gave the fisherman something to contemplate while waiting for the fish to bite.


A painted wood panel complemented the snowy landcape. It would be a different story come spring.

365.3 #125

To get the painting to span the lake was an amazing engineering feat. It was worth it. People loved it. Tourists arrived by the boat load and the economy boomed.

We decided to take a walk to Carytown yesterday to buy some greeting cards. Yes, I know, I do make cards all the time but, my Honey had something in mind for a get well card that didn't quite mesh with my cards. It was a lovely day for a walk.We saw how the gardens were changing, so much growing. It's spring time for sure.  One of the neighbors fixed up their tiny front garden with tiny, fun bird houses. 

Sunday - Mail Art and more

 I really enjoy having coffee at the cafe at VMFA. It's mostly quiet there.

 I was looking down at my back garden, from our bedroom window. Looks like a dolls garden, with tiny furniture.

 The Azalea planted along the side of our house have bloomed. They look great this year.

365.2 #259

365.3 #109

These two card on cardboard substrate are done with just 3 bits. Some tear off of an old French receipt, a scrap from a paper sample book, and a punched out circle.








I really do find minimal compositions satisfying. You've read this before so this is not news to you, about my preferences.

365.2 #260

I'm going to get a kitten. Finally, the house has felt bereft of a pet since our dog died 2.5 year ago. We used to have cats, as well as dogs, so this isn't new for us, but it's been awhile.


I'm feeling very cat mood now. Our friend took in a stray cat, which happened to be pregnant. 5 kittens were born - and after awhile, hearing about them from our friends, talking about them with M, who's
been

365.3 #110

 encouraging me to do this, I decided to put my name on one of the kitties. "The calmest one," I told my friend.

I've chosen to name it "Neblina." It'll come to live with us after May 9th.

You'll see plenty of photos of it on this blog.

So what do you think the cats are saying?

365.2 #261

365.3 #111

#261 is going to Seville, Spain for a Mail Art call for blue mail art.











#111 is going to Sicily, Italy, for a Mail Art request for an exhibit and book in honor of Gerardo Sangiorgio, who was a poet and humanitarian. He resisted the Nazis in Italy, spent years in a prison camp, was freed and returned to Sicily. This is what I can make out with my poor knowledge of the Italian language. In any case, I'm pleased to honor him with this collage.