Mail Art made on vacation!

 We went to Québec City for our vacation. I had hoped to find a Mail Artist there to have a meet-up with, but no such fortune. 

I did however make a lot of Mail Art while away. These pieces are a sample - I used scaps from found paper and added circles that I brought with me in my traveling Mail Art kit.






I altered commercial postcards and I made water color landscapes (not pleine aire, however.)

It was very relaxing to take a few moments each day and make little art pieces.








We were very inspired  by what we saw at museums and all around us, returning home with ideas for new work,

and memories of a terrific time in a new environment.


I had fun putting the bears into the postcard and am happy with how it turned out.

Catching up on Mail Art and more.

 I'm so happy when I make Mail Art.

I hadn't made any for a few days and I was missing it so I popped into my studio last night and set out some collages.

 Today, I glued down the collages, with some tweeking, and it just felt so good to be doing it.

Minimal Mail Art returns! yay.

I made this piece specifically for a request for a piece of Mail Art for a friend of a person in the Mail Art union. I hope it cheered him up.

This is an odd photo of my grand. That's her looking up at us from the tray. I'd received a baby head Mail Art from Stephanie (mail art friend) last year. I gave it to Z this autumn and she loved it. We made one with her face, laminated it, and gave it to her. She now carries around both of these BABEES. She loves them. I may have mentioned this before, forgive me if I'm repeating myself.

It's that time of year again, Slow Art Day 2014, which takes place on 12 April this year. I'll be hosting again at VMFA. If you're interested in attending, register HERE.

And here's a little turtle to remind you, again, more slowly, look slowly, but act quickly to register!

Update on everything!

 For American thanksgiving day, we went to Avon, a hamlet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was really peaceful. This is a view of a sand pile that was next to our car, it was vertical but the lines give the illusion that it's a flat plane going off into the distance, right? So interesting.

 This is the view of the sun setting on the sound from our balcony.

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I'm nearing the end of my third year long daily project. This will be the last one that I do. I'm happy that this is coming to an end. I'll continue to make Mail Art, maybe even daily, but I won't have to scan and post daily which will be a good thing for me.







In this series of Mail Art pieces, I've dug around in the unused rubber stamp box. These are old friends and I'm happy to be using them again.









I'd forgotten what fun it is to make these little narratives with rubber stamps.











It's like visiting with old friends.

More catch up, before the time changes....

 My neighbor decided that a Halloween party was in order. I don't like to do costumes, so I dressed as WARM because it was very cold the night of the party. Beetle Juice is played by my honey in a costume created by our son a few years ago. It was quite effective

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More Victoriana, some French and some Italian text on cardboard from a cereal box.

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I treated myself to some new Washi tape. Here I use it merely as a design element and not in any narrative context. 

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NEW, this card, however used OLD elements. The paper scraps are from an old book.

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Minimal - a circle, some old paper, and four random words.

This is another nail polish color that I like to wear in the fall. I've been very careful about polishing my nails. It's like a meditation, waiting for polish to dry. I have to be quiet, not move about, be patient.

And the end of the week....Mail Art catch up and pumpkin time.

 I think of this as a portrait of a pumpkin. This one was small and meant to be made into pie, but instead I baked it and mashed the "meat."





Then I made it into a Pumpkin bread using the recipe that came with the new baking pan that my honey bought for me.

I'd seen it in an old magazine and he found it for me on-line. I love it and the recipe is really good. You can find the recipe on my recipe blog - here.

 Isn't this pretty? And it tasted so good, too.

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This used another Victorian scrap and a BIG question, in Español.

I couldn't get to the scanner, but then who needs to these days, I have a phone! That's one of my fave autumn nail polish colors on my nail.

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A scrap from an old French phrase book, a few dots, and a Miro sticker.

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I had to alter an old postcard - I had the urge to resurrect the Highway Beautification Project - but in a new guise, major public historic site improvement. How did the committee do on this one?

More Catching up on Mail Art, while away from home -

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 This piece was made on the train heading north. I got the image and text from the Amtrak magazine. Very minimal and I like it that way.

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This was made our first day in the city. We stayed at an Airbnb place and it was very nice. I used an image from the Amtrak magazine, a stamp I'd brought with me, and some punched out circles. Is she whistling?






Second day in the city, I used an eye from the Amtrak magazine, a stamp I'd brought and the paper that the holes were punched from the previous day. This is an "eye" series all of a sudden!









We stayed very busy all day long, so tired at the end of the day. I made my Mail Art in the morning before starting out. Here it's about the eyes, too.

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Here's another version of the eye from the Amtrak magazine. We were on our way back home when I made this one. I used the last of the stamps that I'd brought in my traveling Mail Art kit.










Some clouds. How I love looking up at the clouds, Always different. We've had some lovely sunsets. This one was taken by the Science Museum where I had a view with our overhead wires.

My son took this photo of our grand. He's a good photographer and she's a good model. Getting ready for the celebration of Halloween! What a cutie.

Catching up on Mail Art - before the little trip -

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 I was feeling kind of out of sorts before a train trip of several days, and wasn't sure if I'd have a theme for my Mail Art before I left.

I had a hand, I had some words, and then I had a kitten - okay, so it works! And everyday, I make Mail Art.

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Simple - just some torn map strips, a circle, and a butterfly sticker.











Here I'm playing with some scraps of topo maps, creating new pathways, lining up disparate roads and waterways. I added some words just because.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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More map connecting. Here I didn't add any words. The map paths just were what they were.

  Bizoo is betting too big to hang around my neck and quite heavy. He doesn't know that and still wants to ride around this way. He'll be 8 months old on the 8th of November. Still a kitten, right?

I was going through old photos when putting albums back on the shelves. Here's one of my mom and her sisters. It might have been taken in the 80s. All are gone except for mom and she's the oldest. That's her on the right.

Boxes, Mail Art, and more.

 Boxes, my life has been about boxes, recently. And today, I emptied that last of the ones in my studio. It's been difficult because I didn't want to just take things out and pile them back on shelves or wherever. I sorted - give away, throw away, keep - and filled my car with stuff to take to the thrift shop. So much stuff, where did it all come from.

Here's Bizoo enjoying a box.

Here's a view of the boxes in my studio just a few days ago. It seemed daunting. They were stacked up so high on my studio table. And they were heavy! 

Many of you have had to go through this. What was it like for you? Did you find it emotionally draining, or just tiring, or boring. I've found it all of those things.

Here are more boxes.  Now I have to go through some of the boxes that were in the boxes and decide what to keep.

 Also, I have 5 bankers boxes to go through, but that's another story.

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I've altered a card for this Mail Art. It's a necklace, actually, but I think it become something so different with the addition of the 2 people, don't you?









I cut the figure out of the painting and planning to use it but then the background was more interesting. I put the flowers behind the "empty" area. Some random text makes it all work for me.







Here's another attempt, though not as successful as the first, in my opinion.












And here's a minimal collage.

And here's our baby who is so fun and engaging these days.
She recognizes me. Yippee. In this photo, she's wearing a hat made by my older sister who is making at least a hat a day. She sent a dozen to Zinn, and a box full to me to sell for her. Do you think people might buy these? I can put them in my Etsy shop, though we hand crafters can't compete with foreign made goods, that's for sure. Our prices can't be so inexpensive. What's your take on this? Hand made goods vs commercial goods. I'd like your thoughts on this.

An entire week later....

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 I received a tourist postcard from someone in the Mail Art Union. I HAD to alter it, and I sent it back to the sender like this. The original is of a Mission Church. Yes, that's a building. I really did change up the scale, didn't I?

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I've been emptying boxes slowly. One that I opened had albums of photos from my deceased friend. I'd forgotten about them.  In an aged envelope there were some photos and some bus transfers from 1933. Amazing. I used one of them to make these two Mail Art collages, and used bits of the envelope, too.

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I decided not to tear any others up until I found a place that might want them for historical purposes - like the CTA museum, if there is one.
This piece of Mail Art, uses random text, and 2 pieces of paper. So minimal.

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This one uses random tex & letters, plus two pieces of paper. So minimal.

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I decided that I needed to commemorate the chilly day, yesterday, with some autumn colors. My friend died leaving behind her box of colored paper. I decided that I'd use them, and my  own. I refuse to die with unused colored paper!!

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The paper is like Color-Aid brand but it was another name. I forget which. The paper has aged and is fragile. It marks easily so I have to be more careful with use of adhesives. I'm determined to use it all up.

 Here's Bizoo asleep in the chair in my temp studio area. He stretches out and is SO long. And his tail is like a lemur's, right?

This is the banana bread I made last week. I was planning to make a banana cake but grabbed the wrong recipe and it was too late to change once I'd started. It was quite tasty and had chocolate chips in it, but it was on the dry side, more like a bread, which is was. Next time, I'll be more mindful and make the cake version.