A rainy day in the studio

 Nothing like a rainy day to keep me indoors, so I cleaned off my work table a bit, organized the pens, pencils, papers, etc. and felt so energized that I made some mail art.

In #875, I used old French receipts given to me by a friend, and some old Paris map bits.

 #876 is another with the old paper bits. It feels terrific getting back to this play. I don't know where these will go yet but I've received so much mail over the past few months that I need to start reciprocating.

 While organizing, I decided to test all of my old Sharpie pens to see if they were still working. The test pieces was so happy looking that I decided it would make a nice piece of Mail Art for someone.  It's #877.

 The week before last, I went to picnic on the lawn of the State Capitol building. The weather was so perfect. Look at the beatiful sky! Our Capitol is famous because it was designed by Thomas Jefferson after the Maison Carre in Nimes, France. The side wings were added later. There is a terrific free tour of the building, which I recommend.

 My daily practice continues. I've moved ahead in the Hanon book and have added some short classical pieces.

I spotted this fabulous purple, sort of periwinkle color, gate around the corner. It'd been repainted while we were away and looks really good. Thanks, neighbors, for the visual treat!

Mail art Up date - 234 and 235 series

 I made a series of four cards out of a large board I'd covered with magazine photos and Washi tape. Yesterday, I cut out circles from the brochure about the Fabulous Faberge exhibit at our museum (VMFA.) I thought the cards were too busy for my taste, so I only added the circle to them, which gave each card a focal point.

 This is probably my favorite card of the series. You can see why, it's simpler than the others.

 I've always been fond of the letter "X" and wished my name had an "x" in it. But Mxm is like a date in Roman numbers and how would one pronounce that? Or Mimx, with a silent "x?" No, not working. But I do like "X."

 This circle came from a framed portrait of the Tsarevich, which was inside of an enamel and jeweled egg.

 Today, I thought about cold watermelon and picnics with a cool breeze under a shady tree! Not happening here. The water in the pool was so hot and it's predicted that we'll have temps over 100F. So I make cool mail art!

Another picnic card, a chill pound cake, a cool breeze, under a shady tree. I'm feeling the image.