My Sketchbook & My Mail Art

#159 - this is the 159th day of my 365.2 Mail Art project.

The quote on the reverse is - "Nothing stands still except in our memory." Philippa Pearce

 Card #160 is another of Chuck Scalin's assemblage photos, altered with only the man. I'm almost ready to stop this series for awhile. Almost. Quote on reverse -
"Memory is the diary we all carry with us." Oscar Wilde

#9

 I feel fortunate to have discovered this woman in my pile of scraps. She's so lovely.  Story on reverse - Florrie's serene and gentle nature reminded eeryone in Tiny Town that they, too, could feel the same way."

 #10 I wasn't sure how the baseball would work. The addition of the shadow on the street helped. I used a soft graphite for the shadow. On the reverse - "The residents of Tiny Town were understandably perturbed by the nearness of a new baseball field."

These low number cards are part of my 365.3 Mail Art project.

The next three images are the cover and two of the double page spreads from my Sketchbook project for the Brooklyn Art Library.

Mom's Day & Mail Art catch up

#156

This is my Mom, Estelle. She was in her 20s I think when this was taken. I love this photo of her and use it as my photo on my Etsy shop. On 19 January, she'll be 99 years old. Wow. If you'd like to send her a card, let me know and I'll give you an address. It's be so cool if she got lots
 of cards.

#157

#158

 I'm enjoying finding quotes for my cards.
#156 "It is strange how we hold on to the pieces of the past while we wait for our futures." Ally Condie

#157 "The one charm of the past is that it is the past." Oscar Wilde

#158 "Do not well in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." Buddha

#06

#07

 For Tiny Town, I write little stories. #06 - Visiting Tiny Town was a special treat for Henri, who had learned early not to breathe too heavily, cough, or sneeze during these visits.






#07 - It became obvious what dessert would be at the Tiny Town community dinner that night.


#08 - Paulette had several points of view on every subject. The residents of Tiny Town preferred that she visit infrequently.





I amuse myself with these pieces of Mail Art. Are there any other stories that you can come up with? I'm open for any ideas.

#08

Making - my faorite thing!

 I love to make things, simple as that. I'm a maker, like my mother before me. Now that the weather is cooler, I've started to knit again.

I love yarn, as my mother before me. The yarn shop with it's shelves full of colors and textures is so comfortable, and exciting.

And I sold a number of my mitts at the holiday craft pop-up shop this December, which is satisfying.  Now, I've added a few pairs to my Etsy shop.

 I used Noro Japanese yarn for the mitts in the first photo.

The bright red mitts are made using yarn from Michigan.

And the gray and green striped ones are yarn from Peru.

 Now that I know how to carry yarn when changing colors to make stripes, I want to keep doing them. I'm going to make some mixed color mitts next. Might turn out good, might not, we shall see.

Speaking of seeing, you can see my mitts as they are in the shop HERE.

Here's another of my honey's Evidence Box postcards altered by Me with only one addition - a bronze woman.
Here's the quote on the reverse - "A mind at peace, a mind centered, and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe." Wayne Dyer

This card is for day #155 of my 365.2 project.

This card is another in the Tiny Town series. Day #5 of 365.3

On the reverse - For Tiny town residents, the raven was, usually, the harbinger of good, not bad, news.

Am I having fun making stuff? You bet!

I can't believe it...

 This beautiful piece of glass was created by Harvey Littleton. He literally invented the idea of artists being able to make glass works. Before Harvey, artists designed glass pieces but they were made in factories by glass blowers. He started the first University program ever in glass blowing. He taught many of the famous glass artists, including Dale Chilhuly. There is an exhibit of his work at The Visual Arts Center in Richmond, VA.

 I'm continuing my crazy two for one daily Mail Art projects. This is card #153 (day 153 of project 1) which is an alteration with the addition of the head, to a postcard of my honey's art piece, Evidence Box. The quote on the reverse: " My gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." Albert Einstein

 This is #02 (project 2) Another day in Tiny Town. The reverse: Helene went to Tiny town intent on buying some of their (mini) pastries, which she'd heard were divine.

 Card #03 (project 2) Reverse - The crate appeared, mysteriously, the big concern of Tiny Town residents: Who was going to take it away.

 Card #154. I'm really fond of the way that this turned out. I like the way the hand , which I cut out of a catalog, really looks like it's holding/placing the match book on top of the number cards. It really changes the spatial aspect of this piece. Reverse quote:
"Nothing is really lost to us as long as we remember it." L.M. Montgomery. Do you know this author?

 Another Tiny Town visitor. Card #04. The reverse - Laverne's warm smile and pleasant demeanor made her a welcome visitor to Tiny Town.

Day #152 of project 1 was yet another alteration of one of my honey's images. I only added the figure. The quote on the reverse: " What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that's gone forever, impossible to reproduce." Karl Lagerfeld


I'm enjoying altering these cards with just one addition. I can change space, scale, concept, etc. How cool is that?

Into the new year

 On New Year's day, we went to TWO open house parties. What fun. We met up with old friends, and met new people, spoke in French and in Spanish, drank eggnog and ate home made gravlax. A good way to start the new year, no?

 For New Year's eve, I made tiny salmon/tuna cakes. Tiny, a mouthful. They were quite tasty and now my honey thinks that this is the size that I should make them always. Okay. I can do that.

 And this is the 151st card that I made for my 2nd 365 Mail Art project. "Cheers for a new year and another chance for us to get it right" Oprah Winfrey - this is the quote on the reverse.

 And I have, crazy though it seems even to me, started 365.3 - yes a third year of one-a-day. This is card #1 of the year. I pulled out the rest of the "Tiny Town" cards to alter, since I haven't made any of these for awhile. Here's what I wrote on the reverse: The residents of Tiny Town were fond of birds, but when the enormous goose showed upon New Year's day, all they could think of was - "Yum!"

 Here's the holiday gift that I received from N. Incredible! This is so amazing! Do you know the musician Beck? Well, this is his new "album."  You have to make the music yourself in order to hear it. How amazing is this?! This "box" opens up to 20 pieces of sheet music, which is for the piano with guitar chords. See more here. Now to get busy learning this music.

As a Mail Artist, I appreciate stamps very much. Here's the newest USPS commemorative, which was issued yesterday. I ordered some last week as I couldn't wait for them to arrive at my local post office branch. This is the billboard that was in Times Square (NYC.) The stamp is letter press done by Hatch Show Print. 

Some holiday memories and last Mail Art of the year.

Rhea's snowflake

#150

 We had a winter's Solstice party and this is Rhea's snowflake. I really like it very much. Julie brought origami paper and it was the best for this activity. I didn't remember how to fold snowflakes - thank goodness for the internet, where I found a tutorial. What fun. Make some of these. You'll like it.











Today is the 150th day since I started another 365 Mail Art project. I'm thinking of starting a 3rd tomorrow along with a new group at Andy's Mail Art 365. I'm still not sure about this but am leaning towards doing it - that means 2 cards a day, and 2 record keeping booklets. Yes, I keep a record of cards made and to whom I've sent them; except, when I forget like with #100! dang.

 Our friend Greig Leach, a fabulous artist, has been making 12 Days of Christmas cards for the past 10 years. We are lucky recipients of them. Eventually, I'll make an accordian book with them so I can display them together. They are wonderful. Aren't we lucky to be on their Christmas mailing list?

 These are praline cookies. They were crispier than I thought they'd be, but yum good. I'll be posting the recipe on my recipe blog later today.

 I'm back to knitting. I sold several pairs of mitts at a small craft market this season. I only put one pair in my Etsy shop, but am busy making more of them. This is a wool yarn from Michigan, USA. Christmas Red is the color name. Soft and warm. I made 3 pairs in this color cause I liked it so much.  I've bought some new yarn from my fave shop, The Yarn Lounge.

 We spent Christmas day with our niece and nephew, watching Young Frankenstein and eating. Our nephew made us his famously delicious deviled eggs, tinted for the season. Here he is displaying them on one of his many deviled egg dishes. He has quite a collection of them.

 We had a gift exchange at our book club last night. My son got MY name. How fun is that!? He gave me such a cool  gift.
This little put together Dalek character, for instance, shown here with peanut for scale.
Dalek tries to obliterate a peanut!

 But here is the main gift - a salt and pepper shaker set. The Tardis is the salt and the Dalek is the pepper. How cute is this? Okay, come out and tell me if you are a Dr. Who fan.

Do I have fun or what?

Catching up on Mail Art & a fun something to see.

#144a

 I'd been saving this wonderful tea pouring hostess for a good background and found it in one of my husband's assemblage cards. He's made lots of cards of his images and the first batch wasn't to his liking so he was going to discard them. HAH! No, please "donate" them to me, I'll alter them! I think this one worked out perfectly. Oh can I stand it!? When something turns out so good, I just love it!



Last week, I began a series of minimal, 3 bits only, cards.

#145

#146

I added quotes to them -

#145 "To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour."  William Blake



"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice." Baruch Spinoza

#147

149

##148

 "You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings." Pearl Buck

#144

"If you want peace, work for Justice."
Henry Louis Mencken











"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Martin Luther King












"You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will live as one." John Lennon

#143

This vintage vehicle is parked on a side street off of Monument avenue and every Christmas it's embellished with lights, objects, and inside Santa! A wild sight to behold and we appreciate it's fun presence.








"Can I see another's woe and not be in sorrow, too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?"
William Blake


What to do as the new year approaches? I'll surprise myself, no doubt. What about you? What will you make?