Tuesday Mail Art Plus

 This is Grace. When we were leaving the house this afternoon, we saw our neighbor with this dog. We asked if she'd gotten a dog but no, she'd just snagged this one who was alone, obviously lost, collar but no tags. We said we'd be back shortly and take the dog as the neighbor had to leave for work. When we got back, she was waiting for us.  Facebook and Craig's list had been posted to already. We exchanged phone numbers. I took this photo, put it on my Facebook page then went off on a walk about the neighborhood with the dog. I asked people, who were out, if they recognized the dog. I put up a couple of lost dog posters. The pup was happy in my yard and hanging out with us. Then I thought, oops, check Facebook, and sure enough - a message from the owner!  He said "I think you have my dog, Grace." I read that, turned to the dog and said "Grace, sit!" and she did. She was happy, all tail waggy, that we knew her name. There were 59 shares on Facebook - without Facebook, it would have taken a lot longer than 1 hour for Grace to be reunited with her humans. Hooray for social media. From now on, I think Grace will always be wearing her I.D. tags on her collar.

365.2 #192

Monday, I began this weeks series for my daily Mail Art. Two pieces a day.
I used Washi tape and circles for Monday. I flipped the circles, where they fell, I glued them.

365.2 #193

365.3 #43

365.3 #42

 Tuesday, I used squares and Washi tape, and flipped them, gluing where they landed.












I didn't move any of the circles or squares, but had to re-drop some that fell outside the boundaries (to state the obvious.)









For the text "fragile," "confidential," and "Priorité," I used my new rubber stamps.

Here's my treat to me, a Cavallini set of vintage postmarks and postal franks. I really like them. I can't wait to use the wavy lines on some of my faux postage stamps. Fun. And I re-discovered a couple of my fountain pens under a pile of stuff. They write nicely on my old topographic maps.

NOTE:  I read a column in my local newspaper by a man, who writes for the Dow Jones newswires, and he was saying that no one would miss the postal service if it was cut back to 3 days a week. I wrote him an e-mail (I did) saying I'd miss it as would many people that I know - Mail Artists and members of the Letter Writers Alliance, among others. I offered to send him some Mail Art if he'd send me a postal address. Well, guess what? Two days later, he e-mailed me his postal address! I sent him some mail art. Would you like to surprise him with mail? Let me know.

Sunday Mail Art catch up - my 365.3s

#39

#38

#40

#41

 These last cards in the series from this past week, are the ones that I labeled for my 365.3 series. A reminder: I doing two consecutive 365 projects. I'm so nuts from this.







However, I do feel that I'm challenging myself in a good way. Every Monday, I change directions. Terrified that I won't know what to do. Right now, I'm terrified, but I'll push through it and carry on.








I like that I'm using my old photo prints. My honey wants me to use the bigger prints and make them into collages. He's very encouraging. He says he'll get them framed, but I'm like: and then what? It's sweet that he's so positive of my work.







I really like this one. There's such action and the circles are floating in space so nicely. Do you have a favorite of this series? Let me know.

This is probably the earliest photo of me. I'm the baby. The little blondie. My sister is behind me and behind her is my aunt Ann. My father, oh so handsome guy, is to my left and the other woman to my right - maybe my aunt Ruth, or a family friend. We were on the neighbors's stoop, the house next to our apartment building in Chicago. My sister said that a dead body was found in the basement of that house.  That's all I know about that.

Sunday Mail Art catch up - my 365.2s

#189

#188

#190

#191

 These four cards are all made from prints of my photos of the New Jersey Turnpike.









My process - I punched out holes in the prints with various sized hole punches.











I filled the holes with other punched out circles. I like the play of the spatial relationships.












Like illustrations for a Science Fiction novel.

Here's one of the few photos that I have of myself as a baby. I was sitting on a chair in the park area in front of our apartment building. It was a boulevard, with wide grassy areas that we loved - our private playground. In the winter, the fathers would flood part of it, and it would freeze, and they'd flood it again, and it would freeze, until we had an amazing ice skating area. We'd skate on it after school and all weekends, never coming indoors until our toes felt frozen. What fun!

More Mid-week Mail Art +

#36

#187

 In this image you can see how my moving car photo captures the moving lights of other cars, but I have no idea what made that line in the sky! I had such fun with this series. Now I'm having added fun because of adding the inlaid circles.

#186

Here you can see more that this is the turnpike in that the road sign in the middle distance is clearer.











My favorite thing is when the lights create a lot of movement. The lights in the distance are a natural gas refinery, I think. This has turned out to be a fun series. Not serious, like the vintage paper series. What do you think? More playful, right?

 Here's the small Dalek confronting an unknown object.

This is a very cool chart from the Letter Writers Alliance, explaining the change in USPS rates.

Wednesday, already?

#184

#34

 These are the last of the vintage paper and map cards, for now. I followed my own rule and started to make a new series on Monday.










I used quotes from the Dalai Lama XIV and was happy with the reception when I posted them on Facebook.

The quotes have nothing to do with the images, totally unconnected except in the way that we make connections, ourselves, in any randomness. Know what I mean?



New stamps! I'm so happy that my new international forever stamps arrived in the mail, followed a day or so later, by the new postcard stamps - apples, illustrated by one of my favorite illustrators: John Burgoyne.

I don't mind the price hike. Still inexpensive for the service provided, getting my mail art out into the world.

185

When Monday arrived I had NO idea what to do for my next series. I pulled out a portfolio from under my work table and found a bunch of prints of my moving car photos - taken along the New Jersey turnpike several years ago.

#35

Okay, what can I do with these? I remembered how much I like the mail art card I received that had inlaid circles in it. I'd try that. I punched out circles in different sizes from the print. I then punched out circles of different colors and set them into the print. Very cool, inlaid circles. I like it. To get the full effect, one needs to see these in person. On the screen, hard to tell what's going on.

Here's the big salad that I made for dinner a few days ago. This is one of our favorite things to eat. 

More on Saturday, Mail Art plus

#181

 The quotes on the reverse of these cards are from the Dalai Lama XIV.

They have been very satisfying for me and seem to "resonate" with people.

The Lama surely knows what he's talking about!

#183

#182

#32

#33

For instance, the quote on this one:
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." 









And this one: "Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible."













The source of material for these cards is an old Paris guide book, VERY old, and old receipts for goods, that are also VERY old. I add the rubber stamp image, reproduction post marks.








With this one, I got daring, I broke the grid and angled the paper. It give the composition more action.

 This is a treat from my friend Dean, in Paris. I joined his banana group. I'm not sure what I'll do in the group but it's got to be banana related. Dean made this digital collage for me. How perfect that he lives somewhere that there are Mim stores.

This past week, I got a wonderful surprise. Mary E, a mail art buddy, sent me this gorgeous tiny tea cup, and an extra tiny saucer. It's just so gold and blue. I love it. Thanks, Mary!

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.