So much to catch up on - so many days have gone by -

 Last Thursday, at my book club meeting at VMFA, a storm headed our way. I looked out the window and saw this! Amazing looking, right. Then the wind picked up and the furniture on the patio started to slide past, and the big,heavy glass doors, blew open! Whoa! Then the rain started. It was very dramatic.

 Here's my friend Andy, in the U.K. He won't mind my posting this photo which shows Richmond on Thames, sister city to my city - there it is, listed on the bottom. Thanks Andy.

#279

 These altered cards are part of my Landscape Beautification Project mail art. I've had such fun with these. I write fun caption and make myself laugh.

#280

#281

 I haven't written the captions for these two but the one for #279 is "Andy Warhol's print of Chairman Mao would have caused a problem if the residents had known who he was. They thought it was simply a portrait of a Chinese man. Though they did wonder by it was located along this road.

#129

This one is interesting to me because I can't tell what the image in the painting is. I've looked at it with magnification and I still can't tell. But it looks nice along this section of the highway.

#130

#131

This painting was difficult to place. It's at such an extreme angle that I thought I'd have to discard it. Then this idea worked and I was happy at how it fit in.
"The Landscape Beautification Project was pleased to be able to locate a painting so that it could e seen by both entering and exiting traffic. Reminders to keep your eyes on the road were also posted."


The languid young man and his dog were perfect for the canal's calm beauty.

I've gone through the Architectural Digest magazines several times to make sure that I've gotten all the usable images of paintings. I hope I have enough!

Catching up on Mail Art.

Mail Art, some baby stuff, and a weather-gram.

 My friend Andrea in the U.K. makes these super weather-grams and she sent one to me. I hung it on the bush by my front door, where I, also, hung a pine cone given to me a couple years ago by one of my tiny neighbors.  Andrea's fun site is Found-Art. Check it out and see what she's up to.

 I did it, I made a baby sweater. I haven't made one of these in a loooong time. The pattern is from 1986, the size is for a 6 month old baby, and I used cotton yarn from Greece. I'm so happy with how it turned out. Now to wait a bit and see a baby in it!

365.2 #277

I was so happy to find a perfect match for this pier. It was just the right angle and subject matter. 

365.2 #278

I'm feeling fortunate to find so many small paintings that are at angles so that I can fit them into a landscape. I have to sort through many of them to find just the right shape to get the effect of a large painting in the landscape.

365.3 #127

The colors for this rough river scene made it a good match for this painting. I was going to add a shadow behind it, but there were no distinct shadows in the image, so I let it be.

3653 #128

This rocky outcropping presented a bit of a problem until I found a painting with coloration at the bottom of the frame that fit exactly with the shaows on the rock. Amazing! Perfect. Again, I didn't add any shadows behind the painting, before scanning it. I may add them now.

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. 

New Mail Art and more tiny-ness

365.2 #272

365.2 #273

 Oh I'm just on a roll with my landscape alterations. What a good way to use the vintage postcards, right? It's been fun looking for images of paintings that are in the right perspective to fit along the roadways.







I'm seeing this as a highway beautification project. Instead of wildflowers, large paintings!

365.3 #122

365.3 #123

Imagine how startling this would be in reality.











This is one of my more successful ones, I think. I have several more of this particular view. It's quite a boring postcard, really, when you think about it. Who would find this strip of road and view particularly interesting. The painting definitely improves the view.

 What a surprise in the mail last week. A Mail Art friend in Texas sent me this book. I'd seen some of the photos and now I have my very own "album" of them. I love them - tiny people in settings. The opposite of Tiny Town! And fun text to go with the images, too. Thanks heaps to Limner.

Here's another surprise. We were going through boxes stored in the area above our bedroom closet and found one box with some clothing from when our "kids" were kids. Isn't this tiny shirt adorable?  Hopefully, another little kid will be wearing it in a couple years.

Thanks for voting for the kitten's name. There seems to be a landslide so far for Bizoo. Keep the votes coming.

Oh, No, I forgot to post this - Monday Mail Art - Out of Order

 This is the little kitten that I'm going to get after 13 May. It's so cute! I was going to call it Neblina, because of the description I'd gotten, but when I saw this photo, it didn't look very neblinosa. So I'm thinking of another name. Several have been suggested so far. This is my survey: here's the list and if you favor one in particular, let me know. Neblina, Bizoo, Zayfar, Nariz, Aziz, Chairman Miaou, Benefit, Xu Ling (after Xu Bing), Feliz, Tampoco, Punto Com, Paquito, and Sonar. The list could get bigger, but any input would be appreciated.

365.2 #269

 I made myself laugh by placing large paintings into landscapes. Can you imagine a giant painting on the roadside instead of some advertising billboard?  Of course, this postcard is of the Blue Ridge Parkway (with a section not completed) which would never have a billboard on it of any kind.

365.3 #119

The painting by the side of the evergreen lined road, which is in Washington state, would be a real jolt to the motorist. This is a tourist route, no trucks allowed.
Oh these do amuse me.

Structures and Mail Art

  I'm very fond of old timey factory smoke stacks. This one is on Hull Street across from ArtWorks. Quite impressive. I don't know the factory that it's attached to, however.

 This structure is across from Plant Zero and can be seen from Hull St. I don't know what it's used for as I've never seen anything being done on it, but I like it and see it as a large sculpture. The electric wires, pole, and lights add to it.

365.2 #270

365.3 #120

 More circles and Washi tape in these pieces of Mail Art. My default when I can't find any images that I like. Actually, I'm running low on images and need to get some old magazines, then I need to spend some time cutting things out.

365.3 #121

These two pieces of Mail art use only 2 pieces of paper for the collage. I cut up an abstract expressionist painting, and these were the scraps left from the main image that I cut out. I decided that I liked the random shapes. These make me want to paint again, for some reason.

365.2 #271

I'm using a coated white cardstock background for these pieces. It's necessary to use a strong adhesive for them. I've been using Pioneer glue stick and it works well.