Contrast

Comfort Zone

In and Out

My apologies to those mail art pals whose incoming mail doesn't get photographed and shown here.  When I get a bunch in one day I usually photograph it, but I don't gather up a bunch that have dribbled in over a few days to photograph at a later date.  I love it all, obviously, even though not all get shown on the blog.  Kind of like the huge number of blogs I follow, which is way more than those that appear on the list in my right sidebar.

Anyhow, these beauties above were received early this week.

And all these, among others not shown, were mailed out by me this week.

New Painting

I began this piece at my third painting class last Saturday, and finished it yesterday.  It's 9 x 12 inches on watercolor paper, with Golden fluid acrylics.  The first layer included some torn papers, most handpainted.  The black dots were applied with a Q-tip over stamped circles.

Make Yourself Happy

Less Is More

I'm doing some different (for me) collage work now, largely inspired by two new mixed media buddies of mine, John Arbuckle and Terry Garrett.  These guys are both collage gurus for me.

These first three pieces are postcard size and the background is a piece of scrape-painted paper.  Scrape painting is applying the paint with an old credit card, dragging the paint across the surface.

The two above, also postcard size, have as a background a very old original collage of mine that I over painted and textured a couple years ago.

These ATCs began with a small piece of watercolor paper painted several months ago and cut to size yesterday.

I'm enjoying this less-is-more approach to collage and plan to continue on in this vein for a while.  At this point I don't plan to send any of this group of cards to anybody. 

Second Bloom

This is my scarlet epiphyllum, now in its second bloom.  Magnificent, isn't it.  See the pink plant's flowers here.

I don't know whether they'll always bloom twice a year, maybe they just had a lot of oomph this first year of blooming.  The second blooms on both plants, though, are far lovelier than the first flowers they put out a couple months ago.

Went to my last of three painting classes on Saturday and now I'm gearing up to paint!  Also to do some printing on paper again.

Welcome to autumn!  Our weather on the North Coast changed right on schedule, with rain the last few days...still, I know we'll have warmer temps again for a while.  The air and light have begun to speak fall, though.  Enjoy it ~ autumn is my favorite time of year.

Interface With Art

Going Postal

Couldn't help myself -- had to make another batch of postal ATCs this week.  I'm done now, for a while.

New to You

I haven't previously posted images of this additional "line" of mail art postcards that I've been creating for a few months.  I made these yesterday, though, so decided it was time to put them out there.

I call these my art-culture-politics cards.  They 4-1/2 x 6-1/2 inches in size, mounted on recycled cardboard that the post office sends when I order stamps online.  Images from art magazines and the occasional "cultural" magazines I get from the library's free box ~ including Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and a few others.

The cards don't necessary mean anything or have pithy messages, although often they do.  Mostly I just like putting words and images together and you, the reader, can draw your own conclusion.

Wordless

In the Wind

This mail art outgoing from the last couple days...

Over the Weekend

I mentioned that I was taking a painting class in Eureka...I painted this collage at the class on Saturday.  The only things I did at home following the workshop were highlighting the stenciled alphanumerics on the Gelli printed scrap, and painting the entire piece with clear matte glaze.

Although some of my art journal pages use magazine images of women (an only-recent addition for me) and occasionally "things," my M.O. is definitely more abstract.  I'd rather focus on subjective design, line, texture, pattern, color, now brush strokes.  Perhaps this is an indication, in its way, that I am more comfortable with ambiguity than I used to be.  Ambiguity, and controlled chaos, uncertainty, enigma.  Such as life becomes, increasingly with time.

Uncharted Territory

Swaps & Exchanges

I was inspired yesterday to create a new batch of postal ATCs.  I'll be tucking these inside mail art postings to my correspondents and penpals.  After two rounds of multi-person exchanges, I realized that I much prefer one-on-one swaps and exchanges with regular pen friends.  But often the ideas generated by the multi-swap blogs are so cool, that I decided to use some of those ideas to generate ATCs and postcards for my personal use and/or to keep. 

Perfect Storm

Gifts

I confess to being somewhat of a "plant nerd," especially for certain plants in a specific corner of the plant kingdom ~ namely zygocactus (Christmas or Easter cactus) and epiphyllum.  There was a time when I had maybe a dozen varieties of zygos, but not any more.

Several years ago a neighbor gave me two 2" nubs off a couple of her epiphyllums (nerds call them epis), and now I've got two awesome, albeit weather beaten, plants growing outside.  This is the first year they've bloomed, and each is in its second bloom cycle for the year.

These pink flowers are on one plant.  The other, scarlet, will bloom in the next few days and I'll be sure to get a photo.

I love other cacti as well, and have a few.  The one in the background of the second photo is a variety of euphobria, but it took me years (I've grown this variety since 1988) to identify because its growth habits are quite a bit different than more common euphorbs.  Anyhow, when they get too big to keep inside any longer, they get moved outside.  It doesn't get all that cold here in the winter, and they're all in a place that's protected from potential frost, which is rare here.  And, they actually do better outside.  Who'd a thunk.

I made this birthday book for a dear friend in Washington who turns 60 this month.  Another friend had given me this book she was recycling, I pulled the innards out, put in new pages, and rebound it.

The cover, spine and endpapers were so glorious that I kept them all intact.  The book is 6 x 6 inches (I think -- I forgot to measure it before sending it off), has two signatures, and is bound with the Lightning Bolt stitch.

Happy Birthday (next week) to Jeannie!

Painting Happens

I finished this painting yesterday.  It was originally one of the collage studies I did circa Jane Davies' DVD several months ago.  Prior to yesterday I had only brayered titanium buff over the handmade paper.  The piece is 11 x 7.5 inches, watercolor paper.

And here's the "new" studio.  Late in the afternoon yesterday I set up my computer on my sewing table on the west-facing wall of this room (paint studio table is on south-facing wall), so whether or not my computer stays on during the day now is anyone's guess.  I do work in spurts, though, that's my modus operandi, and I usually go online during my interstitial moments.  So I'm not overly concerned about wasting a lot of time.

Anyway, with everything now set up and ready for me to paint, I have little in the way of excuses to fall back on other than procrastination.

Mysteries and Solutions

The mystery mail art I posted on Friday was claimed ~ blog pal and artist Jeanne Aird had shown my blog posts about mail art to her hubby, and HE mailed me those wonderful stamps! 

Yesterday I spent time in my former art quilting studio, turning it into a painting studio...which didn't mean much more than moving paint, acrylic media, brushes, books and a few other things from my mixed media studio into the other room.  The work space is much larger here (my laptop temporarily resides here when I'm not amidst projects), I have more room to spread out and breathe. 

And the big bonus is that now I'll shut my computer off and put it away during the day instead of having it on and checking it (especially Facebook) routinely throughout the day because I'm not involved in other pursuits that require the use of this studio table!

Who knows ~ maybe I'll even paint today...once I get over my initial fear/hesitation/procastination to begin.

Someplace New

Surprise, Surprise

Received this anonymously yesterday.  All I know for certain is that it was mailed in Santa Barbara, CA.  The only thing inside the envelope was two half sheets of blank card stock.

Did one of you send it to me?  Please comment and let me know.  And incidentally, I absolutely love it!

Mailed Recently

 Mail recently posted, to points near and far

The Blind Man

Graphic & Quirky

Gelli Envies

I had a stack of Gelli offprints that I'd put aside to become art journal background pages.  I'm midway through my second art journal with these pages, Little Gems Too, and ready for something else...like blank pages.  Although I am committed to completing the current art journal, I turned most of my remaining stock of offprints into mail art envelopes.  The last few prints have gone into my handmade paper collage drawer, as have most of my early regular prints (not offprints/brayer and stencil cleanings).

The envies have different prints on the inside, so each will be a special treat for the recipient.  One good thing about using stuff up is that creates room for more new work.