Tidying Up

As of Friday, I had a pretty messy work space and a stack of mail to attend to (yes, a very nice problem). Saturday evening, I found myself alone for the night, so spent that evening and the next morning playing catch up. Collaging, writing, scanning, etc. It nice to have some devoted time and the space to make a mess (in various rooms). I had a stack of sign language cards parents use to teach pre-verbal children which were about the perfect size for small collages/postcards, so that's what I focussed on for the most part.

This was one of my first experiments with packing tape transfers and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Not sure how it will stand up over time though, considering that this kind of tape eventually becomes brittle and cracks. Perhaps I should seal them with matte medium? 

Another packing tape transfer experiment. 

This might be my favourite of the lot. I used an image from this great podiatry book my sister gave me for Christmas. (She knows me so well.)  It was serendipity that the word "foot" lined up with the pig's feet. 

More serendipity. I had already started this one with an image I had cut from an old issue of New Scientist and then I found the mail art call for "Cradle of Cosmonauts." You just have to go with those things. 

Weekend catch up: awards and art

It's a very rainy weekend, so I've been making lists, crossing things off said list, and playing a bit in the "studio." (Sounds fancier than it is.) I'm just a week back from another holiday in the US, but this time I took my husband. We toodled down the Washington and Oregon coasts as far as Tillamook and then headed inland to Troutdale (had a surreal evening - St. Patrick's Day as it turns out - at Edgefield) and then Portland. The way home was via the Columbia Gorge and wine country. It was a wonderful, relaxing week, full of poking around and great discoveries. The only stressful point was nearing the craziness of Seattle rush hour on a Friday afternoon at the start of spring break. That's when our plan to just explore with no plans hit a snag. But, all in all, it was a success. I had a few collage/mail art scores and even had time to finally learn about "gelli printing" (printing on a gelatin plate) during a course at collage in Portland. I resisted the urge to run out and get all of the supplies as I am wont to do. I have more than enough art supplies to deal with at the moment, but it's definitely something I'll explore more later.

I've been scanning away, trying to capture some of the goodness arriving in my mail box. First though, I did get a nice piece of electronic mail a few weeks ago when I learned from my publisher at Kids Can Press, that Planet Ark has been short-listed for a "Green Book Award" from The Nature Generation.

Envelope made of a page from a typewriter manual, washi tape, slide holders with vintage typography. 

I'm very curious to see how this one makes it through the mail. I've been wanting to play around with the plastic "sleeves" for slides and after finding a box of them, I took it as a sign. Here's the reverse of that envelope.

I thought this envelope was the perfect one to hold a strip of stamps Canadian authors that I've been holding on to for a long time. 

Here is some other mail art that I made while on our trip. It was a bit random, using bits and pieces I found along the way. And I made pretty good use of the pharmacy label dispenser I scored on the first day of the holiday at an antique mall in Port Angeles. Be prepared for lots of "May Cause Drowsiness" stickers.

My beloved chimeras yet again. 

And I've received some nice pieces lately as well.

A wonderful chicken-themed envelope from Pamela (she of the Cappuccino and Art Journal, which you really should follow.)
It also included a lovely, newsy type-written note from Pamela, so that was a real treat. 

These are the two stamp head ATCs I received from the swap Karen organized over at Mail Me Some Art. 

(Update: I realize I neglected to identify the artists. Bad form. The ATC on the left comes from Jo Murray in Australia, who I seem to be connecting with on all sorts of fronts. And the card on the right comes from Michele in Alexandrai, Virginia. Thanks you two!)

And more birds from Jennifer via a mail art swap on Swap Bot. This was a very cheerful surprise to receive. 

The reverse. 

From Petropetal in South Africa. 

Finally, here are two outgoing collages.

Out to Beth. Book cover (Call of the Wild), paper bag (the red dots), graph paper, vintage map,
vintage image of a mosquito larvae, printed on tissue paper. 

Outgoing to Australia for a collage swap I'm part of. Not sure about this one. I like the vintage wallpaper (the stripes) and the map and
partial raincoat-clad child, but I'm not over the moon with all the pink. Trying to use up some of the many things I've been receiving through ephemera swaps. Pink it not usually my go-to colour, so this took me outside my usual palette. 

Enough for today. It's looking like more rain, so we'll see what I get up to with my scissors and glue stick today.

Bird on a B (plus bananas and art)

Yes, I put a bird on it. But this bird is on a nice red B and it's winging its way to the next person in the collage swap I'm part of.  I have to say that there is something about a bird on a collage. I'm not quite sure what it is - the shape, the colours, or the fact that they naturally perch on things? Not sure, but, for now, I'm going with it.

I recently picked up Nick Bantock's The Trickster's Hat, which is full of great activities that help ones get over themselves and their fear of putting something on the page. (At least I hope so; it's been good so far! The subtitle is hopeful: A Mischievous Apprenticeship in Creativity.) One of the exercises had you playing around with letters, which is when I realized the beauty of cutting letters in half. Be prepared for more of that.

Recently, I also did a few more grid collages for Karen over at Mail Me Some Art. I wasn't super happy with the way a couple of the ones I made turned out (I called them the Washi Wall of Shame #1 and #2, but I worried that the washi tape on a naked postcard wouldn't withstand the postal system) so I replaced them with these, which used up some of the gazillion stamps I have of Queen Liz:

I also received some nice mail art over the past few weeks. Here are a few pieces:

Thanks, Stacy. I don't get called adorable too often! 

A stunner from Richard Baudet of Marseilles.The envelope is made of wallpaper. 

And I keep meaning to do a post on Ex Postal Facto, but realize I didn't really capture it very well in pictures. I'll post a few things from time to time, but here is the custom cancellation from the event. (When in doubt, mail things to yourself.)

Finally, one of the things that mail artists get up to is to have slightly random (or not) calls for mail art around a particular theme. One that came up on the International Union of Mail Artists was a call for banana-themed mail art in time for International Banana Day (who knew?). So, I played along. So far, one of my envelopes has arrived at its destination. You can see if here on Rebecca Guyver's great blog, The Postal Ledger. Mine is the second image down on this post.

There's lots more to write about, including a few scores I found yesterday when, on a whim, I went to a postal stamp exhibit and show, but I'll spare you - oh, anonymous readers - for now.

Par "Avian" and other things of questionable worth

After a few weeks of constant posting, there was a bit of radio silence around here. I was off in San Francisco having a bit too much fun. More on that later, but let's just say I was here, attending Ex Postal Facto, being inspired and making new friends. I'll eventually get around to doing a post on it, but, for now, head on over to Pamela at Cappuccino and Art Journal and Donovan at the Letter Writers' Alliance (who I missed saying hi to!; boo) for their report on the weekend. For now, here's a bit of in and out from my office.

A new rubber stamp: "par avian." Clearly, I am easily amused.

 I think I will re-do this as the ink isn't picking up that smoothly, but I love the play on par avion.

Outgoing collage for the next person in the collage circle that I'm part of.

Grid paper, shorthand textbook, Japanese text, rubber stamp, tissue transfer, map and other bits.

Envelope for collage: side 1. This is a page from an old stamp album (with a new fish stamp.) 

Envelope for collage: side 2. 

Mail art to my new friend, Pam. Side 1. 

Mail art to Pam, side 2. 

Mail art to a swap-bot friend, Amy.

Mail art to Jennie, who organized Ex Postal Facto. Bits of used envelope. (Not entirely happy with how this turned, out so she might be getting a follow up.)

Mail art to Karen. These images from an old dictionary just cracked me up.

Weekend Wrap-up: incoming and outgoing

It was a good mail week.

Collage from Rachel Fontenot (part of my collage circle)

Outgoing to Sandy (collage circle)

On honour of the 40th anniversary of The Beatles playing on Ed Sullivan, a Beatle's envelope for Sandy. 

From Moan Lisa (front)

From Moan Lisa (back)

Outgoing to Miranda in The Netherlands

Incoming from Reyna in New Mexico 

Retro Rainbow Olympic Rings

It seems that Canada was on the cutting edge of making a statement about "putting the rainbow in the Olympics" (although I don't think that the rainbow imagery had the same gravitas 38 years ago when this stamp was produced for the 1976 summer Olympics in Montreal).

Found in the stamp collection I started as a child and have been hauling around for decades.

Garbage Grids

Karen over at Mail Me Some Art, posts some interesting challenges (like those stamp heads!). Another one that caught my eye was to play around with grids. When I've done grids in the past, I've spent a lot of time cutting perfect (or perfect-ish) squares. This challenge came at the same time I was soaking a lot of my stamps from their paper backing. Suddenly that paper backing started to look really interesting to me, so I started playing around with also those little bits of "garbage." Here's what resulted.

Slightly Random Round-up

A few upcoming events and things that caught my eye:

If you live in British Columbia, particularly if you're close to Vancouver, and you are interested in writing for children, mark March 10 on your calendar. That day, several talented artists and illustrators from CWILL-BC (the Children's Writers and Illustrators of BC) will be holding a workshop with lots of tips on the industry. And on March 8, there's Serendipity, an event put on the the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable. This wonderful event brings together writers, illustrators, publishers, bloggers, all with a shared passion for children's literature.  This year, Caldecott award winning illustrator, Paul Zelinsky, will be presenting as will be Canadian writers, Arthur Slade (winner of the Governor General's award for children's fiction) and Hadley Dyer, who just recently won the Children's Information Book award.

Who knew there was such a thing as a Rubber Stamp Archive?

There are (hundreds) more female writers on the Canadian lit scene than Atwood, Shields and Munro (obviously), but CBC gives us a list of 10 Canadian women you need to read. It's a great start. (Especially Ania Szado.)

And dust off your fountain pens, pull out that stationery you've been hoarding, February is A Month of Letters. The idea is to send out at least one letter or card a day. I had a pretty high volume in January, so I'll try to keep up the pace.

And would another country (or planet?) please take these jokers off our hands?

A Triptyph

I didn't realize it until now, but I have a theme (if you can call two days in a row a theme) going - pie charts. These pie charts come from my bank report showing the progress on my RRSPs. I pretty much ignored the details, but was drawn to the colours in the pie charts. I originally was using them as heads on bodies, but it wasn't working for me. So, back to transparencies, tissue and all sorts of background papers.

Ephemera Pie Chart

I had pie charts on the brain and was also keen to use some smaller bits of ephemera. So, here's an ephemera pie chart in primary colours (+ green).

Pie Chart, 2014 

What the heck is mail art?

If you've wound up here wanting to know more about writing for children (or adults for that matter), publishing, my books or other work, you may be wondering what's up. As I wrote a month or so ago, my spare time has been filled more with collage than with writing (other than letters). So, for now, I'm just going with it, curious to see where it will lead. Mail art - and more letter writing, which I've been trying to do as well - is a natural extension of collage. If you're wondering about mail art, here is a video primer.

London Calling

A little collage. I'm loving this odd creature, which is an image from The Garden of Earthly Delights, ca. 1500. The map of London is from an old atlas and I started with the image of this creature marching along the river. I then found the image of London, taken by a Landsat satellite and was very pleased to see the colours were of a similar palette. Throw in some rubber stamps, tissue paper and a French stamp and, voila - London Calling.

London Calling

Outgoing: Bull's Eye

Part of the collage circle. For the next person on my list to keep or give away for Valentine's Day.

Bull's Eye

Materials used: tissue paper, scan on tracing paper, dry cleaning tag (?), vintage book (Tom Sawyer), origami paper.