Deconstruction

I've been stockpiling bits of old books - endpapers and covers, primarily - so finally concentrated on just using them in some collage. (I've been finding random piles of bits of papers, which is how I usually work, a bit overwhelming lately, so have been experimenting with limiting the palette or material in some way helpful.) Here are the results:

Monoprints!

Karen, who masterfully runs Mail Me Some Art (aka MMSA), has these great challenges that help me stretch my artistic muscles (for what they're worth). A recent swap was to make postcards out of mono printed papers. I took a course on using gel plates at Collage, when I was in Portland, and I'd been thinking of finally getting my own plate. So…this challenge spurred me to do just that.

The first round I just used one colour and played around with different papers, some stencils and printing one colour on top of another colour. Then I watched a great video from Jane Davies, Masking with the Gel Plate, and I had an "aha moment" (really more like a "duh" moment) when I saw her put daubes of different colours on the plate and then smoosh them together.  SO much more interesting.

Here's a bit of what I got up to. There are four postcards for the swap and then some Jane Davies-inspired pieces using masks.

Studio Weekend

I had a nice stretch of time at the art table this past weekend. I did some collaging, wrote some letters and postcards, and even started playing with my gelli plate. (There is a lot to learn there!) For the record (if, for me only!) here's a bit of the production:

Nick Bantock's book, The Tricker's Hat, has put me on to cutting numbers and letters in half. And I love that weird little bear (?) stamp I picked up at Urban Source in Vancouver. 

Simpler than I usually go, but I like it. Less fussy...

This was becoming a bit of a mess, but I think I salvaged it with the tattooed man and "mail this." 

The white dot on this one is an actual hole, so we'll see how it does in the postal system. Back to the use of stencils with tissue layered on top. I like the abstractness (is that a word?) of this one.  

This envelope cracks me up. I had a whack of these portraits of Canadian prime ministers (and the Queen, of course), so I superimposed their heads on the page of an old year book. Plus, I added a few new portraits of Canadian writers. 

Gelli plate flies, made by my daughter. 

Where Does The Rainbow End...

"Donde termina el arco iris en tu alma o en al horizonte?"

"Where does the rainbow end, in your soul or on the horizon?"

- Pablo Neruda

I snapped a picture of the rainbow "book" before the wind blew it off the railing. Taken from the deck of my office at work. (I know, I suffer so.) 

I had been fiddling around with some ideas to respond to the mail art call from Dame Mailarta. The mail art call was, simply, Rainbow to "celebrate the changes that have been achieved, and are still being fought for, as they relate to human rights, marriage equality, and the LGBT community."

I had been wanting to do a bigger project and with Pamela's timely post that sent me to a blog on making books, I played around with this accordion book. The seams are a little rough in places, but overall I'm pleased with how it turned out. 

Then I got busy sorting my papers into all the colours of the rainbow. Here are some closer views. 

Violet and the end paper with Neruda's quote on rainbows.

Covers. Not sure about the "tower" of Queen Elizabeth.

I raided my stamp stash for rainbow-ish stamps. 

Wednesday Round-Up

Another Wednesday Round-up on Thursday. Hmmm. Maybe that wasn't such a great idea. It's been a busy week filled with various things. Some mail-, art-, or writing-related, but also a whole lot of just getting through a week in July! It's all good. I'm off for a few days of music and friends in the sun, but here's a bit of what's been going through my post office box.

From ever-faithful and so distinctive, Guido in Belgium. 

Cascadia Artpost is celebrating the fact that Test Tower is moving. Wouldn't it be great if all change of address notices looked like this? Love the artistamp. 

From Stefano in Rome. His half of the mail art exchange related to signs of the Zodiac. 

The other side of Stefano's card. I am Capricorn (just). 

A collage for no one in particular. 

My card off to Guido. A bit simpler than I usually do, but I didn't want to mess with the crazy man. 

More from Test Tower. Call me spoiled. 

All hail, Heebee Jeebeeland! What can I say? Is this fantastic or what? 

This one was off to Kansas. 

More collage to no one in particular. Love that book of old Royal Bank of Canada cheques I picked up at a thrift store. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of it! 

Wednesday Round Up

Last week I did the "Wednesday" round-up on Tuesday so this week I will post it on Thursday. Keep you guessing. It's been a slow mail week. Well, a pathetic show of mail received (ahem), but I've been sending a lot out. Other than a letter from ever faithful Guido, which I have yet to scan, there's been nothing other than bills, which is a bit discouraging given my output. I live in eternal hope, however, and I do get a lot of joy out of sending. I did several small collages last weekend as we were on another quick road trip. I commandeered the back seat and was happy with my scissors and glue stick (well, not so happy when we were stuck in traffic because of an accident and I'd run out of card stock). It's great when your teenagers are able to drive. Really. It is.

Here are a few of those collages:

I haven't sent this one out yet. I probably need to send it to someone I know or someone who will not get twisted out of shape because of the odd little creature with the fairly large "appendage." If you'd like it, email me or leave a comment with your address and it's yours! (Offer good for one week. No takers by next Thursday and I'll decide where it goes.)

This is a new style for me. I made a few layers with different bits of tissue then gave it a mask of gesso. The top layers include packing tape image transfers and a few rubber stamps I cut. 

Wednesday Round Up

Rather than bore you all with random pics of mail art - what's been coming and going through the Tofino post office - perhaps I'll start a once-a-week round up. I had a pretty productive weekend, but other than a pic on Instagram (toughcitywriter), I didn't record them. Here are a few that I did, however:

Above and below, very distinctive mail art from Stan Askew. Loving the use of stamps and stamps (rubber and postage).

Above and below. This is outgoing to Spain. It was in response to a mail art contact who wanted to exchange art related to zodiacs. He's a Sagittarius and I'm Capricorn (but just barely, on the cusp of Sagittarius), so I had a bit of fun with this and cut a few new rubber stamps as well. It was great to have a good excuse to use the Canada Post Signs of the Zodiac stamp series.

This just in from Pamela in San Francisco. Always happy to receive her creative mail and great letters. I must say that although I do enjoy receiving mail and art from other mail artists, it is nice to actually make some connections with people who are like-minded. So thank you for the letters, Pamela!

Above and below from Cascadia Artpost, maker of stunning artistamps. All of those flowers are his designs. And this included a packet of flower seeds, too. Very nice and timely for spring and gardening. 

And I made this for a mail art call at the Lackman Library in Kansas. It was fun to finally use one of the endpapers - complete with circulation slot - from one of the discarded library books I have lying around. This one is from the school just down the road.

And it's always nice to see that my art makes it through. Here are a few posts on received mail: Heebee Jeebeeland, Frips Mail Art, Glenrosa Journeys and Goop Mail Art.