My desk

I said a while ago that I was trying to draw and paint more. Well here is a drawing from back in July of part of my desk.  The lamp on the left is actually much larger in person. My scale is all wrong. I have my little cat letter holder, which is always stuffed with things to reply to. A polka dot tin with ink pads inside for rubber stamps, and a jar with washi tape inside. Missing in this artistic rendition is all the crap that accumulates!

Getting back to drawing

Yesterday I had a very fruitful internet dally... I'm going to lift a few lines off of something Tara over at dactyl life posted yesterday:

"I've been really into sending quality mail lately. It's super easy to stray away from packing an envelope full of random paper bits, weird stickers, zines and other oddities. I find that the more things I stuff into an envelope, the more I fall in love with sending mail." 

There certainly is a thrill in getting an envelope packed with bits and pieces.

I know the feeling Tara is talking about. I enjoy sending out any mail, but I feel sometimes like I'm not giving it what I could.  Like I'm stuck in the routine of making an envelope out of some page of a book, adding a label, some washi tape and a stamp and I'm done.* I sometimes feel like washi tape is a crutch.

There was a time when I would sketch on my mail frequently. I miss drawing.

Drawing makes me feel at peace when I'm doing it, and filled with accomplishment and pride when I'm finished.

With more time on my hands now that it's summer I've been wanting to get back to drawing, but just wasn't managing to get out the materials and get on it.

Yesterday I found a lovely trail of inspiration: 

Mary England of Uncustomary Art posted on facebook about this self love bible by Caylee Grey. And that linked to Mary's self love bible. And that linked to Marielle's self love bible.

I explored her blog a bit and found this:

Illustrate your love history

"The challenge: Every day, illustrate an experience you've shared with a loved one."

This idea excited me so much! It was just the impetus I needed to get out my watercolors and start sketching.

I made this this morning:

I'm really happy with how it turned out. Yes the line drawing is a little wonky, but I always find that when you add watercolors things just magically become cute.

I'm really looking forward to continuing with this series. It has a very social aspect to it that I like a lot. I personally am drawn to artwork (get it? heh heh) that is social- mail art being a very important part!

These sketches are in a notebook, but I'm also looking forward to starting to sketch and watercolor more on my mailart.


*Also I want to say that in my words above, I am not disparaging anyone's letters, envelopes or mailart. All mail is good mail!! I just missed drawing and have felt like I'm in a mail art rut of sameness.  :-)

Pepe the King Prawn!!

A letter from my cousin Aaron.  Enjoy his awesome drawings. :-D

Midnight Posting for Blogtoberfest

So, it's a few minutes after midnight here in Boston, but I think this totally still counts as posting for today. After all it's only 11 something where my parents live in Wisconsin.

Today I enjoyed some delicious yellow curry with chicken and pineapples at one of my favorite Thai places here. I sat outside in the crisp air while I ate. Perfect.
I think that's a habit I gained in France.

For your viewing pleasure, a drawing from an awesome penpal I received a week or so ago:

She's 11 years old!

This is what I sent her back:

I hope she likes Halloween as much as I do! This is only my 2nd letter to her, so I don't know much about her yet, but I do know that she likes Harry Potter.  So I sent her a witchy card. :-)

Hope you had a great mail day today!

Snow White

Sent & Received mail from a Snow White Mail Art Swap

Received: A Buxom Lass

 I especially like how she used an apple as the O in Snow White.

Sent:

and the back, printed image colored with colored pencils.

Office Mail

Okay, so since it's holi-no-mail-day, here's a second post for you to enjoy!!

This past year my boyfriend was in AmeriCorps and worked at a non-profit here in Boston.
As the year went on I got to know his co-workers pretty well since it was a very small organization. I even ended up sending some mailart to them at their office!

Below is one of the pieces I sent.

On the right is a piece based on lyrics from a Magnetic Fields song: "Love is wrapped around my heart like a boa constrictor babe."

And on the left is an ad for a super delicious beer. As you can see, it is blueberry flavored, BUT it is a dark beer!! I LOVE darker beers; stouts and porters are my favorite, and this one was amazing. I was able to try it at the American Craft Beer Fest that took place in Boston this summer. I got the ad there too.

 

This was sent to a fellow Magnetic Fields and beer fan.

*

I also sent a letter from Wisconsin to one of Clay's co-workers who grew up there. You can see it in this post. (first photo)

A hand drawn postcard went to a ginger lover in the office.

Yes, I meant the spice... not redheads.

But I have nothing against redheads- I even wanted to be one thanks to Anne of Green Gables. :-D

And finally, sent to the boyfriend himself, and inspired from a post I saw a lonnng time ago on Pintrest:

There was actually one more piece that I sent to the office, but I forgot to take a picture of it. Sorry.

Looking forward to mail tomorrow!!!

Old Sketchbook ---> Mailart

Not too long ago I found an old sketchbook of mine and decided to turn it into some mailart and send it to my parents.  The first photo is of an unfinished sketch I did of my cat, Cotty. He passed away about a year and a half ago. You can see his photo in this post. His leg was broken when he was a kitten, and it healed straight.  Despite being unable to bend that leg, he lived outdoors, was quite the hunter and was able to climb trees. He lived to age 19.

The envelope was made from a sketch I did of the field in Wisconsin where my horse and the mules grazed.  After feeding the animals, I would lean against the shed and look out at this field and our neighbor's barn and scratch Cotty.  These sketches have a lot of meaning for me because they are tied to memories of my animals.