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.  :-)

Marijane is a Graduation Girl

So my boyfriend's mom also just recently graduated with her Masters degree.  In their family the Junie B. Jones books are really big and there's one called Junie B. Jones is a Graduation Girl.  So Clay and his sister, Dana, wrote a Marijane is a Graduation Girl book! They did such an amazing job of mimicking the style and it is so damn hilarious.

I helped out by doing two illustrations for the book.  The  major plot point is that Marijane burns her graduation gown while ironing it. So here's that one:

And then I did one of Marijane:
 

Pencil and then watercolors.

Right now I just have my kids watercolor set, but I really don't mind. I have two easels at my parents house with oil paints and some nicer watercolors, but it always takes time to set up and feels so serious that it's more intimidating.  With these I just do stuff, and if it turns out nice it makes me happy.

Guilty...

Yes, I forgot to post before midnight again... Blogtoberfest is getting harder for me... But here I am up late!
Anyway, today was a good day.  I got a new issue of the USA Philatelic catalog in the mail and the Washington Capitals (my hockey team) creamed the Detroit Red Wings 7 to 1! And I ate dinner at Raisin' Canes, best fastfood in the world (Chick-fil-a is a contender though).  Also, my guilty pleasure, I downloaded Sims 3 the Pets expansion and I spent a few hours brushing my horse (I named her Rum) and training her to run races. :-) Maybe tomorrow I'll make a dog.

And here for your enjoyment is a postcard I painted at the end of the summer.

I named him Fat Dirty Panda.

Hula Hooper Extraordinaire

This is going out to one of my best friends, Abby.  She's a crazy amazing good hula-hooper. I can barely keep those things up off the ground.  She has made her own hula hoop because most of the ones sold are child-size.  Right now she's hanging out in Slab City, which is a really bizarre place.  It doesn't have any government services. She has to go to a nearby town to pick up her mail.  This is the second place she's been where the address is just "General Delivery" and then the town's name. She's the kind of person who likes to wander.

I think it would be too hot and dusty/sandy there for me, and I know I would miss having a nearby post office!

Here's a video of her dancing in Slab City.

And here's an amazing photo of a pick-up in Slab City. 

Who know's... maybe my friend has ridden in that!