Pandemic Pages and Projects

The Hobonichi Challenge for April is

an Alice in Wonderland theme. Above,

white roses painted red, and the White Rabbit.

Some mail art postcards

and a bunny for Easter on an envelope.

A very three dimensional Easter card, hand

delivered to the In-Laws.  Haven't been to visit 

my own parents yet as they are isolating.  Hoping

the weather will warm up soon so we can go

over and sit in lawn chairs in the yard to

visit with them!

There are so many cute memes on the 

internet, and I just have to steal one

sometimes. 'Steal like an artist' as they say.

Sketched daffodils from my yard for a

card to send.

I really adore the original illustrations for Alice 

in Wonderland done by Sir John Tenniel.  But 

of course Disney's versions are pretty amazing too!

Did you spot the coffee cups that I include on my

pages?  They are my contribution to 'T for Tuesday'

over at Altered Book Lover's blog. It's always 

nice to share tea, coffee, and some conversation

with good friends!

Above, a few text pages that I've watercolored and

drawn on.  I will probably tear them up and

use for collage.  What creative projects 

have you been working on?

Follow me on IG:

dbcarey_2000

Mail Art

Mail art received from Kristine

in Denmark! Beautiful green leaves

stenciled onto cardboard, then green

duct tape to create a sturdy envelope.

Inside was this beautiful dried leaf

with white painted dots, and a quote:

"Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead

has never watched them dancing

on a windy day."

~ Shia Tamir

So pretty, and just what I needed on the

winter day that I received it! Thank you Kristine!

In return, I've sent...

...yes, two envelopes. One inside the other.

Inspired by the style of Nick Bantock's art work

 from the book series "Griffin and Sabine."

Includes stamping, drawing, labels,

colored pencil, reinforcement circles,

and a bird image from an old magazine.

Postcard inside the second envelope

I love Bantock's seemingly random, exotic images

juxtaposed with each other.  Since I had 

used watercolors on this postcard, I knew

it wasn't safe to send through the mail 

system 'naked.' And getting to decorate a second

 envelope was fun too! Across the bottom

 of the postcard I used some images from my Ohio petroglyphs research, done for a

Fake Journal in 2013.

It's really fun to get art in the mail!

 I recommend it!

Back of postcard with images and faux postage

Joining up for T Tuesday,

a beverage and a chat...

 

 

Valentines

Valentine for my grandson~

modeled on a popular video game Halo figure.

Sharpie pen and watercolor.

This was a challenge, but really liked 

the way it turned out!

Valentine for my granddaughter~

she is taking tap/jazz dance lessons

for the first time, and loves it.  Sharpie

pen and watercolor.  The dancer's outfit

is pale pink, but doesn't show

 up very well on my monitor. 

Hope you have a colorful,

Happy Valentine's Day!

♥   ♥   ♥

T Tuesday: Tutorial

Black and white Halloween postcard

 collage on 4" x 6" cardboard.

Start by cutting scrap cardboard to 4" x 6".

Tear old book pages into strips.

Glue strips of text to the printed side of the cardboard.

I used Aileene's Tacky Glue, staggering the pages for

extra interest.

Trim around the edge of the postcard with scissors.

Paint over the text with gesso.  You can wipe off some

of the gesso with a paper napkin so more of the text

shows through. 

Use some paper scraps for the collage in colors that

you would like to use. I was going for a black and white

theme, so I used a limited palette. Scrapbook papers, 

painted papers, (as below) the inside of security envelopes,

and Dover clip art are all good choices for 

black and white designs.

The leaf on the right was from a Dover clip art book,

but you could draw or stamp one too.

I used a hair dryer to quickly dry the gesso.  I begin laying

out collage elements and moving them around to make

a pleasing arrangement.

I drew the vintage-style pumpkin myself.  These features

are pretty easy to imitate...

Notice the square of security envelope got moved up

to the top right corner, and more pieces of the painted 

paper were added to it.  It is usually a good idea to

repeat some motifs or shapes within the composition.

The leaf on the diagonal top left serves to lead your eye

into the composition.

Detail of the vintage style pumpkin, above.

"Jolly Halloween" was hand-written onto black

card stock in white gel pen.  You could certainly

stamp letters on strips of white paper and glue to 

black card stock, or even print them from

your computer.  To finish, I usually add some

pen work. Here I've added pen strokes behind

the pumpkin and behind the leaf.  I also added

an outline with a few curlicues around the 

outside edge of the card.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial with your 

tea (or beverage of choice) today.  Visit

Bluebeard and Elizabeth at 

Altered Book Lover, for Tuesday 'T.'

Stop by again soon for more

Halloween inspired fun!

Mail Art

I received this gorgeous card from Chris

over at Parabolic Muse.

It is full of juicy color, and wonderful texture,

and it's really beautiful! 

I love it!

Chris has been doing the Index-Card-a-Day

challenge also, so visit her to check out what

she's been up to.  Her writing is a hoot...er,

I mean, really fun, so stop by!

Here's the card that I sent Chris.  It has lots

of painted scraps of paper collaged on there,

and the man's photo is from an ephemera pack.

The crossword background is scrapbook paper.

Chris seemed surprised that I sent it through

the mail naked. Ahem, without an envelope.

(Aileen's Tacky Glue is great stuff!)

Chris put hers in an envelope with a lovely 

little Moo card...

I even got a kick out of the stamp

on the envelope...what's not to love 

about The Incredibles!?

I gotta say, it was so great to receive 

mail art that was actual art and

not a copy or reproduction.  I've had

that happen more than once.
Chris' card is going up on my inspiration wall~

It was a fun swap Chris, thanks!

Valentine Reprise

Some art postcards to 

celebrate Valentine's Day...

Made from cereal box cardboard,

watercolor doodle scraps, fabric and stitching.

 

Hope your day is full of fun

and the warmth of family and friends!

Mixed Media Postcards

Mixed media postcards 
from recycled cardboard,
fabric scraps, and
watercolor with pen.  

Mixed media postcards
and collage can be
created with almost
anything, and I
decided to use
some bright orange
masking tape in this
collage. I drew on it
with Sharpie pen.

Hearts were sewn
together before gluing to
the postcard, as was
the decorative stitching
with floss. Because the
watercolor papers
will run if gotten wet,
I will probably mail in
an envelope instead of
sending as a postcard.

Several pieces of fabric were stitched

together to make a rectangle, and then

the heart was cut out by folding in half

and cutting free-form.  Once I had 

several hearts made, I glued 

background fabric to 4" x 6" cardboard.

Then I arranged the fabric and paper

elements for the final collage.

I have seen beautiful fabric

postcards made with an assortment

of fabrics, fibers and stiffeners, 

all stitched together on the machine.

My love of fabric makes these

fabric collages a joy to create

and  to send!

To see more of my
mixed media postcards,
go HERE. 

Mail Art

FISH MAIL

Postcard created from recycled cardboard
with collage over the 'printed' side.
Collage created from cotton fabric,
scraps of handmade paper and an ad,
a scrap of watercolor and ink,
stamping, hand-drawn swirls,
and the canceled postage image.
An extra fine-point Sharpie marker will
write on almost anything, including fabric.

What is Mail Art?

Mail art is art which uses the postal system as a medium. The term mail art can refer to an individual message, the medium through which it is sent, or an artistic genre. Mail art is also known as postal art and is sometimes referred to as Correspondence/Mail Art (CMA).

Mail artists typically exchange ephemera in the form of illustrated letters, zines, rubber stamped, decorated or illustrated envelopes, artist trading cards, postcards, artistamps, faux postage, mail-interviews, naked mail, friendship books, decos, and three-dimensional objects.

An amorphous international mail art network, involving thousands of participants in over fifty countries, evolved between the 1950s and the 1990s. It was influenced by other movements, including Dada and Fluxus.

One theme in mail art is that of commerce-free exchange; early mail art was, in part, a snub of gallery art, juried shows, and exclusivity in art. A saying in the mail art movement is "senders receive", meaning that one must not expect mail art to be sent to oneself unless one is also actively participating in the movement.

Excerpted from Wikipedia on-line article.

MAKE (AND SEND) SOME MAIL ART TODAY!

Jolly Halloween Mail Art

Here is a postcard I sent to my friend Lou...her art is awesome and she shares her enthusiasm and joy of creating with everyone. Visit her blog at Metamorphosis.

****

Halloween is coming quickly and I'm looking forward to the Halloween Blog Party that I will be having on Oct. 26, 2008! Stop by to see Pumpkin Head Jack, an Egyptian party girl, Druids from the past, and other enticing goodies! It will be fun and I hope you will join in! If you would like to participate in the Soul Journal Halloween Blog Party on your blog, just click on the spooky red icon on the top right. I also recently visited a mysterious and extravagant blog party on Vanessa's site, and you can see the sights at A Fanciful Twist. Jolly Halloween!

Mail Art!

I love receiving Mail Art, and I was delighted to find this postcard from Diana in the midst of bills, advertisements, and political propaganda...so refreshing to find art when you least expect it! Diana creates beautiful dyed papers that she has for sale through her website, and I believe this postcard was created using some of her paper. I love the tiny white dots that she's added with gel pens...really makes the design POP! Thank you Diana.

Mail Art

This is a Halloween postcard sent to a friend in Artgang Ohio. We've had a great time sending art to each other in the mail, in many different forms. This Ohio artist's group gets together once a month to try out new techniques, and share what we've been working on with each other. On-line groups are great, but there's nothing like cementing a friendship face-to-face! We've had so much fun together and it's wonderful to be with people who actually "get it"--the mixed media art that we do! I knew Diana likes vintage Halloween, so I had a blast making this.