Clockwise from top left:
Bowling Bag with Hand Painted Shark by BrightWall
The Dude Abides Print by RighteousLens
Bowling in the Tropics fine art photo print by abcdimages
Tiny gun pin by deersnotdears'
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Company coming into town cancelled at the last minute, so I suddenly have a free weekend, and that is a luxury I do not take for granted.
Mail love is continuing beyond my expec-tations. When I got back from my little holiday last week, I had 16 - yes, that's S-I-X-T-E-E-N fabulous pieces of mail in my little postbox, and they have continued to arrive on a daily basis.
I have fallen into a happy exchange.
About a month ago I stumbled upon the book Good Mail Day while perusing the book store. The second I saw it, I KNEW I had to have it.
I remember the day I saw my first piece of mail art. I was in high school & at my friend Chris’ house. It was around the time of his birthday and I remember seeing an envelope that one of his mother’s friends sent to him. It was the most colorful, glorious envelope I had ever seen in my life. It was covered in hand-drawn candles and vibrant stickers with Chris’ name & address tucked into a scroll-y little frame. It was the epitome of happiness in paper. I just turned the envelope over & over, trying to burn to memory all the little details this woman had included to make Chris’ day a little more special. I was in awe. The fact that an a-d-u-l-t spent that kind of time and effort to make a simple envelope such a treat in itself was a new thing to me. The fact that the post office let her get away with it was an even bigger surprise - how was I to know at age 15 that such fun things were allowed in such a serious world.
It was that one envelope 20 years ago that has inspired me be imaginative with my mail ever since. I have long been decorating and making envelopes from various brochure, calendar and magazine pages but never got into sharing with kindred art-mail-souls. I shared them with my friends and relatives, but not a “community” of mail-lovers.
Sooo...back to Good Mail Day. One of the authors has a fun blog on which like-minded peeps have begun sharing their addresses to be mail-art-friends. I have sent out pieces to many people on the list and have been overwhelmed by the responses I am getting. I cannot describe the excitement I experienced the day I received my first piece of mail art. I seriously had a grin on my face for at least an hour and I felt like a little kid with the greatest treasure. I got the mail as I was running out the door to run a few errands and then jump on the subway to meet a friend for lunch. I kept the little plastic envelope in my hand as I did my various errands, I would turn it over & over, looking at it as I walked from place to place...but I did not open it. I wouldn’t let myself open it until I could sit down and give it the proper attention that it deserved. So, the moment I got on the subway, there was an open seat and I just sat down and went into a little world of my own as I slowly peeled away the tape closing the envelope and excitedly read the little note from Carolee.
I have been so amazed at the letters I’ve gotten too. I hadn’t thought about sitting down & writing proper letters, but am excited to have received some fun correspondence with women who have creative spirits.
So, looking back at my blog and thinking back to August, it's hard to believe that the wedding has come and gone. It was a beautiful exchange of love and friendship and I am so happy for Karolina & Carlos.
Many, many happy years to come to you both!
We're going into the 2nd week of the New Year & I am just now posting my New Year blog post, but hey, it's all good.
So, getting inspiration from my friend Melodie, I am listing my resolutions from 2009. I didn't do horribly, but hope I will do better this year with my goals.
I will list the two that are ALWAYS on my list - every year - first.
1) Read this list once a month: J_F_M_A_M_J_J_A_S_O_N_D. Um..less than 50% of the months...I read it in January, February, March, September & October.
2) Visit a new country: accomplished; Chile, Argentina & Brazil
3) Visit at least 12 new galleries or museums: I know there were more visit, but not necessarily new places...and only 4 were documented: Queens Museum, Warhol Museum, Carnegie Art Museum, Detreich Gallery.
4) Complete the Creative Entrepreneur book with all the journal exercises. Nope...maybe 1/2 way through it.
5) Create at least 52 postcards & document them on my blog. Well, from the sad, sad job of posting I did the better part of this year, we can all see that this did not happen.
6) Host at least 4 dinner or cocktail parties: I had 1...it's just a hard thing to do in a studio.
7) Participate in 2 juried exhibits. Hhm, I think I will put this one back on my list for 2010.
8) See at least 10 shows: Royal Family, Hedda Gabler, Mary Poppins, Polobolus, Groovaloo, Freedom, the Nutcracker & Klangforum Wien (Free Radicals). I think had I read this list on a regular basis, it would have motivated me to see more. Since I've left 35 years of age behind & am no longer eligible for $25 tickets thru hotix...that makes a difference too.
9) Go on 3 dates by March...hmmmm.
10) Successfully create & accomplish a group "creative trip to NYC" - why am I afraid of this?
11) Send at least 1 item with a publicity kit to 4 magazines...scared of this too.
So, I thought I had done pretty well until I just wrote these all out. I now realize that only ONE of those was completed in full. Wow...I think this might be a wake-up call to pay attention to life & each day...and to not just assume that I will be able to accomplish one or all of these "another day."
Tomorrow I will list my NEW list for 2010. Goodbye to this unfinished list...hello to so many new opportunities!
