Conflict

As with any project, after the initial flood of ideas and the newness wears off, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up the creative momentium. I found this mailart project to be more difficult and time consuming than I had imagined. To create 32 postcards in a month was a challenge. I put in at least 4 or 5 hours of studio time a day just to make sure I would meet the deadline. I have a feeling that my biggest stumbling block was taking the whole project too seriously. I approached each card as a minature artwork and had no problem reworking them, if necessary. Getting them out of the house and into the mail became an important way for me to move on to the next ones.

Flight

This card was created from relief prints that were reconfigured and pen and ink detail were added.

Top: Sentry - Bottom:Trio

Vortex

Base card is a lithographic proof with found collage elements & press type added.

Apparition

Playing around with heavier stock applied to an intaglio print. Netting and a twig were added. Hopefully it will make it through the system in one piece.

Top: Patriot - Bottom: Tin Soldier

Two more "tin men" have appeared. They are a combination of found magazine images and proofs from a linoleum print.

If I Only Had a Heart

Found proofs of some relief prints I had done of "tin can" men. I had crushed soda cans and worked up drawings for linoleum prints. To me, the flattened cans looked like torsos & the pull tabs represented heads. I'm thinking about doing more with this imagery in some new prints.

Woven

In this one, I cut a print into strips and wove them through the main image; playing off of the weaving a bird does when creating his nest.

Oh My

One more with mannequins. Fun combining magazine images with prints.

So Mant Cards, So Little Time

The twitter mail art project continues. The challenge for this week is to regroup, clean up the studio a bit and start fresh on the last dozen postcards. It is turning out to be more challenging than expected. 32 postcards in 30 days (deadline July 1st) does seem a little daunting and my personal challenge is to maintain quality when dealing with quantity.

An unexpected problem is that this project is turning out to be very time consuming so deadlines for other projects are looming and the pressure is on.

Motivation: Beauty... the fun of trying to get it down... the fun of trying to get better. (David Leffel)

Nothing spurs creativity more than a deadline. (Mary E. Whitehill)

Migration

Part of a larger relief print embellished with rubber stamp images.

Temple

More collage elements adhered over cropped intaglio proof.

1. Lone Bird - 2. Turmoil - 3. Quilt - 4. Security

These 4 cards were created from nest imagery. Proofs were cut up, rearranged, added to and in one case, stitched with needlepoint thread. Interesting to see how the original image is altered first by cropping and then by selected additions.

Wound

This piece has netting & stitching. I'm curious to see how it survives the mailing process.

20 Mailed

Sent 20 postcards on Saturday morning. Found out that it costs 27 cents to mail in US but just under a dollar to send a postcard to Canada or the British Isles. Good thing I checked with the postmaster before I just tossed them all in the mailbox. I'm really looking forward to receiving my first #mailart postcar. Maybe today?

Waistland, Wasteland

Played around with some more mannequin proofs and ended up with "Waist Land/Waste Land".

Top: Sticks & Stones - Middle: Guarded - Bottom: Fragile

My main goal with the mailart project was to try and use proofs, from my original prints, in different configurations; to see what could be achieved by cutting, pasting, adding collage materials from magazines and found objects and simply rearranging images.

There are mini series emerging as the work progresses. These 3 cards were created from a piece entitled "Vulnerability" which was based on the old rhyme, "sticks & stones may break my bones ...". The new pieces seem to have a darker feel to them than the original print.

Red

Using another bird image, from a lithographic proof, I decided to play around with minimal color; keep the card simple but eye catching.

At The End of the Day

Time to call it a day and try to wash all of the acrylic medium off of my fingers. I'm using acrylic gel to adhere the images and giving them a thin coat of acrylic matte medium for a little bit of protection. Now, to clean up the studio or not .... NOT. This is messy inspiration.

Feathered Nest

Decided to get daring and add some thicker collage elements. This may go through the mail in one piece - I hope. The maximum thickness for a postcard is a quarter inch.