Postal Trout

Jessica Gowling at Nature's My Friend put together a collaborative project dear to her heart.

The idea is for participants to use the trout as a tool to inject something natural back into a man-made and urbanized space, so that the power of nature and animals can again be a part of the lives of those roaming within the urban landscape.

 I was lucky enough to be a recipient of one of these fish and set out to find a good home for him. I don't think there's a more accurate description of 'man-made and urbanized space' than the suburbs. While the 'burbs aren't everyone's cup of tea, I love where I'm living and this particular town embraces nature much more than other areas.

I noticed that my local post box could use a little touch of nature. For selfish reasons I also liked the idea of having him close by so I can check up on him and see people's reactions once he's been spotted. I was also hoping he'd be the good luck charm to forgo a postal strike... but I guess he's not a powerful enough charm.

... J

Mail Art Monday

I was beginning to feel as though nearly all my posts were about mail art. Not that that's a bad thing, but I want to diversify and make sure I'm writing about other projects. So, I'll save up the posts for every Monday and show what I've received and what has arrived at its destination.

INCOMING

This past week I was the proud recipient of a sweet little package from Katie Whittington. Katie is a printmaker and textile designer in the U.K. I found her via Anika on Twitter and was instantly intrigued by her Doilie drawing. I love finding blogs in which I suddenly find myself on the 10th page and desperately want to keep exploring. I noticed her I wanted to tell you page in which she left her contact information in order to exchange mail art. I am often shy when it comes to asking for an exchange, especially from individuals who's art I admire. I'm glad I sucked it up and went for it, because look at the beautiful package she sent to me:

The Goods:

- A felt Chihuahua who needed a name. I have named him Frederique. Actually, he told me his name was Frederique and I wasn't to shorten it to anything silly like Fred or, God forbid, Freddie.

- A postcard with a pair of very dignified looking deer. She mentioned she was sad to part with it, so I'm honoured she felt as though I would give it a good home.

- A bag of buttons for a button swap because I mentioned in a comment that I have similar childhood memories of rooting through my mother's button jar.

- A star applique as well as a piece of silkscreened fabric and a magazine clipping, both containing a lot of pink. It's true, I do love hot pink.


OUTGOING

Sumi Senthi told me on Twitter that she was feeling a little sad that her mail offerings were consisting of bills and other not so fun items. I remedied this by telling her I'd send her a little something to brighten her day.

I started our art conversation with a clipping from the New Yorker depicting a woman at a thrift sale, sunning herself. It had a very spring-like feel to me when I spotted it. I included at mixed media piece of a watercolour and stamp cut-out squid on an ink background. A set of sparkling butterfly stickers, an origami crane and a 'woody's' cut out round off the package. I will readily admit to being so immature that I find it hilarious that I am sending my mail art friends 'woody's' in the post. 

... J

A Happy Accident

I've been ogling the cityscapes, large bowls and sketchbook drawings of Russelle Adams, who runs Heedless Ceramics, for nearly a year. Recently, she sent me this lovely ceramic pin as a thank you for consistently commenting on her Facebook page.

 

I wanted to send her a little thank you mail art gift as a reply and put together a small package. I felt particularly inspired by my cork stamps one night and made a set of four small prints.

Wheat, eraser stamp.

Water, cork stamp.

Bamboo, cork stamp.

Tomato, cork stamp.

I also included a colour print from a children's book and a pressed leaf from my garden. I wrapped the leaf in some green foil origami paper and the postal system created another piece of art. The leaf left the most delicate and beautiful impression on the foil. Heedless wrote a nice post about my package and included a photo of the happy mail art accident.

Inspired by my wheat print, she created an animated gif just for me.

That Goofy-Giddy Mail Art Feeling

When I walk across the street to get the mail and find a mail art package I am giddy. There may be some jumpy-claps involved and I invariably have a large, goofy smile on my face while I'm opening the letter. I get the same kind of goofy-giddy feeling when I find out someone has received my letter and it makes their day a little bit happier.

I recently received a very prompt reply from Michelle Ashton in response to the letter I sent her a short time ago.



My spoiling included postcards of buildings, map, letter & building stickers, a few sheets with green and blue washes of colour, some cute bear images and one of her photographs of a side street in Belgium.

On a related side note, the picture of Belgium reminds me of the lady I saw when we were there. She was walking along the cobblestone streets with one, 4" heel and one, knee-to-toe cast. I will forever have the impression that Belgian women are SERIOUS about their footwear.

I can't remember if I mentioned in my letter to her that I adore typography. If I did, she put together some perfect items and if I didn't, she read my mind (or maybe, blog) and knew exactly what I love. It's impossible for me to pick just one element that I love the most, but I think it's a close race between the colourful building stickers and the map-star stickers.

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I took a bit longer to put together Jessica Gowling's response to this sexy-epic package. I wanted to make her a few special items I'd been thinking about lately.

I created a set of four postcards with pictures from my grandmother's antique globe. I used an image transfer method to get the photos onto thick, textured watercolour paper and to give it a worn and weathered look. I included a cutout from an old children's book that was rescued from the garbage and a few stickers to add to her collection. Lastly, a little veggie propaganda art in which I'm forcing her dislike of mushrooms against my (great) dislike of brussels sprouts. On the back I wrote:

"In the epic battle of brussels sprouts vs mushrooms, who will win? The one that grows in poo or the one that smells like farts?"

I really like the way the veggie-propaganda turned out and I think I might work on a small zine with that theme in mind. I shall distribute it to the masses to rally against the evil, foul-tasting sprout!


Sending and receiving all this amazing mail art reminds me that I need to get crack-a-lacking on the large cork board I have planned for my studio. I want them to be out on display and right in front of me while I work so I can keep that giddy feeling around as long as possible.


... J