Friday Thoughts

I feel as if I'm back in kindergarten or Vacation Bible School, as I've experimented with Chinese brush painting, collage, painting on dictionary pages, etc.  I've made some postcards and made and/or decorated some envelopes.  My work space and floor and every surface in the room is covered with papers, works in progress, paints, pens, scraps of both paper and fabric, and other odd items.

What I love about mail art is that it doesn't have to be good or even well-thought out (a definite advantage for me).  It can be spontaneous, experimental,  something that simply lifts a generic envelope or postcard into something "a little bit more."  Playing with decorating envelopes or postcards offers a freedom from judgement which is so much fun. Not all of the resulting pieces are what I hoped for, of course, so it is mportant to keep in mind that playing is fun and that experimenting with techniques doesn't have to produce great art work ('cause that is never gonna happen with me).  If the process satisfies me, the product has to take second place.  

Some interesting letter and mail art sites:

A Photo Pool on Flickr where various mail artists post their creations
Another Flickr Group   I love the stamp heads
More Images  

Kikifaitsomeblog2
Letter Matters
Annie (freezeframe) -- does all kinds of cool crafting including mail art, cards, tags, and fabric postcards to die for

Thanks to all of you who emailed me addresses.  

I promise to mail you something in February, but 

**warning**

--don't expect the caliber of some of the above folks!

Here are a few places with good ideas for techniques, especially for art journals, but can be used in such a variety of ways:

Diana Trout
Roben-Marie
Dina Wakely