Picasso's Eyes

This one on the way to Germany for a mail art call with the theme Homage to Picasso. I thought it would be appropriate to remember Picasso’s lesser-known, Googly Eye Period.  It all happened after a wild night of drinking with Salvador Dali.

Río Cuale

Río Cuale 
7”x9”, mixed media on paper
From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

 

Window Seat

Window Seat
7”x9”, mixed media on paper
From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

 

Radio Waves

Radio

7”x9”, mixed media on paper

From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

Rich Soil

Rich Soil

7”x9”, mixed media on paper

From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

Rust Belt

Rust Belt

7”x9”, mixed media on paper
From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

Flower Garden

Flower Garden
7”x9”, mixed media on paper
From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

Wheat Fields

Wheat Fields

7”x9”, mixed media on paper
From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper. 

Seaside Village

Seaside Village

7”x9”, mixed media on paper

From a new series exploring the patterns and color palettes I have been working with for many years.  This time using watercolor, ink and pencil on paper.

Airmail Stickers

Sadly, the USPS no longer issues airmail stickers for our overseas mail.   Technically they are not necessary, but that should not deter any artists who send mail art.  I designed my own airmail rubber stamp for the California Post.  And I know many artists are making their own stickers.  A call came from dystatic in Canada to send a batch of mail art stickers.   She collects them and then redistributes them to participating artists.  An envelope full of artists stamps, mail art stickers and other goodies was waiting for me at the post office the other day.   I am inspired to make more.  Check out her blog if you want to participate.  

October Mail

After a long trip it is always good to get back home.  And the visit to the post office to empty out the box was another treat.  A whole pile of mail was waiting for me and more keeps arriving.  Kathy Barnett’s latest piece is hanging on my door to scare visitors and I am glad to see more responses to the Fluxus High School Yearbook as well.   The mail art shown here includes:

1. MiM – Virginia
2. e. coles – England 
3. Jürgen Greissbach – Germany 
4. Meral Agar – Turkey 
5. Lynne Buckner – California
6. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
7. Dori Singh – California 
8. Fleur Helsingor – California
9. Margo Hill – California
10. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
11. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
12. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
13. Peter Müller – Germany
14.  Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
15. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
16. Lynne Buckner – California
17. Jenny Soup – Oregon 
18. Ryosuke Cohen – Japan

A Book of Dreams - The Sketchbook Project

In 2021 I filled up book for the The Sketchbook Project  hosted by the Brooklyn Art Library.   Sadly, 7,000 sketch books did not survive a fire when they were being moved to a new location (mine was okay).  You can visit the library in St. Petersburg, Florida.
 
You also view my book in the digital library here. 

Mail Art Made in Mexico

While spending a few weeks down in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico I did this new series of 30, hand-painted postcards inspired by the view from where I was staying.   Overlooking the Isla del Río Cuale (the island in the small river that flows along the Emiliano Zapata District).

In the past I have sent mail art directly from Mexico, but it tends to take weeks.  Plus, the mail box I have used in the past (see photo) seems to be closed.   Plus, back in San Francisco, I had an opportunity to use the USPS’s Mariachi Stamps.

Murals in Mexico

 I always enjoy the murals and street art when I am down in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Mail Art from Ukraine 🇺🇦

Nowadays it is reassuring to see mail art arrive from Ukraine.  The latest piece from Lubomyr Tymkiv was in the post office box this week.  Check out his blog (also glad to see The Artist in Seine has made a visit from Paris to Lviv).

Summer of Fog

My latest artist stamp that I am adding along with regular postage to my outgoing mail. Commemorating our foggy summer and of course Sutro Tower.

Summerful Mail

There has been plenty of fun and fabulous pieces of mail art arriving all summer.   Prints, postcards, artist stamps and more movable pieces from Kathy Barnett.  I need to make a video one day of her work. This is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
2. Morgan – Canada 
3. Peter Müller – Germany
4. Eberhard Janke - Germany
5. Richard Baudet – France 
6. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
7. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
8. Jennifer Utter – California
9. Fleur Helsingor – California
10. Pamela Gerard (California)
11. Margo Hill – California
12. Serse Luigetti – Italy

Post-Folk Art — Ukraine 🇺🇦

For over 20 years, textiles have inspired much of my mixed media artwork.  Since 2017, I have been working on my post-folk art series.  Painting paper and using color palettes from Polish and Kashubian Folk Art.  Next, I cut up the paper and reassemble the pieces in collages.  I have wanted to explore the Ukrainian side of my Eastern European heritage.  This call for mail art for work based on Ukrainian embroidery immediately inspired me.

Fluxus High School

What better way to spend a lazy summer afternoon than going through your school yearbook.  Or for me, cutting up some old yearbooks and making about 200 Artist Trading Cards (ATCS) to send out for a new series for the Fluxus High School Yearbook.

June Mail

The postal box has been full every week when I head up to Clayton Street.  June has been a good month for mail art.   There was even some mystery mail from Portland, Oregon. No idea who sent it, but I do love it — and it so happens I am currently working on collages with old yearbooks myself.   Here is a list of the artists shown here:  

1. Lynne Buckner – California
2. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
3. William Mellott – Taiwan 
4. Dori Singh – California 
5. Fleur Helsingor – California
6. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
7. Jerome Jacobs – California 
8. Meral Agar – Turkey 
9. Marina Salmaso – Denmark
10. Katerina Nikoltsou - Greece
11. The Sticker Dude – New York 
12. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
13. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
14. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
15. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
16. Anonymous – Oregon 

Mail Art Book #1

There is a finite amount of space in my archive boxes, but I strive to save all the mail art I receive.  Many artists include various ephemera, stickers, and other materials with their mail art.  Things I might use in pieces I create myself.  Many of the envelopes are works of art in themselves.   Starting in January 2020 I began to use much of this material for a new artist book.  I repurposed a large coffee table book that cost a dollar at a library sale of donated and books.   Two and a half years later, the 140 pages are all filled up.   Here are some photos of the completed book of mail art.
Soon I will start filling the next book.

Painting and Mailing the Oaks

 The Oak Woodlands are one of my favorite spots in Golden Gate Park.  One of the few spots in the park that looks much like the land did before the park was developed.  There is no gift shop and no postcards, so I have made a series of my own.  I was tempted to protect these hand-painted cards by sending them in envelopes.  But part of the risk and magic of mail art is letting what may happen in postal transit happen.

A Home in Oakland

A Home in Oakland, mixed media, painted paper on board, 12”x12”

I won’t say I am too proud to make art to match the sofa, but in this example, it is much more fun to use a palette that captures the essence of my friends’ home.