Yosemite Falls

 Yosemite Falls inspired my latest hand-carved rubber stamps for a new mail art series to celebrate the holidays.   

Welcomed Home by Mail Art

After a few weeks in the tropics, I was welcomed by all sorts of mail art treats in my post office box.  This is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Lubomyr Tymkiv - Ukraine
2. MiM – Virginia
3. Sabela Baña – Spain 
4. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
5. The Sticker Dude – New York 
6. Sally Wassink – California 
7. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
8. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
9. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
10. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California

Ticket! Ticket!

 In May 1986 I was living in St. Gallen, Switzerland. I took a day trip to Schaffhausen and decided to keep the train ticket.   Recently I sent it to Jack Latteman at Cascadia Artpost for Series 12 of the “Ticket! Ticket!”collaborative mail art project.  Very excited to receive the sheet of artist stamps in the mail.

A watched pot, or is it a watched P.O. Box, never boils?

Go out of town for a week and when you come back the post office box is overflowing.  I even had to wait at the counter to pick up the overflow.  All sorts of mail art including incredible artist stamps and a new, handmade, artists book of Ryosuke Cohen’s Brain Cells too.  Amazing!  This is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Peter Müller – Germany
2. Fleur Helsingor – California
3. Pamela Gerard (California)
4. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
5. Artist in Seine (aka Dean Marks) – France 
6. Birgitta Jonnson – Sweden
7. Heather Ferguson – California
8. Matt Ferranto – New York 
9. The Sticker Dude – New York 
10. Nancy Bodkin – California 
11. Keiichi Nakamura – Japan
12. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
13. Jack Latteman - Cascadia Artpost – Oregon 
14. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
15. Jürgen Greissbach – Germany 
16. Ryosuke Cohen – Japan
17. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 

The Colors of the Dahlia Dell

 

All summer long I keeping stopping by the Dahlia Dell.  It is right next to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.  Each week the flowers are bigger and bigger and exploding with more and more colors.   They have inspired my art before, and this year I wanted to use the palette for this latest piece in my ongoing Lines and Color Series. 

Ukrainian Summer Mail and More

Very excited to receive some reproduction/stickers of Ukrainian stamps from Mindaugas Žuromskas this month.  And good to see mail is getting through from the Ukraine as well.  As summer winds down, here is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
2. Lubomyr Tymkiv - Ukraine
3. Jennifer Utter – California 
4. Carolyn Oord (aka Kerosene) – Québec/Canada
5. Patti Wren – California
6. Margo Hill – California
7. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
8. Lynne Buckner – California
9. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
10. Eberhard Janke – Germany
11. Jen Bee – California
12. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
13. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
14. Sabela Baña – Spain 

KART

Just received issue #127 of the assembly zine KART from David Dellafiora in Australia.  It includes my Ukrainian sunflower rubber stamp series.  

Making your own Souvenirs

 A new hand carved rubber stamp for some San Francisco, Victorian postcards.

A Small Artist Book

I have been creating artist books for several years.  Often, I start with an old book that I repurpose with collage and paint directly onto the pages.  This is the smallest book I’ve done so far.  Starting not with a book, but an expired passport.   
This little book tells a story.  The passport belonged to my grandmother who travelled the world more than many people I have known.  Growing up, I knew no one who travelled like she did.   She was a department store buyer who made frequent trips to California, New York, Hong Kong, and Europe.   As a child this was just grandma’s job to me.   I knew it was a bit unusual but as an adult, I started to understand how extraordinary it was for a woman born in 1919 to have that kind of career.   She also played the more traditional grandmother roles with ease — no one made a better apple pie than she did.

Summerful Mail

 

When I take my summer walks and stop by the post office, I have been finding some good stuff waiting for me every time this summer.  Here is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
2. Peter Müller – Germany
3. Nancy Bodkin – California
4. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
5. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
6. MiM – Virginia
7. Patti Wren – California
8. Keiichi Nakamura – Japan
9. Fleur Helsingor – California
10. Pier Roberto Bassi – Italy 
11. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
12. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
13. Andrea Grimes – California 
14. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
15. Jean-Phillippe Gilliot – Belgium 
16. William Mellott – Taiwan 
17. Sabela Baña – Spain 
18. The Sticker Dude – New York 

I came for the smell and I stayed for the color…

Last week, while the U.S. celebrated Independence Day, here in San Francisco we also celebrated the blooming of the Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum) at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.   It was the worth the wait in line to get a whiff and have a look.   The day I saw the flower, it was no longer especially pungent.   What struck me is how big and beautiful it really is.   The color is an incredible rusty, blood red.  I was inspired to capture the palette with this latest piece in my ongoing Lines and Color Series. 

Happy Birthday Sutro Tower

Sutro Tower is 50 years old, and it is time to celebrate our favorite “locals only” landmark. It gives us TV and radio signals, and one day will be used as the docking port for the alien mothership.  
 
Prints are available of my latest piece at Society 6.  

Zabriskie Point

I have been visiting Death Valley for decades, and always finding it inspiring.  Typically, I paint it in a more presentational manner.  But this latest version of Zabriskie Point is more focused on that unique palette.  

A Different Kind of Landscape

Arches National Park, mixed media on paper 9″x12″

Ocean Beach Palette

 

I first saw the Pacific Ocean at age 11.  My introduction was on a foggy, chilly summer day at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.   For most people, Ocean Beach might not be a California postcard image, but for me, it is home. Years later that muted palette is still an inspiration.   

Super Mail Bloom

 

After a wet winter, Golden Gate Park has been lush and in full bloom for months.  I keep heading down there on afternoon walks and stopping by the post office.  My box has also been filling up with spring color.  The mail art I received that is shown here includes:

1. Fleur Helsingor – California
2. William Mellott – Taiwan 
3. Barbara Stasiowski – California 
4. Margo Hill – California
5. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
6. Eberhard Janke - Germany
7. Sally Wassink – California 
8. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
9. Jennifer Utter – California 
10. Serse Luigetti – Italy
11. Lynne Buckner – California
12. Bonniediva – Illinois 
13. Shmuel – Vermont 
14. Bonniediva – Illinois 
15. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
16. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
17. Peter Müller – Germany
18. Meral Agar – Turkey 
19. Kiki – Japan

And here is the amazing park....

Ukrainian Sunflowers

My latest series of mail art.  Sunflowers done with hand-carved rubber stamps.

Inspiring Invasive Species

The very wet winter and spring has everything blooming and the Echium candicans, (The Pride of Madeira) are no exception.   An invasive species in California, but they sure are beautiful.   The color palette has inspired my latest work of art.

Postal Patchwork Postcard

This mail art call for collage mail art to be shown at Kolaj Fest in New Orleans.   

Inspired by Embroidery

Sending out a series of 50 hand embroidered postcards would be overwhelming.   But what happens when you carve rubber stamps inspired by Ukrainian folk art?  This latest mail art series is on its way around the world.

Library of the Future/Future of Libraries?

Mail art on the way to Germany for a mail art call with a theme about the future of libraries.

Air Traffic

This is my latest travel-themed commission.  Grid-based collages that are reminiscent of patchwork quilts is not a new territory for me — but I rarely source magazines for my collages.  For this piece I started with a stack of airline and travel magazines.   Then came the cutting out of hundreds of airplanes.  Finally, they needed to be layered, cut, and reassembled.  How many different airlines can you identify in this piece?

Mail Art, Zines and More

Here is some of the latest mail art that has arrived in San Francisco including a Mardi Gras cat along with some of the zines I receive in the mail.   You can get a detailed look at The Runner Postcard  at the link.   As well as Circulaire 132  at this link.  Barbara Stasiowski also proves you can make a palette postcard and even sent that in the mail.  The mail art shown here includes:

1. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
2. Carolyn Oord (aka Kerosene) – Canada
3. Andrea Grimes – California 
4. Pier Roberto Bassi – Italy
5. Barbara Stasiowski – California 
6. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
7. R.F. Côté — Canada
8. William Mellott – Taiwan 
9. Bonniediva – Illinois 

The California Postal Service?

Start with a stack of old, unused California postcards and then make some artist stamps to add along with the official postage.   And if President Biden doesn’t fire Louis DeJoy soon, we might actually need our own California Postal Service.  If that happens, Huell Howser is going on a stamp!   

Lichen Lines

 A color palette inspired by the lichen covered trees in Golden Gate Park.

Eggs in the Mail

 Egg-themed mail art on the way to Hungary for a mail art call.  

Winter Mail Bag

Sorting through recent mail art that has arrived in San Francisco including New Year’s mail — some sent from my own neighborhood to some form all the way to Lviv, Ukraine.   And it wouldn’t be winter without snow people — Kathy Barnett’s latest series of “polaroids” are just hilarious and wonderful.   The mail art shown here includes:

 

1. Barbara Stasiowski – California 
2. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
3. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
4. Fleur Helsingor – California
5. Johan Leschinkohl – Germnay 
6. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
7. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
8. William Mellott – Taiwan 
9. Eberhard Janke - Germany
10. Sally Wassink – California 
11. e. coles – England 
12. Peter Müller – Germany
13. Jürgen Greissbach – Germany 
14. Jennifer Utter – California 
15. Tanushree V – California
16. Lubomyr Tymkiv - Ukraine 
17. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
18. Kathy Barnett – Missouri