Finally

And here is another version of an earlier mail art, 

the x-ray version:

What is the sound of one hand paddling?

This arrived intact many months ago and only now am I putting it up.  Bravo and well played, Lees!

The Tiny Windows (with window screens and items)

Apologies for doing this so late after receiving it. This is a solid, sturdy, seasonal piece of art.

With secret surprise items within display windows. A fantastic piece of mail art that reminds me of spring, collecting by the seashore and lucky outcomes. So hopeful and charming. I would like to see giant versions of this with backlight (I need backlight but the logistics and cost of it has eluded me personally).

Here's some gray sky backlight.

seen and felt

I like the look and feel of this envelope:

And the back:

It's the coziest of little containers for the happiest of messages:

Tiny Lloyd!

He's so tiny! He's in a clear box, sent by mail, slouched and stylish on an urban corner. He's so wonderful and he's mine, all mine.

I hope my mail lady, Margie, got to deliver this before she left our route. I don't know my new mailman personally yet, but hopefully he'll be able to deal with our creative mail-art output and input. Anyway, it's a fitting last delivery for Margie who always gave us candy and cards every holiday but wouldn't accept gifts from us because it's against the law for federal agents to do so. Or so she told me, with a sad face. I never figured out how to gift her since she as always "on duty" when I saw her. Anyway, she loved your art SO MUCH. She just beamed every time she talked about it. Thank you for gifting Margie.

Close-up

Woven

I was going to title this post, "rhymes with coven" because I love that movie so much and I love the way they pronounce, "coven". And that's a total non-sequitor. The weirdest thing happened. You know how I saw the image on your camera when I was going through those author photos? Well, when I got home, the mail art was sticking up out of the mail box and I had a momentary shock of, "I know that thing...I've seen it before", and in that split second, I knew exactly what it was I was looking at. I love this. There are little fragments of words and faces, some familiar (that you want to forget) and some I've never seen before. Last week in the NYT, I read about an artist who took some of his portrait photos and put cut outs on top of them and this gave them a whole different feeling. This is much more interesting than his work and I don't have to log in to the NYT to see it! I love the sunset effect the colors make.

GROOVY

What's inside? What's inside? Did I win a contest?

Holes in envelope give clues:

Open!

Groovy memo pad from the past!

Can't wait to make my grocery/hardware-store shopping lists! But it's almost too precious for that. It's an artifact from when all things were groovy, even memo pads. Those were the days, my friend.

Celestial Gaze

That's me waxing poetic with that title. I don't know much about either of those musicians. I did listen to some VU the day his death was announced and I felt like I should listen to more of this but I haven't. In a synesthesia-like way, when I hear those songs I think of a kind of drawing, like Giacometti's portraits, with hesitant, spidery lines, lots of them, some erased, some wider, some lighter, but all eventually adding up to a thing to be reckoned with.

Cutouts

Sturdy layers of hidden meaning...

Is it a map, a diagram, architecture, instructional brochure, historical setting, geographical place

?

And on the front:

Lemons! Which are growing in abundance in my back yard as well. I just read about an art project where you get a map and close your eyes and point your finger on a spot. Then you go to that spot and document it with drawings, photos, whatever. Your art is the result. This is like geographical spot-mapping art, but it came in the mail. And there's lemons, which I love. I will always embrace geography and lemons as subject matter.

I sent you one right away because it came together without a lot of thought or planning. Speedy.

Money in the Mail

I don't know that I've gotten cash in the mail for quite some time. Possibly since the 1970s. There have been the pseudo-checks now and again that try to get me to buckle under for some sort of scam, but no cash in many years. So, this was a happy surprise! Annnnd...it's back in my court and I must admit that I am a bit stumped as to what to do next. Now that I have more time (ahem) it seems as if I have less than ever. Today I went out for lunch with some friends from work and we had such a good time, four hours slipped by and we still weren't done hanging out. And then my day had gotten away from me and all my best laid plans to work on stuff were postponed for another day. Funny how that happens...it's like those freeways where you think you'll have more room if you build more lanes but then more traffic mysteriously shows up and clogs the freshly flattened asphalt and snarls the roads anew...this makes little sense...it would be nice if money behaved the same way that traffic does. Or maybe it does...hmmm, taking that analogy to its logical conclusion, you make more money (lanes) and suddenly there are more things (cars) that present themselves to be bought with your newly minted dough (driven on new pavement)...so, ok, I guess money does behave similarly to traffic. OK, for sure I am rambling now. But continuing on with my ridiculous comparisons, maybe money and time have an inverse relationship? Which could be a good situation for me...maybe now that I will have less money yet more time, I won't be able to spend as much? Or maybe I will have to stretch and or enlarge my coins* to make them go further, in which case, this penny is the perfect solution. And while I have you here reading my whacked ramblings, did John ever tell you the pennies story from his trip to India? I was going to put the word "pennies" where the asterisk is but thought better of it when suddenly I remembered our friend's fabled story. If you don't know the tale, you might ask him to recount it for you. You will never think of pennies the same way.

Patterns in the Mail

Handcrafted mail offerings are down, way down. Reversing this mail pattern, here is a pattern in the mail. It's a pattern and it makes a pattern and it is a pattern in the mail.

From 1982 it came

Coincidentally when I got this, I was, yes you guessed it, looking at patterns online and in Photoshop. I was looking at Greek-vase patterns, to be precise. Simple borders. Simplicity patterns.

Bird with Crown

I am so sorry it's taken me this long to post. This week has been so surreal. And your painting is also surreal. There is so much beauty here. And you are so very consistent that I must tell you that you should think about doing more painting. Look again at your painting of the Woman in White. There is another one here that I cannot remember the title of, but if you will look at those two and then at this one, you will see what I mean. There is a hauntedness, an otherworldly quality to these paintings.

Half Mail / Half Ant - MANT

I salute you.

I mean, this is a masterpiece. And it got through, no problem.

Proof.

As suggested, I played with scale. It's interactive.

This guy can't believe it and looks a little nervous.

But I cherish MANT.

Call back!

How did you manage this? I had no idea there was going to be a part two, let alone that I was dealing with a to-be-continued situation. I apologize profusely for the long delay in posting this assortment of cuteness extraordinaire. Here goes:

I love that side-eye from Dirk. Nellie looks skeptical. But what are those mysterious lines on the back of the Kitty Cat Cards? Let's see what happens when we put both packs of cards, Series 1 and 2, together:

A fish! That is some long-range planning! How did you plan this? Was it intentional? It had to be. To keep me on my toes, no doubt. And, while I'm on the topic of planning (and digits), I've got my next one all planned out but not assembled just yet. Maybe next week. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it makes it through the mails. Yes, you too, Nellie.

Pieta - 1980s

Look, I found my old photo of Ed being very arty and very 80s. The irony, the pathos, the historical reference for no discernible reason--this makes me feel young again.

And yes, I used to wear that union suit as jammies because I was very fashion forward, as you know.

DUCT TAPE

In all the months we've been sending mail, it occurred to me to do this. Kudos to you for duct-tape mail. And it's traditional too, silvery-gray. So durable, water-proof even. Jackson wanted to know how you kept it all from sticking, except for the part that was supposed to stick. I told him, "Superior textile know-how."

The envelope is perfection.

 

Official! Guaranteed!

I love this so much! I don't think I told you this but some of my more recent dreams have been about trying to dial a number or write an address and getting it wrong over and over and over again. In these dreams I've not been able to reach the person I keep trying to call and I have to punch the numbers in repeatedly, each time fumbling over tiny keys. Or I am writing and can't get the pencil to make the letters I so desperately want to mark down. And here is a little box of dreams that has arrived at its destination against all odds. Look inside:

How did you do this!? It's like opening up the night sky. Here is what is inside:

I've had a version of every one of these. My favorite, besides flying, which happens so infrequently, is the secret room dream. Maybe it's because of all the House Hunters International I've watched. It's true. I'll take you on a tiny tangent to say that one of my co-workers has a very close relative who is the main producer of that show. I'm not sure what to do with this information, except to say I am hoping that one day I will get to meet and speak with this person. Ridiculous, yes. Besides, I'm convinced the show is rigged and scripted. A morbid fascination. I am very happy to note that we don't have a proper tv so I am forced to watch it on youtube or when we're on vacation. TMI, I know. Now I am not sure how to transition back to your incredible dream book. Let me close by showing the last two photos. One is the other side, the bottom, of the inside. It's a tactile experience that is so strange it could only have been inspired by dream logic. The color, also, is a perfect complement to the royal blue of the rest of the box. And the little gold hummingbird. It is, of course, the only possible artifact that could have accompanied these dreams that are so comfortably nestled in their box.

Buttered Toast!

HAR. This is just so fantastic. Look at this ceramic buttered toast! Made it through the USPS - NO PROBLEM. Butter intact, charm intact. You are a wonder. A mail-art wonder!

 

The light is trickier in my back yard in the spring--more leaves on the trees. You get to see my big, fat hand as I hold the art to the sun. But that's toasty, isn't it?

I started something for you but it's not working as I planned. Will begin again. :)