Lemurian Mail Art Playmates

a dance to the music of time

2006-08-02T04:38:00.000-07:00

Inspire me Thursday 27.07.2006. This week's challenge was to create a piece inspired by a non-visual art form, so this week let us find inspiration in music… a song, lyrics, a melody.

The background is made up of bits of music from different eras together with a depiction of "choreography or the art of describing dance" from a dance manual dated 1700 and an image of a metronome beating the time.

You can see more of my work at:
www.dailywriting.net/AbelStudio.htm
www.picturetrail.com/cabelcat
http://travellerstails.blogspot.com/

inspire me Thursday - 20 July - child's play

2006-07-22T00:48:00.000-07:00

The instructions were to produce art like a child, using wax crayons, stencils, gold stars, etc. etc.

inspire me Thursday 14 July - numerals

2006-07-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

It's time to play the numbers game

drainspotting - altered CD

2006-06-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

"To All Clock Watchers,
The White Rabbit was always in a hurry and running because he was "late for a very important date." But he kept going down holes, and getting sidetracked.
Sometimes our clocks imprison us, and give us the impression that what we are doing is very important." -Mervyn Brady

My manhole has the white rabbit standing in the foreground. The clock in the picture is broken, it has no hands for my clock has no time on it. I am the white rabbit who complains "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date, no time to stop and ...... I'm late, I'm late, I'm late". But instead of exiting my manhole I am forever falling down my own rabbit hole.

There are just not enough hours in my day. I try to combine a full time job, which regularly takes me away from home, together with running our home. I enjoy reading and singing as well as my artwork, all of which I try to fit into an average week. As part of my job I am learning another foreign language. I should do some sort of physical exercise but how can I fit all this in? My artwork, when I sit down to it is not created in an instant. Perfectionist that I am, I'm always searching for the right image, the right placement, etc. I get frustrated when I can't create although inspiration doesn't always come easily either. I find it difficult to think "outside the box" and just let myself go. I cannot release myself from my own constraints.

I have never been down in the sewers although guided tours are possible in my hometown, where there is an extensive underground passage system. I have, however, been potholing - once - and imagine that there must be a similar sense of claustrophobia and damp! The cave that I went into, aged 17, had a river running through it. Entry was through a sort of manhole cover - designed to protect the entrance - and from then on we were in the stream. We were soaked immediately but it was with a sense of exhilaration that we completed the trip. This was the only time I have ever really followed in my father's footsteps for he was a keen pot-holer when he was a student and was responsible for the discovery of a passage that was to be called notoriously "the ooze" because it was so narrow to get through.

Sometimes that's what my life feels like - squeezing past obstacles into chambers of wonders and then into narrow passages again - the dark and light moments of our lives, where the caves are lit by exciting, happy or important events. Funny that - I'd never thought of life as being the journey through a cave but now I can see the analogy.

Meditation

It wasn't so much the length of time that it had been raining but the quantity of rain that had fallen that day. Water poured down the hillsides as the, usually invisible, springs gushed forth. Rivers literally ran in the streets and we were driving along in water that must have been 6 inches deep. As we entered the old part of town brown water flowed downhill through the streets and the locals endeavoured to skip from stone to stone in an effort to keep dry. Brown flood water gradually stained the blue of the sea and furniture floated in in the water that had flooded the seashore cafés. Appalled and fascinated, I got out of the car to watch. It was obvious that even the storm drains couldn't cope. I left the car and, armed with a brolly, walked down the hill towards the sea. With my umbrella held tightly to my body I kept my eyes on my feet.

I turned the corner near the bakery and came across a manhole cover that was ajar. I'd always been fascinated by the subterranean and bent down to take a closer look. There was a loud caw and the raven, which I'd noticed earlier, pecking at the crumbs which had been scattered in front of the bakery, landed at my feet. I looked questioningly at it and it was obvious that it was suggesting we go below together. I heaved the manhole cover to one side and slowly climbed down the ladder with the raven hitching a lift on my shoulder. The ladder rail was cold and slippery to my touch. I must have gone down a dozen steps and landed in a flat area. I stood at the bottom waiting for my eyes to become accustomed to the darkness. Green ferns had given way to fleshy liverworts where only the dimmest of light filtered through. I could hear water dripping somewhere and long whitish tubes hung from the ceiling - much too young to be stalactites but they had a life of their own (we used to have them in our coal cellar at home - they were called straws). The tunnel appeared to stretch away in the distance on either side of me.

The stonework under my feet was damp and slippery and there was nothing I could hold on to so I had to tread carefully in order not to fall. An additional drain had been hollowed out in the floor so that a walk way ran along the side of it. Occasionally I could a plopping sound as if some animal, maybe a water rat, had dived in. The walkway sloped downwards.

Well, here I was with the raven and the only thing to do was go forwards into the unknown. The water continued to drip, sometimes on to my head and startling me. The raven huddled closer to my head as if seeking protection there or maybe it was just so that it could "talk" to me better by nudging its head against my ear. In the distance I thought I could hear the sea. "Logical" I thought to myself since this was a storm drain it must come out somewhere near the sea.

I continued, hoping to see light in the distance but soon the tunnel forked. "Which way do you think we ought to go now?" I asked aloud, not expecting an answer. The raven flew down to the ground and hopped off down the right hand fork. So I followed. I don't know what, if anything, I was expecting to find but the tunnel turned a corner and all of a sudden I/we were in a brick-lined chamber and someone had been there before us; someone who had decided that the bricks would make a perfect canvas for a picture. It was a huge seascape that covered the walls and ceiling, filled with monsters, huge fish, mermaids and sea birds diving into a foaming sea. What's more the picture seemed to move. I stood entranced at the beauty of the picture and thought what a shame it was that no-one would see it.

I could now hear the sound of waves and could see a circle of light. I hurried towards it and came out on to a small ledge. That's when I began to wonder if I was really imagining things for the scene in front of me resembled that which I had just seen back inside the tunnel and then I realised what it was. It was a natural camera obscura and, by a curious trick of the light and the height of the tide, the scene outside was reflected onto the walls and ceiling. Someone had created their own version of a camera obscura where they could watch the changing patterns of light and dark, rough and calm seas without having to go anywhere near the water at all. Except for one thing. Where did all those mythical birds and monsters and mermaids come from .......

alphabet pieces - I, N and R

2006-06-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

cows on parade

2006-04-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

I have just completed a swap where each of us was given 3 outlines of cows which we had to decorate and put on an ATC. Here are my offerings

in 2001 Luxembourg hosted its own "art on cows" festival and the resulting decorated cows were auctioned for charity. Some of the cows can be seen here:
http://www.kayoon.net/kaell/cows.html

Alphabet Art - Letter M

2006-04-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

M is for climbing mountains

and for making journeys

along the Soul Food roads.

Inspire me Thursday - monochromatic - blue Bella

2006-03-26T10:30:00.000-08:00

Thinking Big - Inspired Thursday

2006-03-20T03:57:00.000-08:00

The bollards on the quay at Owl Island are 'big'.

For Heather

2006-03-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

A couple of coats of sealer over the weekend and I will have your Chinese New Year/Dragon mail art in the post on Monday. I hope you like ;-)

Bobbi

Danny Gregory Weekly Challenge

2006-03-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

Everyday Matters has a huge group and I have joined to get some ideas to bring back to Soul Food and share here. After struggling with the Inspired Thursday Challenge this week I found the challenge to draw someone or something you love - and journal about it a bit easier. You will find a list of the challenges at Danny Gregory's site.

inspire me Thursday - senseless

2006-03-12T05:36:00.000-08:00

This was the first time I have used acrylics so it was very much an experiment. It was difficult to make it completely sensless as my eyes were used to choose the colours. First of all I folded a piece of watercolour paper in half and covered it with water. I then put dabs of acrylic paint on to the surface without trying to make any conscious pattern or design and tried to get some of the paint to run. I folded the paper in half and brayered it flat. (This was something we used to do with coloured inks and which I wanted to try again but couldn’t find my inks in my crowded craft room). Then I spritzed it with silver moonglow and sprayed fixative (which did smell) on to the surface which made the moonglow move across the paper. No sounds in the house – just the twittering of birds outside the kitchen window.
I had no idea of what the end result would be and I now have the perfect background for a future piece of work and I have the feeling that there is a ghostly figure lurking in there somewhere.

Another Muse Outing

2006-03-06T01:33:00.000-08:00

Here are the pics of two of my favourite books that I got today at the Library Discard sale.

This one is in greek language but it will make a great altered book.

This one has some beautiful images of plants.

drainspotting

2006-03-05T05:02:00.000-08:00

This rather unremarkable drain, photographed by Monika, in the botanical gardens has been enlivened by the judicious planting of some winter hellebore, cyclamen and wood sorrel

Alphabet Exchange Collaborative Book

2006-03-04T05:23:00.000-08:00

A group of us in the Soul Food Mail art group are going to be working on a collaborative alphabet book exchane. This is an invitation for anyone who would like to participate to join us. Below are the instructions so far.

Each participant makes an original artwork depicting their letter/s (this can be collage, drawn, whatever medium you prefer working in). This page is then colour copied the number of times equal to the number of participants. These pages will be mailed to me and I will collate them into a book.

I have decided to do an accordian style book, so all your pages will be adhered to the folds in the book. The pages need to be 6x4 and decorated on one side only.
Alphabet Swap Participants:
Heather (letter - E & P)
Megan (letter - A)
Monika
Carol
Bobbi (letter - S)
Gail (letter - C)
Winnie (letter - W)
Gwen (letter - B & G)

If you are interested in participating please let me know.

Puttin' on the Ritz

2006-02-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

I have joined a circle journal swap, where each person has to make a page for the others in the
group according to their theme. This is the first page I have created - entitled Puttin' on the Ritz.

Collage card by Sylvia

2006-02-20T09:15:00.000-08:00

I created a card today by putting together some photos of old books and some scans of my own paintings. Then I tried out various modes to blend them together. It is interesting to see what happens! One could do this work with painting,transparencies and tissue papers.

Prague Manhole Cover

2006-02-20T09:02:00.000-08:00

Found this in my photos from last summer... wondering now to what secret rooms in the Castle it may lead...

Chinese Lantern

2006-02-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a bit behind here

I got carried away with the

Manhole Covers.

This chinese lantern was

created using red cord, bells,

crystals, beads and a

feng shui coin.

Picture Trail Album

2006-02-18T20:42:00.000-08:00

Taking advice on board from those who recommended Picture Trail for uploading pictures. I have created a Picture Trail Album to store images of my artwork.
http://www.picturetrail.com/megken

Mandalas

2006-02-18T04:10:00.000-08:00

All this taking talk and taking photo's of manhole covers prompted me to do a search for some tutorials to make digital madalas using Photoshop. These first two were created using the instructions in this tutorial http://raysweb.net/mandalas/

The second mandala was created using this image (0ne of my gluebook pages)Then using this tutorial http://www.moderngypsy.com/green/mandala/

I created this mandala

it started life as the Minstrel

Chinese lantern for Megan

2006-02-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

will be posted next week - made from the cardboard case surrounding my husband's new moble phone sim card, collaged and stamped images

Stage One - Manhole Cover Project

2006-02-16T04:38:00.000-08:00

Through the arteries to the world within
Now to figure out how to do the plates to attach to the CD

Heart tag

2006-02-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

This collage was made from a variety of bits and pieces

some of which Gail sent to me.

Valentine to Nature Postcard

2006-02-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

Old Photos to Share

2006-02-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

I started going though my mothers boxes of old photos and letters again the other day and scanned a number that I happily share with you for your personal use. When I add another batch I will let you know.

hugs,
Bobbi
http://photobucket.com/albums/y7/Nicola_466/Family%20Photos/

Chinese Lantern Collage Effect

2006-02-10T23:01:00.000-08:00

I didn't know how to go about making a real

lantern, so decided to experiment. With materials

and some creative brainstorming, I realised I

already had things to hand that I could use

for a collage. I rounded up some used tissue

paper saved from Christmas, some yellow

netting from a supermarket lemon bag, used

matchsticks to make the lanterns look realistic, and

some cotton thread from some incense for

hanging threads. The net gives texture, the idea of which I

got from a book, and the tissue is thin enough

to show it through. I already had some insect

stickers in my kit so they came along for the ride.

New altered book page

2006-02-09T17:28:00.000-08:00

I'm really enjoying creating my altered book, I'm rapidly running out of pages to alter.
Luckily I have another project in mind. Here is my latest page that I have completed.

My First Canvas

2006-02-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share my latest adventure. I created this collage on canvas for my husband.
(he loves cooking) This is the first time I have created such a large collage - 8x10 - it is also the first time that I have used canvas. It looks very effective, I may just have to create some more artwork for my home.

gesso transfer background

2006-02-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

I followed a link on the Valentine Countdown Calender and came across this background technique. I'm not sure if it wll be a background - I think the pages look great on their own.
Here's the link: http://www.queen-of-tarts.com/tuthtml/josspaper.htm

Light of the Ancestors - Chinese Lantern Mail Art

2006-02-07T03:44:00.000-08:00

Chinese Lanterns

2006-02-05T03:50:00.000-08:00

Asian Altered Book

2006-02-04T06:29:00.000-08:00

Front Cover
Originally uploaded by megkenau.

I have started my first Altered Book. I was inspired by Gail's Chinese New Year Book and thought that I would give something similar a go. I have started several pages - I'm unsure at the moment if they are finished, but it is a work in progress. Check out my Flickr album if you want to see the rest of the pages. Just click on the cover page.

Countdown to Valentines Day

2006-02-01T16:06:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone

check out Lisa Vollrath's countdown calender for Valentines day.
http://www.lisavollrath.com/countdown
Each day it links to a papercrafting freebie.

Inspired

2006-01-30T03:50:00.000-08:00

What a day! Two packages arrived. First one from Megan and then a bag of inspiration from Gail. I now have two lovely albums to fill with treasured snail mail. Le Enchanteur, made by Gail, is proudly standing amidst the treasures. Thanks so much Gail. I had such a wondeful time with my new glue gun.

My Boomerang Just Came Back

2006-01-29T20:02:00.000-08:00

Megan has used elements from a bundle I sent her as part of my Boomerang Mail and today the Boomerang came back when this lovely, covered sketch book arrived. Many thanks Megan.

Future Warrior Shrine

2006-01-28T23:38:00.000-08:00

Future Warrior Shrine - created from a favour in

a christmas cracker, a matchbox painted copper,

a piece of strip board and some electronic elements.

Glue Book Pages

2006-01-28T03:55:00.000-08:00

I have been having fun with these glue book pages.
I have uploaded them to a flikr album, until my website is finished.

2006-01-26T20:24:00.000-08:00

I love texture and old doors, so it works for me to take parts of various photos and put them together in one collage. I am attracted to these colors too.

2006-01-26T19:11:00.000-08:00

Pressed flowers were the only way to go with the beautiful handmade papers that Monika sent to me. I'll try to describe them - the piece on which the vase rests is a lovely soft cream colour, embedded with tiny flower petals - the green piece used for the vase looks like marbellised paper and has sprinkles of glitter - as this already had a curve in it, I cut another one and made it into a vase for the pressed geraniums. The leaves are torn out of another piece of handmade paper.
The lovely shreddy earthy brown piece on the right gave the piece balance and anyway, I couldn't resist adding it - it's so beautiful.
This piece will be framed and kept as a memento of the Mail Art Group.

The left over piece from the vase was used here, just to accent the pressed flower, which it does beautifully.

This was great fun! And I still have the stamped pieces and button and sequins to play with from Monika's inspirational package.

2006-01-26T18:54:00.000-08:00

This is the mail art card I sent to Carol.

some of my art inspirations

2006-01-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

Since I don't have my other webpage back up yet, I thought I would list here some of my favorite art inspirations. I think Megan and I have very similar tastes!

Sabrina Ward Harrison

art e-zine

Corinne Stubson

Kelly Kilmer

Juliana Coles

Teesha Moore

Sisters on Sojourn

Traci Bautista

Kristi Schueler

Lisa Vollrath

Melissa M. Hubbell

Lynne Perella

Traci Bunkers

Eliza Badurina

Altered Books-ISABA

Altered dictionary page

2006-01-22T07:34:00.000-08:00

Megan's cool book reminded me of my Altered Dictionary project (which has been on the back burner for quite some time now). Here is one of the pages I did for it.

Flea Market Find

2006-01-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

We went down to the local Sunday flea market - I was hoping to find some magazines to use for my glue books. There were plenty of magazines, but I told Ken I would wait until we had seen everything. I'm so glad that we did. I found an illustrated encyclopedia (I think it's from the 1930's) the seller wanted $5 - I didn't argue. Although I said to Ken as we walked away that if he knew what I was going to do with it he would probably be horrified. I think I'm going to alter it, but I'm not sure yet.

Images Posted to Sylvia

2006-01-19T02:11:00.000-08:00

Here are the two images I posted

to Sylvia, second one in a white cut-out regular card,

and the first on a

A collage created in Photo Shop

2006-01-17T08:17:00.000-08:00

This morning, I created a collage in Photo Shop using several pictures,old paper as a background and then some special grunge brushes to look like stamping or somewhat random brush strokes. I added some square brush lines to add more elements to tie it all together.

Finished Collage from Workshop

2006-01-17T08:07:00.000-08:00

Here is the collage after everyone in the class has added parts to it. Actually there were two collages and the paper was torn in half so pieces of differnt ones were put together and a big hand carved rubber stamp was used over one of them. this does give the work greater unity.

Glue Book

2006-01-17T06:26:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Lisa Vollrath's Glue Books http://www.lisavollrath.com/pages/95 - I have begun my own glue book. I am intending to do at least one page a day. These are collages made from newspapers, magazines, flyers and junk mail.

My first Matchbox Shrine

2006-01-16T01:13:00.000-08:00

I was inspired by Lisa Vollrath's website to try and make a matchbox shrine. I found a small plastic soldier figurine and rubbed it with copper a rub-on, the metal sticker on the front was also rubbed with copper to give it an aged look. The background is of the Reims Cathedral.
I'm already thinking about what I can do next!

postcard for Gail

2006-01-15T08:57:00.000-08:00

picture made from stamps and spritzed with violet and silver afterwards

Bags of Inspiration

2006-01-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

Hi All

Heather shared this website with me http://www.lisavollrath.com/index.php there is a wealth of information about collage, ATC's, altered books etc. It has a How to section with clear instructions for many different techniques. (I'm tempted to try some of them, myself!)

I thought her 52 Bags of Inspiration http://www.lisavollrath.com/pages/10 was an interesting concept, and thought it may be something that we could try here.

Here's how I would invisage it would work for us. The names of those that want to participate will be put in a hat and drawn out, I will let each of you know who you are to post to, that way we are posting to different people all the time. You put together a package of ephemera, collage elements, fibres etc and post it to the recipient. The recipient then has to create something with those elements. They would need to post pics of the items they received and the finished product.

Email me if you are interested in participating.
Megan

Boomerang Mail

2006-01-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

Hi Mail Art Playmates
I am as excited as can be about this mail art and being sent off to look at favourite old sites has got my creative juices really bubbling. Now Megan will lead us and suggest some projects so if you have wonderful ideas just mail her and let her know about them.

Aside from the projects I am planning to gradually mail Boomerang Mail to each of you.

I am going to undertake to do regular illustrated letters and they will always include some pieces of ephemera on the condition that one piece of ephemera comes back in some imaginative way.

Whatever did I do before Soul Food became what I imagined it could be?

love Heather

Collage in progress

2006-01-14T06:23:00.000-08:00

This a work in progress. We learned about putting together layers of material and keep on working something until we felt it was done and not feel some parts were too precious to cover up.

I am so enjoying all your beautiful work

2006-01-14T06:21:00.000-08:00

Dear Fellow Travellers at
" Lemurian Mail Art Playmates"

I am opening up each day to look and admire your beautiful
Work......Well done .....
Each and every one of you talented artists.

***********************************

Lois (Muse of the Sea) 16.1.06

Nick Bantock workshop

2006-01-14T06:18:00.000-08:00

Since Nick Bantock was mentioned, I am putting in a couple pictures from the workshop I attended which was taught by Nick. This photo shows a picture of myself working on a collage and Nick is giving me advice.

Collage

2006-01-13T03:36:00.000-08:00

I have completed another 4 collages today, and have posted them to my blog http://ravenstreeperch.blogspot.com/ let me know what you think.

Reposting over here

2006-01-12T20:34:00.000-08:00

I posted this on Nina's Treehouse but felt it really should be put here instead so I am just reposting it here. I am glad we have a separate blogger for the mail art now. This was to Shari.

Japan - collaged tag

2006-01-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if this is finished yet - I know it needs fibres - not sure if it needs anything else. Let me know what you think.

Favourite collage & journalling artists

2006-01-12T03:37:00.000-08:00

My favourite collage artist is author Nick Bantock. He is the author of Griffin & Sabine.
His most recent book - Urgent 2nd Class - is a handbook for creating art using old maps documents etc. like he uses in his books.

http://www.nickbantock.com/

Another of my favourites is Lynne Perrella. Her work is inspirational. She has two books -
Artist journals & Sketchbooks and Alphabetica (I've got the latter on order).
Here's the link to her website

http://www.lkperrella.com/

Treasures

2006-01-12T03:08:00.000-08:00

With my recent surge in creative activity, I decided to go to the local stamp and scrapbooking store. I had my husband with me to curb my spending. Plus I promised I wouldn't be long. Once inside there was no turning back. I picked some scrapbooking papers and then I found the reduced price stamps. I got 13 stamps and other supplied for $36. The retail value of the stamps was $208. When I got home I cleaned up the desk in my study, so that I could play.

Moon Dance was the result.

Lemurian Mail Art Playmates

2006-01-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

Lemurian Mail Art Playmates

I have a large collection of mail art that I've saved from my participation in sending mail for about 10 years! I will be happy to share some examples with you.

Hive of Industry

2006-01-11T15:07:00.000-08:00

Beehive by Carol Rowen

It is a right little hive of industry down here in my home at Carnforth.

Cupboards are being opened and sorted as I arrange all the things I will need for this mail art project. I have not been this excited since I was a young girl and had penfriends in the United States and Canada. I still have a couple of little things that they sent me, that seemed so special. Come to think of it the little fuzzy skunk brooch is special.

As I sort my things I realise I am going to have to get into 'papers' and look into buying myself a colour printer. Like a right ninny I didn't realise everyone scanned and printed their work onto nice stiff cardboards. That explains a lot. There is so much I don't know but if I start wandering around art sites that promote this sort of thing you may never see me again and Soul Food will have to function on auto pilot. Maybe it will be best if you all answer any of my questions and we learn together.

Illustrated Letter

2006-01-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

I had begun to feel nervous about suggesting Mail Art because although I was a fine letter writer I have never participated in anything of this kind. It is good to feel that I am outside my comfort zone because it reminds me how others feel when they arrive on the site and are daunted by the sheer talent around them.

Then my muse came walzing in the room, her gown making a lovely sweeping noise as she arrived. Tonight I watched the Antique Road Show and saw some illustrated letters.

So my first partner for the Snail Mail Mail Art will be getting an invitation to join my crazy world - Insanity Inc.

I think I could quite enjoy this illustrated letter writing. But I don't think my letters will ever fetch the price that the ones on the Road Show were going to fetch. Bad luck folks! You will simply have to find some other way to make your living.