FEB to Jeannette and Jessica - Tuberculosis

 

I wanted this one to be better. Maybe I can remember to send a bonus something in the March envelope if Jeannette signs up again. I need to think of a brilliant J-themed envelope for the eight J-people that have been signing up to exchange. And that includes Jessica. This is not one of my better envelopes. She had not gotten a Celtic/rune yet. I should have done Celtic/rune on Jeannette's - or maybe she's already received Celtic/rune. <pause> Yes, she had itty-bitty runes in JAN - I should have done the brushy-bouncy runes in FEB.

***

Nerd alert. I've been hearing that it is now cool to be a nerd - here's what the ultimate nerd has to say about it: Yes, being a nerd is considered cool because it signifies passion, intelligence, and a dedication to specialized interests, transforming it from a social stigma into a badge of honor. Modern nerd culture celebrates individuality, deep knowledge in fields like tech or science, and genuine enthusiasm, making it a desirable trait in today's society. 

Here's a book recommendation for the nerds. 

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green. I'm only half way into it and it is so interesting. 

I didn't think anything could be more interesting than the Black Death / Plague...but I was wrong. 

FEB to Irene, Kerry and Renee - paper flowers

 

These two are variations on the edge-to-edge script idea. They're fun with nice color coordination.

Sadly, there was one done prior to the top two that wasn't very good - but as I've said previously, I don't have enough time or enough envelopes to keep reworking my ideas until I get things nudged into the pretty good range.

***

It's hard to pass up anything made with paper. These are 1,000 years old. Lots more images and the full story are here: LINK to the whole story

There is a video floating around that I can't find - showing a flower shop at MOMA where kids can choose flowers and color them in. It looks soooo cool. The video was way better than this still shot.

And how about this... at MOMA's website... 

I miss doing programs at my museum - but I don't miss the part where kids would sneeze on me and I'd end up with a week-long illness.

FEB to Nanski - art quilts

Here is the one version inspired by Morgan's second envelope that had a script that went edge to edge. It's fine - but the colors in that stamp are tricky. They have some very dark tones as well as softer tones - but the overall effect is consistent. Maybe I'll buy more of them and keep trying. As much as I love doing a script from edge to edge, I might have to make myself move on. Or do I? What if I got stuck in a rut? Would any of you say anything? One person has noted that my style is very different these days - compared to ten years ago when the exchange was born. More on this later.

 

***

I know some of the readers are also quilters. Here's a look at some quilts that are on the contemporary end of the spectrum. There's a fair amount of talking at the beginning where they explain the origin of this exhibit after the more contemporary quilters were not being included in mainstream quilt exhibits.

I'll make a bold statement here. I loved a couple of the quilts - and really did not care for quite a few. It parallels contemporary art. I love a few select pieces - but there's a lot that just doesn't resonate with me.

I can see why they had to start their own venue to show contemporary work.

Quilt National 25 exhibit  a video

Also - a link to the organization - which includes info on where the exhibit will be in the coming months.

LINK to more info

FEB to Julie and Starla - The Candy Factory

 

This one is very similar to the two I ran yesterday. I hope it didn't seem boring to Julie. She's a new exchanger who signed up as Julie Ann - and I forgot the Ann part - so tucked it in. She kindly emailed me that just-Julie was fine. We are now up to eight J-people in the exchange.

Starla is another new exchanger. I like this - although it's bleedy. I might be doing more of these if I actually do that thing where I fill in the chart and everyone gets one of every idea.

***

I wish I could poll my readers and find out what percent of y'all are artists. Although, it wouldn't matter to me if I only have 1% artist-readers. This is the type of story I like so if artist-stories annoy you just move along.

LINK to a story about an artists' enclave

FEB to Riley and Patty

 

I did Patty's first and I love that stamp. The little details are so perfect. This idea is a variation of those big scripts that were inspired by Morgan, but I wanted to see what I could do with a different tool. Patty's wasn't quite what I had in mind and I wish I had done more practice writing. When I got to Riley's I like the style of the lettering better although I wish there was a loop with an opening on the r. I like that new love stamp and look forward to using them.

Today's add-on is just a link because I am trying to finish up the envelopes that I sent in FEB all at once so that I don't get confused. It's some fun lettering for the people who are drawn to lettering and vintage fonts.

LINK to Practical Lettering

FEB to Kate, Christi and Juliana -- The Sneaky Artist

 

Kate mentioned that she liked the sun envelopes - so I did a couple more - sent this photo for her to choose which one. The first batch were all green with the green HELLO stamp and I did not have any more of those stamps. While the round stamp with the sun was clearly what made the envelope idea successful, I wasn't liking these two as much as the green ones. Kate chose the CHEERS and I sent the FUN to Christy. 

Then I did one more - and it's OK. The name is definitely better. 

***

For some reason, I stuck this link in a post - and left it in the queue - waiting for some envelopes and when I got back and clicked on it, I have no idea why I put it here - but I am not going to delete it because then I would have to go find something else. Skip it - unless you have too much time on your hands and the weather is not welcoming you to the out-of-doors.

https://www.instagram.com/thesneakyartist/

FEB to Lynne --- Mike Tallman

 

I found this style of lettering on Pinterest and I'm going to start a folder called *Probably Not* as in - I probably won't try it again. I'm drawn to letters where they all start as a square or rectangle and then something is carved away to make the shape into a letter. I wish I had time to flip through my 6.000 posts to see if any of them have ever been really good - worth doing again.

***

My older son has a friend from high school, Mike Tallman, who studied graphic design. He is also a musician. Over the years, he has cultivated a very nice business in designing album covers as well as silk screen prints to commemorate concerts and music festivals. I had an idea for a poster and emailed him.

We emailed back and forth - and then it dawned on me that he would be a perfect designer for the USPS because they often feature musicians on stamps. I looked into the requirements to be a designer and found this:

LINK to info about stamp designing. Basically - you send them a portfolio (hard copies) and if they like your stuff, they'll keep it on file. They pay a flat rate for designs but did not specify what that rate was. I Googled and found this info - which may or may not be true:

Artists commissioned to design a USPS postage stamp typically receive a total of $3,000, which includes an initial payment of $1,000 upon signing the agreement and an additional $2,000 upon approval of the final artwork. The original artwork then becomes the property of the Postal Museum.

Mike designed this poster for a gig here in Des Moines - when his band was in town. I love it - obviously.

LINK to Mike's website

FEB to AmyG and JeanR - 8pg + 16pg books

 

I like the idea of showing the two ways to approach the round stamps. The top one coordinates with the colors. The quality of the lettering is cringe-worthy. As I've mentioned, when I have more than 25 envelopes in a month, I tend to choke. 

The bottom one attempted to spin and idea off the lettering on the stamp. I had done all that gold scallop pattern with nothing in mind - and then I had no idea what to do with it. I liked it - but it was a good reminder to stop doodling on envelopes unless I have a plan. There's probably some way to resolve it - but - JeanR and I go way back - and she knows that not all of the envelopes get resolved. The name is pitifully weak.

***

Many of us have made the little 8-page booklets out of a sheet of copy paper. I saw a version with 16-pages and had so much fun making one. I do not have a link to the very brief video because it was a reel and I do not know how to copy/paste reel addresses. I did a search for *16 page folded book out of a. single sheet of paper* and this video popped up. I did not watch it so I can't recommend it - but she looks like someone who enjoys teaching.

LINK to directions for 16-pg book

First, we will look at the 8-page book. There are a gazillion YouTube videos with instructions. I do not have time to find the *best* one. 

LINK to a gazillion directions

The only tricky part is knowing which way the folds go. There are 3 folds - but some of them will be reversed.

***

Here are the steps for the 16-page book. If you already know how to make the 8-page book you can probably figure it out just by seeing the photos.

First fold the paper in half - both ways. Then divide each half, in half - again. 

After you have made the folds, you make 5 cuts. They are marked A-B, C-D, and so on.

The photo below shows the folds and cuts in more dimension.

At this point it does not matter which direction the folds go.

Then you need to put the page numbers on each panel so that you can make the sequential folds to get the pages in the right order. The numbers can be small and in pencil. I made mine big just for the photo.

Start with the paper in portrait orientation and do 10-11-4-5 across the second row

and 14-15-16-1 across the bottom row.

Then flip the paper around so that the first 8 pages are upside down.

and fill in 2-3-12-13 on the second row

and 6-7-8-9 on the bottom row.

Assemble the book by putting page 1 face down on the table and then folding each page so that the number is in sequence and right side up.

Voila.

Adorable little. books.

Here is another version of the 16-page book

You might find other folded book ideas at this link to Pinterest.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/3799980931187770/

JAN to AmyF and Lucy - cowboy

 

It's taken quite a while to part with the round stamps - but - I'm doin' it.

I'm ambivalent about these two. As I've already said - having 28 people sign up is a little intimidating. While these two did have a couple warm ups - on scratch paper - they're still quite rough.

***

Back in January, I had a little *rant* about the suggestion that wearing nicer clothes on airplanes would resolve the problems with manners. I said that I enjoyed people watching and didn't mind unusual outfits.  I mentioned an example of a portly, long-haired, bearded cowboy in cut-off bib overalls, cowboy hat and cowboy boots - and wrote in the original post that I was sorry I had not been able to snap a photo. 

As I read that post during my final read-through right before it popped up, I pondered doing a quick sketch of the guy, from memory. That didn't seem like a good use of my time so I thought to myself: Hey, maybe I could ask AI to make a picture. Voila. 

I'm the last person I would have expected to be using AI. 

Above is the second version. It's perfect - except that the cutoffs might've been a little shorter and the hair was grayer. Below was the first one I did. On the first go, I thought about asking for him to be at the airport and figured that might be asking for too much - but it wasn't. I'm really impressed with AI. But I do not expect to be creating any more AI images. While it was able to create my visual - that style of illustration is -to MY eyes - barf-worthy. Yucky. Offensive. 

What, you may ask, makes it so repulsive to me? It's difficult to articulate. I'll return to this topic.

I took off the word *portly* and asked for gray hair and beard. I'd like the guy to be halfway between these two - weight-wise. The one at the top has the right size beard. I'm curious to know how it works if a person wants to fine tune details....but not curious enough to do any more research or experimenting.

FEB to Gavin and Nicky - art talk

 

Even though this one is really simple, I like it a lot. I like the double circle G - and the roundness of all the lettering. It's a happy envelope. There were 28 exchangers in FEB - so I had to come up with some ideas that did not involve a lot of detail.

The envelope below - to Nicky - is very similar to the one I posted yesterday. I only had two of those stamps. So, I made suns to go with them. Then, I had a lapse when I chose someone to get this envelope. I didn't double check my chart to remind myself that Nicky had already received a sun with runes in January. Grrrr at myself. I hope it is a consolation that she did get one of my favorite stamps. It was hard to part with the last two.

***

Yesterday we established that the experience (of making art) doesn't need to have a relationship with the product. I stand by that statement - as long as said artist is only creating for their own enjoyment. Once we turn the corner and find ourselves with someone who is enjoying the experience of making things PLUS they hope to find a market for their product - we are in a different situation.

It's a slippery slope. It's fun to see someone who felt a calling to fill up potholes with mosaics end up with a career. He probably doesn't expect to hit the pinnacle of the contemporary art scene with his work. But it looks like he's doing well enough to provide for the essentials. The best part is how content he is with his path.

I know I had the same old dream that every artsy kid has.... to become a famous artist and have a studio. It's a fun dream. As I reflect on where I ended up and the different parts of my free-lance career, I'm satisfied that I balanced things and ended up with lots of artsy friends and kids who don't blame me for being a terrible parent. The boys were off dreaming of being professional athletes. I'll post my daughter's dream, later, because it's so dang funny....and I need to add it to the blog I am creating with all my memories of those kids. Sorry, it's a private blog. But, I might cross post some of the stories here.

FEB to Judi - AI

 

I enjoyed making sun designs and rune lettering in January so I made a chart of who-got-what. Judi got a script in Jan so she gets a sun + runes in February. I wish I had made her name a little larger and used a different color on her last name. I ended up really liking the feel of the rune style - even though it's the one called New Celtic. I can't remember if I ever resolved the names of the styles I used in January.

***

I am writing this on Jan 23 where I just read the daily post about the camera Lucida. In listing the various ways to get an image on a canvas (or wall) prior to painting, I mentioned using a slide projector to project an image. I brought up the question of whether or not it was cheating to use any type of device to transfer an image. 

This is probably a topic with tons of opinions and no way to reach a definitive answer. I am amused by  people who are not artists - yet they insist that anything other than using your eyeballs and hands is cheating. 

Which brings us to Artificial Art (AI). Personally, that's where I draw the line. Maybe it's because it's so new. Maybe people who use AI are experiencing the exact same things that I experience when I am maneuvering my markers across an envelope? After computer graphics had been around for a while, I started to see how the endless clicking was *legit* art - even though I thought that computer generated art was lacking in the tactile sensation one gets with traditional tools.

There is the experience of making the art. Then there is the product. Is one or the other more significant?

Trick question. They both matter and neither can be measured so it's pointless to compare.

I guess we have to drag this topic over to a third day.

FEB to Rachael - Aristotle & the other guy

 

I'm getting my FEB duds out of the way. I like this idea, but I used a ruler for guidelines and then was too careful when I did the final lines by hand. I also chose a terrible stamp and none of the colors are quite right. The lettering stinks. The proportions are all off. I'm tempted to redo it to show how it could be improved. 

***

My little rant yesterday about Aristotle went off on a tangent where I questioned whether he even said or wrote down the words: nature abhors an empty space. I did some research to find out if he actually wrote things down and if the original documents still exist. Our Easy-Peasy-Rumor-Service popped up with an answer to my question that says he left lots of writing and it was passed down through medieval scribes. 

I hesitate to trust/believe anything I read when I am clicking on the internet. I also hesitate to trust/anything that was transcribed by scribes. So, this topic has hit a dead end. I'm pretty sure that the person who originally said: nature abhors empty space was Aristotle's gardener. The guy was just lamenting the never ending job of pulling weeds. He muttered it to himself - and Aristotle who was just hanging out on his patio overheard the gardener and thought, Hmmmmm - that's a good one. I better jot it down.

Does anyone know which philosopher did not leave anything written down? Socrates. I'm debating whether that tidbit deserves further research/surfing. Also, I read it online - so there is only a 50/50 chance that it's true.

FEB to Troy. - correcting Aristotle

 Remember that horror I wrote about yesterday? I feel like I create something horrific when I try to fill up the space. This is wretched. I made something else that I liked - that looked like an envelope and had just one of these stamps - as a consolation envelope to put inside. Then I forgot to take a photo of it. I have more of those stamps - so I will do the same thing on the last five FEB envelopes that I've not done.

Troy has contributed some very good stories to the blog. A couple related to Mardi Gras - so maybe there will be something fun in the FEB envelope that he sends.

***

I came very close to deleting the following blurb when I did my final edit because the topic no longer amused me. But, if I deleted it, I'd have to find something else. So... maybe it's fitting that a real dud of an envelope is paired with a dud of an add-on.

Am I just being cheeky or am I foolish to be taking on Aristotle? Yesterday's blurb from Wiki quoted Aristotle as saying: nature abhors an empty space. Excuse me, Aristotle, but who's the cheeky fool for suggesting that you know what nature abhors. Nature, AKA Mother Nature speaks for herself and she does not use words. Her actions speak louder than words.

Nature takes its course and there are plenty of examples of nature offering up empty space. Has anyone noticed those deserts? OK, technically they are full of sand - but that is splitting hairs. Deserts are visually quite sparse. So are prairies for that matter. How about the sky? The sky can run the entire spectrum from empty to full. I rest my case.

My apologies for calling Aristotle a cheeky fool. He wasn't. He was simply a resident of a small peninsula so his perspective might be a bit provincial. He never went up in a hot air balloon or flew over any of the other continents. Did he understand the planets and orbits? Did he ever vacation anywhere? Who invented vacations? 

An old favorite link that I posted a while back - TRIVIA

JAN from Gavin - horror vacui

 

Gavin followed the suggestion to put something inside the envelope so that it was not eaten by the USPS machines - which is what happened to his DEC envelope. This one came through beautifully. He lives near St. Louis and must have been inspired by the abundance of snow that St. Louis had. There was so much extreme weather in so many parts of the US, I spent a lot of time wondering how the exchangers were doing...but I didn't say anything on the blog. It seems like real time jabbering throws me off. I need to just write things in order - and no back-tracking.

***

Am I the last person to find out about horror vacui? Spellcheck is not cooperating. It looks like latin and the obvious translation is being horrified at emptiness. That is correct. It is the flip side of my natural inclination to leave some white space. While I lean towards loving white space, I often admire works that fill up all the space gracefully. I'm not a big fan of haphazardly shoving everything into a space just for the sake of filling.

I was allowing myself five minutes to scan through IG and some work by Jurgen Vercaemst. I popped over to his page, scrolled a bit and discovered a reference to horror vacui which led me to Wiki - and this intro:

In visual art, horror vacui (Latin for 'fear of empty space'; UK: /ˌhɒrə ˈvækjuaɪ/; US: /-ˈvɑːk-/), or kenophobia (Greek for 'fear of the empty'),^[1] is a phenomenon in which the entire surface of a space or an artwork is filled with detail and content, leaving as little perceived emptiness as possible.^[2] It relates to the antiquated physical idea, horror vacui, proposed by Aristotle who held that "nature abhors an empty space".^[3]

I felt better when I read Jurgen's blurb (below) along side the above image - which suggests that he, too, has only recently learned the official terms.

Work I did a few years ago without any purpose or goal as to layout whatsoever. It seems I’m avoiding layout issues by using this ‘method’. Or as someone recently put it, horror vacui or a matter of kenophobia.

JAN from Juliana -- street mosaic

 

Juliana included a very fun letter in this envelope explaining that she was overwhelmed with the amount of markers and pens that have accumulated in her house. She used the testing of markers and pens to see if they were dried beyond usefulness as a fun way to decorate her January envelopes. If I had time to slog through the 6,000 envelopes on the blog I think I could find a few where I, too, did some marker testing. I do not recall any of mine turning out this nicely. It's a very pretty design. It's so nice that I can provide a  tidy little address that fits so beautifully and leaves just the right amount of white space.

***

Back in 2019,  this mosaic appeared in the street right where my daughter lives and where I visit so often. She knew I would love it - and I'm not sure how we learned about the *street artist* who was filling potholes in Chicago. It was there for a couple years and then one day the city pulled it up and did a regular repair. I was so sad when it was gone - but happy that there was one for us to enjoy for a while. 

Whenever I visited, I would get a little wistful every time I walked by the replacement patch, which was often, because they live close to shops, school, CVS, etc and I'm always out on walking errands. I thought I had posted this on the blog, but couldn't find it. Also, I had not thought of finding out how the artist is doing. Then, one of his works popped up on IG - and I am happy to report that his business is booming. 

LINK to Jim Bachor's website

LINK to Jim Bachor's IG

I wish I had included something in the photo for scale.