Outgoing Postcards

This card went out to someone in Japan that loved NYC. I was very happy to accommodate.

These are two of my favorite NYC used postage stamps.


This card was for a lighthouse postcard swap. The person lives in South Carolina and also loves birds.

I have the entire collection of the lighthouse postage stamp series. The Audobon Columbia Jays stamp is one of my favorites and was issued in 1967.

Outgoing Postcards

Year of the Dog Postcard Swap. This series raises money to offset the costs of shelter dog adoptions. Each card features a dog needing adoption.

I love the Chinese Zodiac stamps. This one is from 1994.

This card is going to a space lover in Russia. This is from a series based on NASA photos.

I love the Space Race stamps of the 60s and 70s.

Outgoing Postcards

This postcard is going to a Japan and Kawaii Lover. This is one of my favorite views of Mt. Fuji.

Japan always has the cutest postage stamps. I never get tired of looking at them.

This is for another Japan Lover. The theme of the card was J is for . . .


The used postage stamps were typically Japanese.

The original program that was using to upload photos needed to be updated and stopped working on my iPad. I found another program that would allow me to upload pictures from my cell phone. As soon as I paid for the new app, the original was updated after a three month hiatis.

Glad to be back to blogging.

Owl Postcard

Owl Outline

This was made for a handmade postcard challenge. The theme was PINK and my partner liked owls. I outlined the stencil first. I used alcohol inks to provide the required pink color.

Pink--First Layer

My partner also liked blues and teals.

Pinks, Blues and Teals

And if one owl wasn't enough. I added a Charlie the Owl stencil on the back in greens, browns and pumpkin colors.

Not another owl

I hope it gets to its destination because there was a little squeak of delight when I delivered it to the post office for postage.

Have a great weekend and Veteran's Day (in the USA).

More Mail Art

I titled this one the love envelope for obvious reasons. The front side featured an Indian inspired stencil. The recipient liked elephants with trunks raised. She also liked all shades of blues and bright colors. After lettering the envelope, I was lucky to find that the only elephant stencil I had was one with a slightly raised trunk. I placed it in the lower right corner knowing that it would not be obscured by the postage and tracking labels used by the post office.

Front detail

For the back, I had this ready made envelope (discussed here). This was an experiment with a stencil within a stencil technique. I placed the heart stencil in place first and outlined it with pencil. I placed the paisley stencil on top and inked the pattern within the heart. I then placed the original heart stencil back on and inked the outline. The solid shapes were colored with Copic Markers and the heart background plaid was done with Micron pens. The blue background plaid was done with Copic Markers.

Back detail

More Mail Art

Recent Mail Art

This envelope was used for a flat envelope swap. I had to send 3-5 unused postcards to my partner. She likes pink, purples and flowers. I used flower Forever stamps for the postage.

Front side detail

Back side detail.

I used a new technique for the back of the envelope. I crosshatched the stencil shapes. I then took the original stencil and placed it back on the envelope. I used alcohol inks to add color to the shapes and the background. It was easy to follow the repeating pattern when replacing the stencil on top of the original outlines.

Even more mail

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Another day, another piece of Mail Art. This is another 6 by 9 inch white envelope. I wasn't too happy with the lettering colors chosen because they seemed to wash out once the stencil and alcohol inks were applied to the front. To provide more of a contrast, I outlined the letters with a black Fine Tip Sharpie to make them easier to read. The lettering for this envelope was done in Sharpie Fine Tip markers.

Front detail

For the obverse, I used Copic Markers and a paisley inspired stencil. I really liked this color palette but I don't know exactly why it appealed to me, though.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

More Mail

I haven't totally disappeared. I just needed some time away to get ready for Halloween and the craziness that was in store. Here is some more mail that I have been sending out as part of swaps. This is a 6 by 9 inch white envelope.

Front detail

For the front of the envelope. I hand lettered the address. I then took a stencil and my alcohol inks to decorate the background. I just can't send out a plain white envelope.

Back detail

For the back, I took a stencil and my Copic Markers to add some color.

Week of Swaps--Day 2

Beach front envelope

Today's swap was a "doodled" envelope swap with items. The idea was to doodle on an envelope and then fill it with two items from a list of items that  your partner would like to receive. Of course, because I have so much product, I always try and send more items than required. On these types of swaps, I put a limit of $3 on postage (although, it would be quite less if I simply sent the two items).

The swap organizer does not stipulate what size envelope to send. I think the goal is to send a business sized envelope and the additional ounce stamp (70 cents) so that the cost isn't prohibitive. I always shoot for 4 ounces (which is the $3 limit including postage for a rigid/thick (more than 1/4 inch) envelope). The envelope is 6 by 9 inches.

My partner liked the beach so I used some stencils and alcohol inks for the front of the envelope. Here is a starfish and a shell.

Envelope back

For the back, I chose a radiation type of stencil and decorated with my classic crosshatch doodling. And of course, I had to generate a plaid of some sort for the background. These were done with Tombow dual tip markers. My swap partner doesn't like neon colors so I used a primary color palette.

Day 19--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Watercolor wash and Sharpie

When the Iron Craft Challenges ceased, I was looking for an opportunities to challenge myself creatively. One of the reasons that I liked the Iron Craft Challenges was they would many times force the artists to create something out of their comfort zone. Since you were only making things for yourself, rather than to exchange, as the creator you weren't getting judged or graded. The community was a very supporting one.

I had been on swap-bot before and many times, I always gave better than I received. I didn't mind it so much because I was always looking for opportunities to create and I could always just join the swaps in which I felt comfortably participating. The problem with swap-bot is that all exchanges get rated so if you get a particularly nasty person, and there are plenty, it gets a little disheartening when you are rated down because of a perceived slight especially if they don't give you an opportunity to correct it.

For today's coloring challenge, I decided to share a postcard that I will be sending out today. The theme was a handmade postcard in Orange.

For the front, I did a watercolor wash in shades of orange. I then stenciled an image of a woman's face. This particular stencil has four women's faces so I did a series of four postcards. The top image is the front of the post card after the first treatment.

For the back of the card, I used my alcohol inks with a paisley stencil.

Back of post card

To finish the front of the card and to make it a little sturdier to send through the mail, I put a coat of gloss ModPodge to seal the colors. As you can see, the stenciled imaged lightened in color and the orange watercolor wash really pops.

Finished post card

Day 18--30 Day Coloring Challenge

For today's coloring challenge, I decided to color a floundering page in one of my own coloring books.This was the coloring book that was send to other artists to color in a swap-bot coloring book exchange.There are five two-page spreads and each of the artists were asked to color two different two-page spreads.This is the remaining spread. This is a star mandala stencil from my stash. I decorated with background markings so that the lines would help guide the person coloring the page, if they needed. As you can see, the unidirectional lines show which element belongs with each other. It's almost a paint by numbers without the numbers. If the artist chooses to go in a different direction then  no one is the wiser.

The first step was to add color to the elements of the positive space (the parts with the lines). Each section was colored using four different colors. The first level (innermost layer) was colored in three shades of red (R37, R05, RV25). The middle level was colored in three shades of orange (YR16, YR18, YR02). The outermost level was colored in three shades of yellow (Y35, Y10, Y38). To unify all of the levels, a fourth shade of yellow (Y17)was used to highlight the centers of each element.

The second step was to highlight the positive space by using a dark color for the negative space. I was getting a Mediterranean vibe to the coloring scheme so I decided to use a dark blue to make the other colors pop off the page. In this case, I used B69.

To finish the piece, I used a gold metallic Shapie (fine) to add gold dots to the negative space.

BTW, the color designations above are for Copic markers.

Day13--30 Day Coloring Challenge

So here is the completed piece. The background is completed with Pilot Gelli Roll pens. The background is supposed to emulate the old etchings where the plate would be etched with fine lines so that the images would look as if they were raised from the background. Here, the orange represents the sun. The red represents the sunshine and the blue represents the sky. As you can see, the sunshine is double hatched to create a denser look directly behind the flower to distinguish it even more.

Day 12--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Today I am adulting so there was little time for coloring but I did squeeze in a little something--leaves and blue accents. The blue is supposed to represent the clouds (in the corners) and rain (the little rounded shapes).

Tomorrow,  finish the piece.

Day 11--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Today, I am continuing with the coloring book for the coloring challenge. Yesterday, I shared the color story for the flower. Here is the flower fully realized. Tomorrow, I will be sharing the coloring of the leaves featured at the bottom of the page.

BTW, that fluorescent pink paper is a cover sheet to prevent the makers bleeding onto the next page.

Day 10--30 Day Coloring Challenge

For today's coloring challenge, I have decided to share this page in the coloring book swap that I am currently assigned. The book is long overdue and so I want to dedicate the next couple of days to finishing it so I can get it back in the mail to its owner.

As previously mentioned, to start I basically work out the color scheme on the basic pattern. Once that has been decided, it simply is a matter of of just matching and filling in the colors for the rest of the pattern. I have to say that I like the design part best and wish I could hire someone to fill it in. Until that happens, back to the studio I go.

Day 7--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Today's coloring challenge is a handmade postcard for a swap title "Love." Both sides were filled with color using my alcohol inks. For the front, I decorated the hearts with Sharpie markers. The back of the card included some Love postage stamps.

Day 5--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Today, I wanted to share another piece of mail art that I sent away. This was the outer envelope for a coloring book swap where I forwarded the coloring book to the next artist. I love this turtle stencil and wanted to do something special with it. The above image is the beginning of the shell. I used four different greens to get texture on the shell.

The second image is where I colored the body in three different lighter color greens. The idea is that since the body doesn't see the sun then it would be a lighter color.

I wasn't totally happy with the "seaweed" in that it looks like sperm to me but it was too late to fix it.

I then added a three color crosshatching to the background to resemble water.

Day 4--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Here is the final piece. I am not quite happy with the coverage of the darker blue background sections. I might try and find a better way of coverage. Maybe I will revisit it before sending it off. Off to another page and then getting it out of my apartment.

Day 3--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Today was definitely one the "just 10 minutes a day" kind of day. A full day so I decided to add color to the leaves and star. Tomorrow, I will finish and add the blue background.

Day 2--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Here is the second installment of my coloring book swap and the 30 Day Coloring Challenge. I will probably finish this up on Monday. I figure one day for the green leaves/star and one day for the background.

Have I mentioned that crayons are my least favorite medium? I just don't like the way that they do not blend or layer. Maybe it is just the paper that is being used in this book. Maybe if the paper had more tooth I would enjoy it better. That would be a great experiment to pursue later in this challenge.