Look! We made the news!

WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

See the Postcard Project here.
A few pix from the news piece.

Buffy and Amelia strutting around being famous - AGAIN!

Steve Bottari, the reporter, and me talking about the postcards

We Have A Winner

Remember the GIVEAWAY last week?  Well, I did choose one card that came in between Friday, 2/22, and today, and that card was sent by Deb Blackmore, from Lakefield, Ontario. 

It is a STITCHED drawing of my post office!  How awesome is that?  She says in the card, "The same thing happened to our village post office.  When it closed, the heart of the town shut down".

Deb is a member of a couple of postcard groups that you can take a look at:

Inspired Postcards and Postcards Again.  Happy viewing! I'll be sending Deb the painting I displayed in the Giveaway post.  Deb, if you don't like it, pass it on, or cut it into postcards!

4"x4"x400 Project - Working In Series

Or, "Teeny Tiny Art".  I am challenging myself to create 400 pieces of 4"x4" art in order to demonstrate the power of working in series.  I invite you to join me in making "Teeny Tiny Art", which you can post on our Flickr Group.  For details go here.  I will be posting my own 4"x4" art and progress on the project.

I am offering my original pieces of 4"x4" art for a $25 contribution to my Studio Fund.  I'm also offering a set of downloadable greeting cards for $10.  I wish I could say that I am raising money for a charity, but the truth is that my studio needs serious building repairs, starting with the roof.  All proceeds from this project go to improving my studio so it will not look like this:

Photo: Doug Armstrong

You can buy an actual slate from my roof with a painting on it for $60!  It will be shipped after the roof is stripped.    Participate at any level you choose!  All the details are here.

Here is the first in a series of video tutorials I will be posting that demonstrate 4"x4" art:



Download a pdf explaining the parameters of making 4"x4" art.

Here are the four pieces of Teeny Tiny art that I came from the video:

Each one is worked on separately after I cut the 8"8" in quarters.   Have fun, and please post your work on Flickr.

New Postcard Gallery

It appears that Facebook albums max out at 1000 images, and we reached that in our postcard project yesterday.  With some left over.  So, I created a Postcard Gallery page on my web site, divided up into separate galleries based on the day I scanned the cards.  Visit the Postcard Gallery here.  I've also updated the link in the right margin.  I will keep the Facebook Album up and begin a new one, so you can still find all the postcards there.  The volume you are generating for our little post office IS making a difference!  No decisions will be made until early next year, but this totally COUNTS!  Thank you thank you thank you for all your contributions.  I will continue to respond to cards, though I'm past the 200 mark, bit by bit.  And I will keep you "posted" on progress.  Keep the cards coming!!

Here are a few more with the post office theme. Aren't they just GORGEOUS!!!!

GIVEAWAY

THANK YOU for all your participation in this Postcard Project.  I am overwhelmed and delighted with the response, and vow to keep writing postcards on a regular basis.  I have responded to well over 200 cards, but plan to keep at it, a few at a time, to keep up the fabulous habit of WRITING.

This week I am going to choose a random postcard and send the sender this piece of art:

I will choose from cards I receive between Friday, Feb. 22 and Wednesday, Feb 27. So if you write me a card now, you have a fair shot at the giveaway.  It is 9"x12" on printmaking paper, done last spring as a celebration of ramp season (ramps are the wild leeks that emerge here in April).  Read my Sketchbook Challenge post about it.

Keep those cards coming!  Look at the gallery on facebook.  If you have an idea on a better way to display these, please let me know.  THANKS again!!!

Some Fun Sites

Several web sites and groups keep coming up in the postcards I am receiving, so I thought I would share them.  I'm excited to see how many people are interested in mail art and letter writing, and things postal in general.

Letter Writers Alliance has some really cool stuff available, including rubber stamps, stickers, stationery, and postal PIGEONS!!!

Postcrossing is a site that allows you to send and receive postcards from random places all over the world.  Check it out!

A Month of Letters is coming to a close, as it is a February project, but I hope that Mary Robinette Kowal will renew it. I've gotten lots of postcards and letters with the participant sticker on them.  Start your own Month of Letters!

I found a Flickr site on Mail Art that you can join.  FABULOUS gallery of work there!

Please send me, via comment or e-mail, and links to groups that you are involved in or know about, that are dedicated to mail art or postal communication.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

For Valentine's Day I thought I'd post some of the heart-themed cards I've received in this Postcard Project.  You can see some of my own heart-themed attempts here.

Have a good one!

And The Winner Is....

Mary Ann Van Soest in Indiana.  Mary Ann wins a year's subscription to Fiber Art Now!  Visit her blog here.

This is the card I received from Mary Ann.  See it in the Postcard Gallery.

This was a random drawing, not based on any kind of contest. THAT would be impossible! So many cards are coming in, each one special.  See the original post about this generous giveaway from Fiber Art Now.

Meanwhile, thanks for all the cards, comments, and shares for my Postcard Project!  It has been such a success so far; there are over 600 cards in the Postcard Gallery, and more to come. 

Making Postcards Video

Here is a little video tutorial demonstrating one way that I am making postcards.  You can use this method to make Teeny Tiny Art of any sort, postable or not.  I'll demonstrate this and other methods in a FREE POSTCARD WORKSHOP at Art and Soul in Kansas City on April 4.




Here is the 8"x12" piece that I created in the video:

And the four cards that resulted:

I will be sending these out on Monday.  Have fun with this!  You might try doing it in a group, and even collaborate on the cards.  Let me know how it goes, send me your own ideas on making postcards.   Download the Step-By-Step here.

Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine

Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine, published by Interweave Press, has included our Postcard Project in their "Spread the Love with Art and Three Great Causes".  Check it out!

Stay tuned for a video tutorial on making postcards.  THANKS for all the cards!  We have received over 500 already, from almost every state and many countries.

Postcard Project In Cultural Weekly!!

Looka here!  Cultural Weekly, a weekly online publication about cultural issues, has published a little article about our Postcard Project.  Take a look!

Don't forget to look at the cards posted in my Facebook Album.  I will catch up on scanning and uploading this afternoon and tomorrow.  Today's delivery was a gorgeous stack of fabulous cards, including a HUGE postcard, about 9"x12".  Here is my post box the other day:

 And a few of the cards (there are LOTS more!)  that feature the post office theme:

 

 

I am totally blown away by the cards coming in!  I will keep making postcards and sending them out, beyond the 200 I promised.  I'll post more cards as themes emerge: hearts are a big one this month. 
THANKS again for all your sharing and participation in this project!!  Keep the cards coming, and I'll keep them posted on FB and keep making and sending cards out.

A GIVEAWAY for The Postcard Project

Fiber Art Now, a quarterly magazine for contemporary fiber arts, has offered a year's subscription to one lucky winner in our Postcard Project.  Here is how it works:  on Friday, February 8, I will draw a postcard at random from all that I have received to date.  [I'm revising that date, due to overwhelming response (I'm editing this on Monday, 2/4 at about 9:30 pm):  I will do the drawing on Monday, Feb 11th.  Give a little more time to get cards in].  The person who sent the card will receive this free subscription! 

You don't have to send me a fiber art postcard to be in the drawing, but here are a few of the cards I have received that ARE done in fabric and stitch:

See the collection of postcards from this project here.  See a progress report here.  Make a postcard and send it to:  Jane Davies, PO Box 45, Rupert, VT  05768.

Report from The Postcard Project

The postcards are really rolling in now!  THANKS to all of you who are sending cards.  Keep 'em coming.  I just wanted to share with you an exceptional card sent by my friend Janno Gay, who is the proprietor of Flower Brook Pottery in Dorset, VT.

I've received so many wonderful cards!  Instead of posting them on this blog, I thought it would be simpler to create an album in Facebook.  So here it is. 

During Art and Soul's Kansas City Retreat in April, I will be hosting a FREE one-hour postcard making session, on Thursday, April 4, 5 - 6 pm.  That is during the break between day and evening classes.  This is just for fun, with absolutely no obligation to send the cards to my post office!