Mail Art

This is a collage of Christmas Postcards I sent to each member of the Mail Art Group.

Title: "Merry Christmas"

Media: Marker

Date: December 23, 2009

Photographic Snow Compositions

"Falling"

"Still and Calm"

"Reflections, Light, Shadow"

"A Fall Leaf in the Winter Snow"

"Finale"

Stokes County Fair 2009

(A Recent Blast from the Past)

My Latest Postcard Designs

Title: "Fishy Composition"

Media: Watercolor, Marker

Date: December 1, 2009

Title: "Let it Grow, Let it Grow, Let it Grow"

Media: Colored Pencil

Date: December 2, 2009

Handmade Jewelry

Title: "Classic"

Media: Hemp, Beads, Bottle Top

Date: Summer 2009

Mail Art: Postcard 5 (4th mailing)

Title: "Purple Mountain Majesty... God Shed His Grace on Thee"

Media: Watercolor & Marker

Date: November 2, 2009

Watercolor Studies

Title: "Color in Space"

Medium: Watercolor

Date: July 2009

Mail Art: Postcard 4 (3rd mailing)

Title: "Colorful but Settled"

Medium: Marker

Date: August 2009

This postcard is another design for the mail art group. This card went to artist Hannah.

Jewelry

Title: "Orange Crush"

Genre: Jewelry-Making

Date: August 2009

My Blog is 1 year old!

Conte Drawing

Title: "Going with the Grain"

Media: Conte

Date: August 2009

Mail Art: Postcard 3 (2nd mailing)

Title: "An Artist's Eye"

Media: Pen, Colored Pencil

Date: August 2009

This image shows the design of the postcard I mailed out in the September Postcard Exchange of my mail art group. This postcard went to artist Melody.

Graphic Painting

Title: "Night Rolls In, The Sun Swirls Out"

Genre: Altered Photo of a Watercolor Painting, Graphic Art

Date: August 2009

Watercolor Studies

Title: "Brushing with Motion"

Media: Watercolor Paint

Date: August 2009

Decoupage: For the Fair

Title: "Rays in the Sky"

Media: Paper, Gel Medium, Wooden Plaque

Date: July 2009

(Note: I may be pushing the limits of 'decoupage.')

Painting on Wood

Title: "Southern Flower"

Media: Acrylic Paint

Date: July 2009

Handmade Book

Title: "Ferris Wheel"

Media & Tools: Watercolor Paint, Scissors, Glue Stick, Cardboard, Acrylic Paint

Date: July 2009

Wire Art Sculpture

Title: "The Life of a Tree"

Media: Wire

Date: August 12, 2009

Acrylic Painting: Non-Objective Patterns & Designs

Title: "Rhythm of the Brush"

Medium: Acrylic Paint

Date: July 2009

Acrylic Painting: A Realistic Detail

Title: "Strawberry Kiwi"

Medium: Acrylic Paint

Date: July 2009

(Note: Possibly a Work in Progress... I am still studying a couple of the details.)

Mail Art: 2nd Postcard

Title: "Enjoying the Details"

Genre: Mixed Media

Date: August 2009

For Caroline C.

Mail Art: 1st Postcard

Title: "Strong Hold"

Genre: Mixed Media

Date: July 2009

For Lauren C.

Mail Art

Mail art is an artistic movement that began in the 1950s and uses the postal service as a means of transportation and exchange. Mail art ranges from rubber stamps and decorative postcards to envelope designs and trading cards. To read more on mail art, click here, for wikipedia's explanation.


During summer break, from being an art teacher, my art lead teacher gave each of us a pack of blank postcards, drawing pens, and the orders to have fun and create. Each art teacher will have one postcard exhibited at our opening meeting at the beginning of the school year.



My Postcard for the Teacher Exhibit:


Title: "Considering the Details of the Matter"
Media: Pen & Ink
Date: June 2009



This mail art project inspired a variety of ideas, and in order to continue my postcard designs, as well as to have an outlet for exchanging and receiving postcards, I formed a mail art group of my own, presently consisting of 11 other artists/craftspersons/explorers, some from the neighborhood and most from my church. Every artist designs a postcard to be mailed to a different person each month. At the end of a year, we all will have a postcard from each person as well as one of our own design and plan to exhibit our creations in some manner, whether publicly, privately, or over lunch or coffee.

Graphic Art Part 3

Title: "Colors Moving in Time"

Media: Digital Photography, Photo Studio Software

Date: July 2009

Experimenting with Graphic Arts Again

Title: "Technical Colored"

Media: Canon Rebel Digital Camera, Photo Studio 5.5 Software

Date: July 2009

Experimenting with Graphic Arts

Title: "Outside the Frame"

Media: Canon Rebel Digital Camera, Photo Studio 5.5 Software

Date: July 24, 2009

A Mixed Media Collage

Title: "Natural Motion"

Media: Paper, Acrylic Paint, Pen, Gel Medium

Date: July 27, 2009

A Charcoal Study

Title: "Passion Fruit"

Medium: Charcoal Pencil

Date: July 23, 2009

Another Media Exploration

Title: "Texture in the Water"

Media: Derwent Graphic Pencil Collection Made in England

Style: Contrasts between Realism and Abstraction

Date: July 22, 2009

Note: This may not be finished. I am going to look back at the water and larger duck in a few days.

Drawing with Colored Pencils

Title: "A Cat: Close Up"

Media: Colored Pencil

Focus: Texture & Value

Date: July 21, 2009

A Gift

Pen & Ink Drawing with Decorative Frame

Title: "Just a Little Token"

Media: Black Gel Pen, Acrylic Paint

Genre: Mixed Media

Date: July 10, 2009

This is a gift for a friend who is going away to medical school at Virginia Tech.

Note: The lighting is not the best for the colors, and I used a different camera than usual.

Where's the Art?

I am currently on summer break from teaching art. I am very excited to have some time to rest and focus more on my personal art. However, before I can get serious about creating, I am organizing and sorting all the teaching material I brought home as well as organizing the garage, which is also partially my studio and where I store most of my art supplies. Also, my husband and I have been traveling and having some adventures. I am updating our travel blog for now until I have more art to share. Visit my travel blog, Trips and Treks.

A Photographic Composition

Title: "A Photographic Composition"

Genre: Digital Photography

Date: Friday, May 29, 2009

Location: Downtown Charlotte

Pen & Ink Drawing: "Ceramics"

Title: "Ceramics"

Genre: Pen & Ink

Media: R-2 Inc. Rollerball 0.7mm Gel Ink Pen

Size: 8'' x 10"

Date: June 4, 2009

This is a gift for a friend, who was actually

my high school art teacher and mentor.

His birthday was May 2. Shhhhh... I have not yet given him the gift!

Note: I am still struggling with the shadow. In regards to the style, perhaps I should have left the shadow out altogether. I am wondering if the angle is accurate. I did study the shadow of a vase similar in shape, but my perspective or point of view may have been slightly different than the point of view of the drawing.

Just for Fun: Artistic Style Quiz

Take the quiz, here, that supposedly predicts your artistic style.

At first, it said I have a Surrealistic Style.

It said: "You certainly don't think inside the box - you might not even know where the box is. Surrealism stresses the weird, the fantastic and the dream world of the subconscious. Your art is wild, wacky and off the wall - just like you!"

Hhhhmmmmm?!

(I even said I color inside the lines!)

When I took the quiz again, reconsidering those questions that I could have answered a couple different ways, it said: "You're Neoclassical!

Neoclassical art was a revival in the 18th and 19th century art, which is characterized by order, symmetry, and simplicity of style. Your art is structured, orderly and neat - just like you!"

Can art versus math and music preferences make that much difference?

(Note: Keep in mind, I did not choose the photos or icons representing each question, particularly the disturbing music photo!)

My Paint Doodles are just to add some color and do not necessarily reflect the results other than the use of symmetry versus asymmetry.