Postcard 04080817

Postcard 04080817

I absolutely love the Lyra water soluable graphite pencil.  I have used it a lot since my friend, Wendy, turned me on to it several years ago.  Thanks Wendy!  I never spent much time reading the label on the graphite pencil until about a week ago.  Another friend, Irene, asked me if I knew about the water droplet on the side of the pencil.  No, I did not know about it.  Voila!  It is there and, of course, that means it is water soluable.  Not all Lyra pencils are.  I always just looked to see if it said "water soluable".  Now I just need to look for the droplets.

You might wonder why I am even mentioning Lyra graphite pencils.  I used them twice in this postcard.  Once for mark making and once for outlining around the photograph and the matchbox image.  It softens hard lines.

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What creativity is trying to tell you: Jonathan Tilley at TEDxStuttgart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMOqIJ9V_K4

Postcard 03080817

Postcard 03080817

When one likes something but can not quite say why, what is that all about?  I like vintage.  The term is very broad but practically everything vintage is OK by me.  I like mixing vintage and contemporary or vintage and abstract.  It just works for me.  It is pleasing and yet why do I think that? What is it that pleases?  Maybe it is just OK that it is pleasing.  That is enough.

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The art of asking | Amanda Palmer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMj_P_6H69g

"In My Mind" Music Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9WZtxRWieM&list=RDEMWsqWb0QG0ACb4YhYHp0Orw

Postcard 02080817

Postcard 02080817

I smile every time I look at this postcard.  When I was in my twenties I wanted a pig.  It is fortunate that it did not work out as my professional life took a turn which would not have allowed for farm animals. I do have a special place in my heart for pigs though ever since I read Charlotte's Web.  Who could not feel warmth from Some Pig?  For those of you who have not read Charlotte's Web, Charlotte, a spider, wrote in her web "Some Pig" when referring to Wilbur and to save his life.

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Penguin Cafe: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILrIEKaC450

Postcard 01080817

Postcard 01080817

Sometimes I get possessed with an idea and I just have to carry it out to completion.  This new postcard series is one such possession.  I am using vintage photographs, postage stamps and vintage matchbox cover images in the series. You might wonder about the numbering system for the postcard. The 01 represents the first in the series.  The 080817 represents the date that I completed it. Sometimes I come up with individual titles that aren't numbers.

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Lin-Manuel Miranda Reveals How He Sneak Tested Hamilton at the Obama White House

I am totally obsessed with Lin-Manuel Miranda.  He is just the sweetest man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo5Tq7e0reo

Secrets 23

Secrets 23

This was the first spread that the Coupeville workshop did with me last week. Many of the aspects of this collage include recycled materials like the inside of a teabag envelope or magazine snippets. There is a secret buried beneath the image of the rowers.  I took the photo of Irene Rafael when I was in California last October.

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Maren Morris: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

a bit of explicit language....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM1o4OQaIEc

Secrets 22

Secrets 22

I completed most of this spread last week while teaching at the Pacific NW Art School in Coupeville, WA.  I worked on it this morning and I am calling it done.  The label that I found that says Cowboy Cavier came from Trader Joe's.  It took some time to soak it off the jar but I just had to have it for this piece.

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Albin Lee Meldau: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert  ....some explicit language warning.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc2i9pwSSqE

Secrets 21

Secrets 21

Today is another two-fer as yesterday I was in Vancouver, B. C. and when I returned from our trip I took a nap and forgot to post here.

OK.  I can now divulge the idea behind the Secrets series.  Last week Brian Kasstle and I taught a workshop at the Pacific NW Art School in Coupeville, Washington.  We created stack journals bound with wrap around bindings and sealed with bizi sticks.  I will share the covers and bizi sticks tomorrow or so.  My portion of the stack journal instruction included a variety of ways to hide secrets within a spread.  In this case the secret is hidden within the teabag "envelope".

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The Shins: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tid0nlwfvAI