New Address

Betcha been wondering where I've been.  Well, first I went to North Carolina to attend one grandson's graduation and to see the other off to Bahrain (he's a computer specialist in the U. S.Navy).   I ran into a few problems along the way and ended up spending four days and $1400 more than anticipated.

As soon as I got back from NC, I began madly packing for our move to the other side of Louisville.  The madness finally ended yesterday, when we turned in the keys and drove our overloaded vehicles across town one last time.  Today was spent contacting utilities, post office, etc., to make sure folks can find us. I've put my new address into the Welcome note on the side and will also change it on my IUOMA website and on facebook.  That won't cover the world but will be a good start.

Thanks to all who've been mailing while I've been otherwise employed!  I'll be scanning and posting your pieces soon.  Probably not soon like tomorrow, but soon.

Counting: 153, 154, 155

Every once in a while I like to reflect on what's happening in my mailart.  Mostly I'm trying to guess how close I am to the actual number I should have reached by now in the mailart 365 project.  Here we go:

December  :  31
January:        31
February:      28
March:          31
April:            30
May:             26 (and counting).

Total as of today, May 26, which also happens to be my mother's birthday (she's 89 today):  177

Hmm:  177.  And I've posted 154.  That means I'm  23 behind on my posting.

See ya later.  Gotta go do some scanning and/or addressing.

An aside about the United Methodist Church

The last group of mailart postcards I put up are the final ones I made to send to the bishops of the United Methodist Church in protest of the UMC's policy changes that allow pastors to exclude anyone they choose from church membership -- a policy that prompted my resignation from the ordained ministry of the UMC and from the UMC itself.  That issue is what brought forth this blog in the first place.  I'm loving the fish pieces, aren't you? 

Housekeeping

I've spent two days tidying up the blog.  You may not notice differences, because each one has been minute.  I've added the keyword "sacred art" to each of my pieces of mail art that include passages from my book.  I've given titles to all of the mail art pieces that were lacking them.  Instead of six variations in titles for art received, I'm down to one or two.  All of the changes are in the service of continuity and clarity and ease of communication.  For me, the creator, there's a big payoff to more than a hundred little tiny tasks.  For you, the reader, there may not be a single notice of it.  But as artists we're about making beauty; and being sure that any distractions or discomfort you experience are intentional, not the result of hit-or-miss labeling.

If you're new here, be amazed -- not so much at my work but at the varied and stunning work of other mail artists.  You're welcome to sign up as a follower to the blog, or to follow me on facebook's networked blogs, or to friend me on facebook.  The mail art kingdom is a global community; and I invite you to join in as an active artist or an active viewer. Oh, and you can leave comments, too, if the mood strikes you, and I hope it does, because bloggers feel less like they're casting bread onto the water that's sinking as soon as its out of sight unless once in a while somebody out there speaks to us.

Hugs to all--

It's Enough to Make Your Head Hurt

I just paired a really gruesome photograph with a Fibonacci poem on my other blog.  The poem is about my family's recent venture into quitting smoking; and the photo, used on cigarette packaging in other countries, pictures a really good reason to quit. Check it out if you're on the fence about quitting.

Housekeeping

It only took six weeks before I realized I'll be tripping over numbers if I continue to use two series, one system for the Only a Book pieces with shards from my book, Grace, and one system from the MailArt 365 project.

I've decided that in order to maintain records I'm going to stop the Grace numbering system when I reach 300.  It's not only a round number, but it's got that 3 in it, subliminally suggesting the trinity to one and all.

I'll continue to use book pieces and pages for mail art, but they won't be singled out from the rest of my mail art.

This has been a public service announcement.

December 1, 2010

 

I'm taking part in a new mailart project, in which participants are going to make one card a day for one year.  We started on December 1 (which is the day I made this card, even though I didn't get it posted until today) and have 364 cards to go. You can still be part of it if you're interested, and you can begin on a date of your choice.  All of the details are on the mailart365 blog.  This project was begun by andy geezer of "My Real Wall" fame, who quit facebook in order to start interacting with real live human beings.

Not bunnies

Two weeks ago I was working on a set of mail art pieces that included bunnies.  I planned to scan them eight days ago, but life got complicated, and I sped to Ohio instead.  On Tuesday, my father, Douglas Cartledge, died of complications related to a stroke.  He was 87 years old.

I think I'll have to get back home before I can get back to art.  It's enough -- all I can do -- to eat and sleep and spend time with my mother.

And yet the beat goes on.

Simplifying blogs

I've consolidated, simplified, and tidied up my blogs today. My goal is to make it easier for you to find what you're after.

The next big challenge is to make the Links areas more helpful. I'm leaning toward creating three separate Links categories:
Galleries of mail art
Calls for mail art
History of mail art

What do you think? Would that be useful to you, or are you happy poking around and being surprised? Leave a comment, please. I'd love to hear your opinion.