Asemic Front starters

 Horrified to see that DVS made these and mailed them out to me straightaway and I am only now acknowledging them! I showed them to people at my Open Studio and these starters caused quite a stir!

Some of you may not know that I got a surprise honour/award in mid June and since then my time has been carved up a little more and it seems as if time is at a perpertual tipping point.  It's all great, but I simply can't fit everything in a day or a week or a month so I'm getting more and more behind. I refuse to feel stressed about mail art and I am supremely reliable, so I trust it will all work itself out but it is Saturday night at 9:19 amd I'm tw months behind and I need to go and start the plum chutney because I already pitted the plums… etc.

This mailing from DVS is exciting and daunting, a bit like the New English Art Club Drawing Scholarship. I am out of my comfort zone but will have a go and hopefully once I'm in the corner something will happen. The starters are inspiring.  I've placed them around my studio and will let my brain do some of the backgorund intuitive thinking for a while and then…
Thanks DVS. They won't be in your mailbox for a little while, yet.

Tofu: Palette and Place

 In case I get a thumbnail in my reading list, I decided to put the above Columbia colours at the top of this post. Tofu and I LOVE colour and we live in a world where we are driven by the magic of seeing something or imagining something and finding some way to convey it in colour. We also both like labels, or rather, surprising labels. Tofu's labels are like poetry.

 So obviously, this project is right up my alley. And I am sorry that it has taken me a little longer than usual - ok a lot longer than usual to blog it!  I blame Aristide 3108! :) I did open it and hang it in my Open Studio exhibition, though! Thank you TOFU

It's Aristide 3108's fault!

…that I have something of a 'blogjam'.

Front Cover

This is the front cover of a zine I received quite a long time ago, more than weeks ago, from Aristide 3108. I took it to my room as bedside reading.  If I concentrate hard, I read French, and this zine was obviously worth reading. 

Number one it celebrates some awesome mail artists who are 'dressed for Ryosuke Cohen'and his Fractal Portrait Project. 

The zine is 36 pages and it was the thought of scanning 36 pages that has been my barrier to blogging for some time.  It's been the zine's turn for weeks and I simply haven't had the time to scan all the pages, although THEY DESERVE TO BE SCANNED!

The zine has a matt finished front and back.  Inside the pages are semi-gloss. The Zine feels good and the essays and stories are fabulous insights into this mail art world we cohabit.

 So I have scanned the entirety of Aristide 3108's entry.  He and I exchange mail art and apart from Ryosuke Cohen, Keith Bates and Tiziana Baracchi I haven't exchanged with the others highlighted, so that's where I drew the line. Keith's essay is really interesting, so I will try to scan it later for you to read. (It's in English!)

inside back cover 1

inside back cover 2

Great zine, great project!  Thank you!

Back Cover

Cascadia and I have the same idea of a creepy clown

I have had this postcard on my desk ever since it arrived quite a long time ago. I sent a clown to mail art martha and intended to send one back to Cascadia Art Post but to be honest, this card says everything I might have said anyway.

I may have told you before that I went on BOZO the clown when I was a kid.  It was on my birthday so I got to blow kisses to the audience and emerge from some object. I must have liked BOZO but I can't remember and it baffles me if I did. I know I hated going to birthday parties with clowns.

Then about ten years ago I worked with a clown named Ken and together we transformed the way I was teaching a year eleven class.  Boy was he smart and edgy and uncomfortable so my ideas about clowns changed.  But let me tell you, this clown. What a BOZO and it is certainly no joke!  Thank you Cascadia.  As ever you did that thing that mail art can do so well!  CHECK OUT THE STAMPS!

Below what I sent to Martha and a link http://clownparadeproject.blogspot.co.uk to the other clowns!

Taidgh is back!

 So it's obvious when you get a Taidgh mailing.  I think I might have given a little whoop when I found it in my post box. Lots of Taidgh's creature people seem to be whooping, so I was in good company! 

On the other side of this sunny card below was some news from Taidgh. He seems to be dipping his toes in the mail art water again after a long absence. We have missed him and I for one welcome him back with enthusiasm! Having said that, it is a little embarrassing that it has taken me since mid MAY to reply! What can I say except that in dribs and drabs, I am back too!

 Taidgh sent me these 25 sheets of this fun writing paper and I think it is definately earmarked for DKULT creations, so I will be sending some out to my fellow kulters begging forgiveness for abandoning the mansion for a wee time. My latest excuse revolves around climbing into 5,000 year old brochs and cairns on Orkney.

 Great to get some deliciously stale news from Ireland too… the better to trashpo with, I reckon.

 But Taidgh's poem is the centrepiece of this mailing.  WOW. So much mouth candy and visual emotion.

   a

and A beautiful folded A4 zine (by Marlee Norr, I think) featuring one of our other favourite writers!

Huge thanks and I'll be sending you a souvenir from Orkney soon.