June 2015 Update

I know, I know... I've been neglecting this blog. Nonetheless, I've been making mail art and crocheting a lot lately. I've mostly been making postcards while at the cafe in the bookstore or otherwise away from my studio area. As a result, I have limited materials. I'll include a picture of what my "art on-the-go" kit looks like. I have two pouches I carry around with me: one pouch has just papers (scrapbooking papers, random ephemera, etc) and the other pouch has some random supplies like a glue stick, some markers, etc. As for crocheting, I recently made two guerilla art pieces that incorporate crochet: a mason jar cozy and a rock cozy. I'll include pictures of both projects. Have a good summer, all! Cheers!

March = mail art galore!

I've been making quite a bit of mail art lately. I don't have a studio area in my Dad's house (which is where I'm living now). Despite this, I've been able to crank out some decent mail art. I've mostly been making postcards lately. I even made some postcards while at Panera (the cafe). I've also been crocheting. I have a couple of WIPs (works-in-progress) going, including a kelly green headband I'm making for St. Patrick's Day. I may also get a couple of orders soon, since a local librarian I know wants me to make something for a baby shower she is going to and someone I follow on Twitter wants a pair of earrings. Score! I love to be paid to crochet!

February Update!

I've been crocheting quite a bit. I made a cat bed (for our local animal shelter), three headbands, a cowl, and some hats (including a chemo cap for a friend's mother). I've also been writing at bit and making some mail art. I made five postcards (including a valentine for my pen pal Honi C.) and three envelopes. Yesterday, I wrote four poems in under ten minutes. The idea was to just play and experiment without worrying about the outcome. The poems are very silly and random! I'll be mailing them to some of my mail art pals. It was fun to write them! I should be this free more often.

On the bright side...

Shine brighter blue than sapphires,

bloodier than the red of rubies,

he wove a partial tapestry of full of despair,

at least it makes good fodder for movies.

Silliness

A parrot on my shoulder,

for me she lays eggs.

But who is behind that curtain?

I see a strong set of legs.

Of beaks and wishes

Her beak is huge and bicolored-

cream and black,

set a wish on a penny toss

and never get it back.

Friends, lovers, birds

I have no one for company,

save some birds and perhaps a muse.

Is life really composed this way?

Some say it's just a ruse...

January crocheted goodness!

     I'm so very happy to announce that Anne, who bought the stuffed cactus from my store, Green Owl Crochet, really likes the cactus I made for her. She even left a stellar review for my store. Thank you, Anne!
     In related news, I crocheted a pair of earrings and a patriotic lanyard. I'll soon be making more earrings. I bought some of Lion Brand's "Vanna's Glamour" yarn so I can make a pair of earrings with fancy metallic yarn. Right now, however, I'm working on crocheting hats and mittens for some folks who are homeless. So far, I made one blue hat and I'm halfway done with a red hat. They are made with bulky yarn, so they'll be nice and warm. 

Review of "The Artist's Library"

     I found out about the book called The Artist's Library while browsing for books on Amazon. Amazon suggested this book for me because I had viewed a book called Bibliocraft by Jessica Pigza (Pigza is a crafty librarian who also wrote the introduction for The Artist's Library). Based on the title and the synopsis, I immediately knew that I had to check my local library system (the Bergen County Cooperative Library System) to see if they had the book. To my great fortune, they did, and I so I requested it through the Inter-Library Loan. You see, if I were able to finish college and then go to graduate school, I would certainly look into becoming a librarian. However, even though I cannot finish the academic requirements to be a librarian, I still enjoy reading about libraries and librarianship. So, a book that combines libraries and the arts? Yes, please!

     The Artist's Library started off as a blog called The Library as Incubator Project. It's a great blog, but I hadn't heard of it before checking out The Artist's Library. The authors of The Artist's Library, Laura Damon-Moore and Erinn Batykefer, also created the blog (along with Christina Endres). I highly suggest you check out their blog, especially if you're not sure if you should buy The Artist's Library. The Library asIncubator Project shares many stories of artistic folks using their community's libraries in creative ways. This is basically about which the book aims to give suggestions. The Artist's Library, however, is much more straight-forward with their tips and instruction, and also contains fun exercises. The drawback to the book versus the blog is that the book only contains a few of stories shared on the blog.

     I'd recommend The Artist's Library to any artist, and especially artists living in the USA and other countries that have a solid system of free, public libraries. By the way, when the authors say “artist”, they're including a broad range of people, including musicians, actors, painters, poets, and the like. They are not only talking about professional artists, either. I found much of the advice helpful, even though I could be described as a hobbyist.

   The book gives you many suggestions on how to utilize the free resources available in libraries. The authors mostly focus on public libraries, but some of the advice can apply to other types of libraries you have access to, as well. For example, The Artist's Library gives you advice on how you can pitch a program idea to libraries so you can organize programs alongside librarians.

     I found The Artist's Library to be a fun and eye-opening guide. It's chock full of useful advice for artists, whether they be professionals or not. If you've ever wondered what your library has to offer you as an artist, The Artist's Library will provide you with ample tips and examples.

December 2014 Update

     Hi all! I've been crocheting up a storm. Most recently, I've made a cactus stuffed toy and two beanie-style hats. The cactus was for an online friend of mine who was nice enough to pay for both the cactus and the shipping (all the way to Norway!). I'd made my friend's mom a shawl, too. The shawl took me a long time to make, but it's worth it because I really wanted to show my support of my friend and his mom while they go through a difficult time. 

     I've also been making a wee bit of mail art and I wrote a short story that may become part of a novel. 

     The other fun thing I did was follow a suggestion from the lovely Ms. Keri Smith. In one of her books, How to Be an Explorer of the World, she suggests an exercise where you blindfold a willing participant and have them touch objects. They then have to guess what the object is. So, I made a texture board and had my mom touch the various objects and guess what they are. I told her that if she got at least 5/7 correct, I'd give her a prize. She got 6/7 correct, so I bought her a box of chocolates. It was fun! 

     Please pardon the look of my blog while I fix it up a bit. 

     Happy holidays, everyone!

Review of Gutwrench Press's "Keep Writing" postcard subscription

     I first heard of Hope (of Gutwrench Press) and her “Keep Writing” project when I was searching on Etsy for “postcard subscriptions”. I wanted to see what kind of independent artists offered a service where a postcard would be sent to customers on a regular basis, ideally once a month. Hope's listing for “ONE YEAR—Keep Writing Letterpress Postcard Subscription” came up on the first page of search results. And I'm so glad it did!

     The basic concept of Hope's service is that she mails you two postcards each month. Well, it's really one sheet of card stock that can be detached at the fold, but for simplicity's sake, I'll just refer to them as separate postcards. You get to keep one of the postcards and then you creatively respond to the prompt provided on the other one.

     I love to put the postcard (the one I'm supposed to keep) onto the door of my refrigerator. It makes me and my housemates smile to see Hope's work there. The postcard I'm supposed to mail back is even more fun, though. It's fun to give some thought as to how to creatively respond to the prompt. The prompts are not complicated, though. For example, December's prompt was about how you and your family celebrate the holidays. Hope posts all the responses on her Instagram account. It's fun to see your responses and others posted online.

     Gutwrench Press's “Keep Writing” postcard subscription service is a lot of fun. I highly recommend that anyone who enjoys postal delights (both receiving and giving) subscribe to this service. Thank you, Hope, for making the mail a lot more fun!