Blue and Purple postcards

I've got a stack of lovely mail art that needs answering, so I've been working on postcards today.

I decided to double up and make some postcards that would fit in with the colors of the day.
Of course now that I am ready to mail them off I regret not making larger pieces to keep with my other colors.  Rather than having an incomplete rainbow I will probably end up making MORE blue and purple art to keep.

For now, here are my postcards.

I started the blue ones with various security envelopes... which makes me think of money...which led me to this old book of mathematical tables I found at the thrift store, and I found and ripped some pages about calculating compound interest.... which made me think of a terrific (if a bit dark and depressing) song by the National, Bloodbuzz Ohio, and it's repeating chorus of "I still owe money, to the money, to money I owe".... which just seems to sum up the sad state of so many Americans in this economy.

So after getting all dark and heavy on myself, I switched to another in my series of purple flower postcards.  I had a hot mess of a painting a few months back that got cut into postcards. Bit by bit, I've been doctoring them and sending them out.  I cut the flower petals out of painted book pages 

Aqua

Don't have any bad puns or song titles for Aqua.

This started out inspired by a very cool roll of washi tape, which can barely be seen at the bottom of the collage.  As layers got added, it totally shifted away from the original plan, and ended up influenced by the dogwood blossoms on a wonderful postcard I received from Janet.

Have I mentioned how much I'm enjoying the monochromatic challenge?

This is for Daisy Yellow's Rainbow, of course

Dead Flowers

OK, I promise to stop naming my posts after Rolling Stones songs.

I grew up pretty indifferent to the Stones.  I knew the hits.  The hits were fine, but whatever.   It was ancient history.  My appreciation for the 60's was hyper-focused on the Who.  And what self respecting new wave fan listened to the Stones for crying out loud?  but when I turned 30 I had an epiphany.  those mid-period stones records?  from the late 60's and early 70's?  jeez louise.  why did it take me 30 years to figure this out.  Beggar's Banquet?  Let it Bleed? Sticky Fingers?  Exile On Main Street?  These are some of the best records ever made.  When I admitted this total reversal of opinion to my fellow nerds rock loving friends, the very wise MAM said "You know the thing about Exile?".............."It's a really good record"
enough said.

Here's my green piece.  (oh MAN I just said green peace) for Daisy Yellow's Rainbow
It made me realize I don't use much green (i.e. grass green, Celtics green, Kermit green).  I'm much more earth-tone when it comes to green.  so there you have it.  Not really a dead flower, but a dormant tree.  It doesn't feel rainbow-licious, but I like it nonetheless.

The sunshine bores the daylights out of me

Just because I was the fanatical orange hostess for five days of color, doesn't mean I don't like yellow.  You can't really have a rainbow without it.

Plus, I'm obsessed with stamping images from a cut lemon.
Plus, I found all kinds of interesting yellow things in my stash.

I am loving this monochromatic thing.

(and since two of my other posts this week coincidentally referenced Rolling Stones songs in the title, I feel compelled to keep the theme going.  and while I can't get enough sunshine personally, I have always loved that particular line from "rocks off") (shit, now I'm going to have to find another stones song for my green post. )

Book 2 sent to Kristen

Here are a few of the pages I added to Andrea's sketchbook before mailing it off to Kristen today:

fun with color mixing!

I love me a good list

And, completely unrelated to sketchbooks, the damn cat is drinking the water out of my paint brush rinsing cup.  It's a wonder I get anything done.

Shattered

This week's theme at the Butterfly Effect is "Broken Pieces"

It's easy to feel fractured in this modern life of ours.  There are so many things that demand our attention, and so many roles we play in our own life and the lives of others.

When I'm creating, I feel calm and peaceful and whole - which only serves to emphasize the areas in my life where I'm not quite as content, furthering this feeling of being fragmented.

Of course one of the things I do best (and perhaps all women do best) is hold all those pieces together with a smile on my face, even when I'm being pulled in a bunch of different directions.

This piece started with a collage sheet I made months ago and never used. I'd layered dozens of squares of paper (some of my painted papers combined with scrapbook paper and book pages)

I also had a series of self portraits I took last year - close-ups of portions of my face.  I printed them and layered them into an approximation of my head.  I cut the whole collage into pieces and linked them back together with jump rings.  I attached a string to each of the pieces and "installed" it on the wall with the strings wrapped around push pins.  I think I might find an empty frame and  tie the edges of the collage to the edges of the frame - maybe with fishing line so it looks like it's floating.  not sure.

Here are a few detail shots:

Now I'm off to the Butterfly Effect to see how everyone else has interpreted this theme.

Orange you glad I'm hosting?

Welcome to day two of Building a Rainbow!

I'm Karen and I'll be your hostess for today's color!

Okay, not THAT kind of hostess, but boy did I love those orange Hostess cupcakes.

Which leads me to the color of the day:

Orange!

I love Orange - both the color and the flavor.

Orange is the only decent Lifesaver in the roll of five flavors.

It's the preferred color of lollipop at the bank.

It's the popsicle you fight for.

All the best flowers are orange.

My favorite chair is orange:

And let's not forget sunsets:

So naturally, orange is my go-to paint color.

(Hey look!  It's the background color of my blog!)

Looking through my flickr pool, it's by far the most used color.

So in honor of today's color, I made this collage of both new and old painted papers.

Now head on over to Daisy Yellow to join the fun!

She comes in colors

Guess what?  We're building a rainbow and you can help!

The ever-inspiring Tammy at Daisy Yellow is building a rainbow with five days of color. 

Today is day one and the color is red or pink.

I rarely work in these colors, but was up for the challenge.  I intended to create something red, but a funny thing happens when you combine your red paint with white gesso....

So here's my pink piece for today.  It includes just two of the many kinds of washi tape I got for my birthday from my lovely, lovely sister.

It also includes a picture I took of my favorite day lilies in my garden.

Now go make something red or pink,   and add your linky love at Daisy Yellow!