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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Where do mail geeks go on vacation?

The National Postal Museum, of course!

It's Max's spring break and we are visiting my sister in Northern Virginia.
Today I went to the fabulous postal museum in Washington DC and couldn't resist posing with Mr. Zip.

By the time I get home I will have missed six days of mail.
I'm having withdrawal symptoms.

Thankfully I brought an absurd amount of art supplies, and since my sister conveniently has a paint-encrusted folding table in her basement, I made myself at home.

 My primary art-mission of the week was to finish a series of canvasses she commissioned several months ago.  One pleasant evening later, and here they are hanging on her wall:
(each one is 5"x7")

It's funny to me that she orients them horizontally, when I created them vertically.
It's all in the eye of the beholder, as they say.
Here are close-ups of all three pieces, oriented the way I see them.




With this mission accomplished, I spent quite a few glorious hours exploring lesson 1 of my Jane Davies Extreme Composition class.  The assignment involved exercises with line, the relationship of line to itself, to other lines, to the page, and to the background.
I made dozens of studies.
(here they are piled up on my sister's kitchen table)


I am LOVING this class so far.
After the various exercises in the lesson, I created this series using a "vocabulary" selected from my studies.


 I could happy continue to explore these exercises for weeks to come.  In fact, maybe I'll do just that while my sister is at work tomorrow.

This has been a wonderful vacation.
Some people want tropical beaches or European cities, but I can't imagine anything better than this: laughing until I cry with my family, long hours of art making, and a national love letter to the postal system.

10 comments:

  1. Gosh I wish I had your work ethic. But you are just a bit nuts!...in a good way! The last three piece in blue are to die for!

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  2. I'm glad you're having such a great time!!

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  3. Fantastic!! such wonderful works of art.
    ~Dawn

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  4. Sounds totally awesome, Karen! I can't believe all the art supplies you brought with you on vacation, and all the art you are creating away from home. I really love the art you created for your sister, and it IS very interesting that she oriented them completely differently than you had in mind!

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  5. wow what a great holiday, and creating to boot. your sister is so lucky loved the art your created for her, I think they look great both ways

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  6. Oh my gosh, I wish I would have known! I'm only 40 minutes away. :-) I'm glad you're having an awesome trip, though! <3

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  7. I'm glad you're having such a great vacation. Mail geek indeed! Your pieces are all just fantastic!! No matter which direction they're viewed from. xoxo

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  8. Glad you are having a fantastic time! Love the little canvases! So many yummy layers. I had missed Jane Davies and her classes so I am thrilled you have been posting about your win. I love her work, and what you have been posting. LOVE! I have moved her class up my wishlist.

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  9. Do you not LOVE Jane Davies!? I like all your composition pieces.

    It's a pleasure catching up with what you've been doing. I've missed it.

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  10. I'm so envious that you're taking Jane's class and your pieces are just stunning. I'm beyond impressed. I love your use of line and the tension between the black and white. I see hints of Jane's style but I also see lots of you. Beautiful work - oh, and your vacation sounds delightful! I've actually managed to do a little art on my vacation as well and though it doesn't compare to your output,I'm a happy camper.

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