My best friend, Robin, and I have been writing to each other for over 28 years. In that time, we've made the weirdest, most creative and inventive stationery from cereal boxes, wallpaper samples, maps, and other everyday ephemera. We've even made our own paper to write on.
Robin inspires me. Above is a pair of post cards -- Robin's on the left, and mine on the right. She sent me her flower card first, and I was so taken by the freshness of her lines, the playfulness of the colors that I tried my own.
We made our cards with watercolor on watercolor paper. Waterproof markers and white paint markers add the finishing touches.
My best friend is a master at writing post cards. In one 4" x 6" card, she can speak of the rich details of her daily life, news of her family, and the power of mortality to focus her on the bright joy of living.
Robin's post card inspiration got me playing with more ideas.
I have always been thrilled by upcycling interesting looking papers into cards and letters. When I recently read that the U.S. Postal Service had upped the maximum size of a post card to 6" x 9", I grabbed a political ad from the trash, cut it to size, and slapped two coats of white gesso on one side.
I glued a scrap of 140# watercolor paper to the back of the political ad with Yes! paste, and added some black and white washi tape around the edges to keep them from getting caught in the Postal Service machinery.
When the gesso had dried, I painted and stamped the surface with India ink and a blue water based ink. I wished I had prepared a bunch of cards to create a series with, because when I got started, I didn't want to stop!
Post cards are a wonderful art warm-up, because they're small and invite playfulness & experimentation, especially if you use upcycled materials.
I hope you'll try your hand at making and sending postcards!
No comments:
Post a Comment