Through The Keyhole

I've Been Dreaming of Hand Written Letters

I've been dreaming of hand written letters lately.  Of writing them and receiving them.  When I was in high school, I had a vast collection of stationary.  I'd moved several times, leaving behind friends with each new beginning.  There wasn't email or texting then.  No Instagram or facebook.  There was only long distance telephone calls and letters.  I rarely had money so I wrote letters.  Thick, juicy, news filled letters.  Sealed with deep red sealing wax and a brass fleur des lis or a smiley face. I loved the sizzle of the wax as it melted and dripped onto the envelope.  I kept it up into college and grad school.  Again, I was usually broke and very often didn't even have a phone.  Letters were the only way to stay in touch.  So now I relish each opportunity to send a note to someone. 

One of my favorite traditions of the holiday season is sending and receiving Christmas cards.  I treasure each one in which the sender has taken a moment to pen a short note. Last year we let the busyness of life push out the card writing and I've mourned the loss all year.  This year will be different.  I'm writing out the card list now.  We'll print some cards of our own design (see yesterday's post) and use the unopened cards from last year.  But I won't stop there.  This year, I'm going to leave love letters and sweet notes around the city.  Little gems for strangers to find.  Something like these treasures hula seventy and her tribe left around Portland.  Wouldn't you have loved to find one of those?  A friend left me the note at the top of this post years ago.  She'd left them all over the campus of Artfest that year.  I found another on a restroom mirror before I knew it was her leaving them.  I left that one for other's to find and I remember reading more than one blog where the writer had found one and gushed over the sweetness of it.

Watch this Ted talk on the power of love letters by Hannah Brencher.  Kindness is powerful stuff.  It can save lives even if it's a stranger doing the writing. 

For more on guerilla kindness follow Kindnessgirl or read this post by Keri Smith.  If you haven't read this delicious post of French love letters by Corey of Tongue in Cheek go there now.  You won't be sorry. 

Would you like a hand written card sent your way?  If you're not already on my holiday card list and would like to be, drop me an email.  I'd love to send you a little note of your own.

Vintage Swap Update

I'm way behind on updating about my vintage swap package.  I've been so exhausted since the car accident I've been mostly offline, resting whenever I can. 

I received my package in the mail as I was leaving for Journalfest.  It was a delicious treat.  My swap partner Heather had wrapped the goodies in what looks to me like cross stitch fabric.  I'll be washing it up and dyeing it I think.

 
What a fabulous little pile of treasures I have now.  Every time I look at it I choose a new favorite thing.  I'm particularly fond of the vintage pillowcases.  I just love vintage bed linens.

Heather was way more on top of it than me naturally.  See her post here to discover what I sent her.  Because of the accident, I wasn't able to shop and gathered from among my collection.  In the end I think it was more fun having such a restriction.  I looked as so many of the beautiful things I'd tucked away for just the right project.  Great fun.

You can go to the Vintage Swap 2009 blog here to see the rest of the swaps.  A feast of treats it is.  I look forward to playing with my treats and to future swaps. 

Mail Call

Yesterday was a wonderful mail day. I received my Artfest registration confirmation and I was assigned to my first choice classes. There were many I would have enjoyed taking but I was really wanting LK's Poetic Eye I class and Keith Lo Bue's Working With Wire class. Two favorite teachers and two favorite mediums.

Getting ready for LK's class is going to be a fabulous journey in itself this autumn and winter.

I also received my copy of a collaborative book I was involved with. This project was organized by Penelope Harris in Canada and the topic was the story of colors. I enjoyed the care with which she wrapped this lovely little package.

The thoughtfulness of the book design is wonderful as well. Each color has it's own tab. Every contributor wrote an small original story to highlight the personality of their color and created a piece of art to accompany it.

I enjoy collaborations such as this occasionally. I think I need to limit myself to one, possibly two a year though. They provide an opportunity to stretch myself since I'm working to someone elses "rules" and the final product is lovely. I find that I can let them distract me from painting and jewelry making though. An easy excuse.

I've been re-reading Art and Fear. I'm realizing I have created countless pieces in my head that never get worked out on the canvas or with the metal because I get frustrated with not being able to execute my vision. Of course, the way to be able to execute the projects I conceive is to keep on making more art but I just keep forgetting that. Things like the day job, the child, my partner, legitimately consume the bulk of my time.

What I've been avoiding examining is what's taking the rest of my time. I also need to look at how I can capture more time. None of this is unique or new. The artists I most admire have figured out how to make work in spite of the challenges. I know they haven't figured it all out all the time but they seem to have struck a balance I'm not finding yet.

Ah well, with that completely unoriginal idea, I'm off to bed.

P.S. I forgot to take photos of the artwork inside while it was daylight. I'll do that next time.