Fall Post Card Swap 2016 - my cards

For this swap I decided to try the Etegami as described by Diana Trout on her blog:http://dianatrout.com/  It's the entry from 10/15/2016.

I wrote fewer words and mostly used letter stamps for the words. I ordered a custom chop, but it didn't arrive in time.  Most of the cards are using the paper rated "full blur." You can see how the paint spreads in the Nasturtium card below. The stamps are from Spain in the 1980's.  I found a stack of letters written by friends I met there in college.  I need to read through the letters again, but I'll save that for a nostalgia day. In the meantime I grabbed some of the stamps for the art project.

I'm obviously inspired by my surroundings: my dog, my cat, a mini pumpkin my husband has on his desk, an owl from the Audubon Society of Portland, indoor flowers we had from the market, nasturtiums and asters from our yard.

Speaking of the Audubon society, I just could not decide on a design for the 6x6 project this year. I gave up, but we did go to the show this weekend. We picked up a couple of steel ravens for the yard and notecards.

I've received about 5 post cards so far. I'll post those next time.

House of Dreams for Kitty Cats

On November 12, 2011, House of Dreams cat shelter is having a Pretty Kitty Craft Bazaar at Tabor Space, 5441 SE Belmont Ave in Portland, Oregon. They will have all sorts of fun gifts to buy which will help the shelter continue to help kitties with no homes, including a room of Feline Leukemia positive cats.

I won't be able to attend, but I did donate some of my Speedy cards:



Speaking of Speedy, this poor kitty is really feeling the weather. He's very wobbly on his feet right now.  At 18 years old, this Age Chart says he is around 88 in human years.  We visited Bob's sweet grandma Reggie to celebrate her 89th birthday last night, and she would agree that she's been unsteady on her feet lately too!

If you can't make it to the Bazaar, I'll be listing cards on Etsy soon - the one above and a close-up in a vertical format.

Latest Commissions

Oh - doesn't that sound nice: "Latest Commissions". My friend asked for a few more of the "Pear Mail" series. I made a few as gifts as well. (Jenny? Raegan?)


Of course, once I received a request and a deadline, I went into resistance mode. I put it off as long as I could.



The story of my life.

The same thing happened with crochet. My niece asked for a scarf made from yarn she chose. I had to make her a hat, scarf and gloves from yarn I picked out before I could get around to making the one she wanted. Of course, don't even get me started with my regular work.

The scarf and hat colors I chose.

The scarf and hat colors she chose

They're both nice. Both easy.

My sister Rachael's scarf.

I can't be the only person who has resistance issues. Anyone else have any stories? Remedies?

Dee Dee in the window on a sleepy January day in Portland.

Speedy with "Lost Edges"

I really enjoyed painting this - the Canal paper is very absorbent. It's a little difficult to control the paint, but it is fun to try.

When I paint people, and lose control, I end up with "zombies." I won't post those - although, maybe at Halloween... The boys in the previous post are rather close.

In case you don't know, lost edges (or soft edges) are where the borders between two areas blur a bit as compared to "hard" edges which are clearly delineated. It's a concept that may be obvious to others, but I admit was very difficult for me to understand at first.

Keep trying?

I started this to keep motivated, but I haven't been maintaining my enthusiasm. It's just so hard to do what I want to do! I spend a lot of time experimenting and playing, but that means I end up with a pile of messy, ugly work.

I'm posting a few drawings I've done over the past few months. Today is Speedy the Cat day (aka Speed Racer.)