5 days a week

By now this is old news, but I must point out that it is a real shame that the U.S Post Office now has a 5 day work week like the rest of us (well...considering the work/life balance conundrum most of my friends have maybe not like the rest of us). The Post Office now opens just after most of us go to work and closes just before we leave Monday through Friday. It seems that now only the retired, out-of-work and sleepy night-shift workers can buy stamps and mail packages from our beloved mailmen. The rest of us find ourselves in Fedex, after work hours, or searching for stamps on Amazon. A sad season for snail mail and another sign of a declining Postal Service. At least, I still have a post office box the corner of my block.

An online sale

On the back of this postcard, Lynn wrote that she had a gorgeous roll-top desk but that it was not comfortable and difficult to do work on. I could immediately imagine what she meant as it reminded me of a roll-top desk owned by my grandparents. Mostly closed, I always thought it was a good place to hide nice things rather than a suitable place to work. Lynn was thinking about experimenting with a Craigslist sale, rather than let it sit and collect papers and dust. Craigslist is a big web move for a woman without facebook, twitter or even a smartphone. How did your experiment go, Lynn?

Art Club

Lynn made these next two postcards with her sister-in-law last year using water color and permanent marker. They remind me of my 8th grade Art Club. It was the first year that I really began to immerse myself in the art crew at school and I felt like I had found 'my people'. An oasis in junior high school. One project I worked on that year was a flip book that could be hung and had pages that looked very similar to this - fine pen  lines outlining wild, bright colors. I drew tiny men walking through these colorful mazes and remember enjoying adding the minute detail. 

Winter argyle

Winter is a time for argyle. Lynn's postcard made me think of a taxi ad that I saw in San Francisco last month on my way to the airport. The ad showed women and men in brightly colored, knee-high, argyle socks. Men wore them while skate-boarding and playing sports and the women were posing sexily with basically only socks on (making me me think that it is probably the absence of other clothes not the socks that were sexy). The ads made it seem as though argyle socks were the newest, hottest thing one could imagine. This made me laugh as it is a bit like trying to convince everyone that earmuffs will change your life.

Argyle on winter postcards, however, now that is a different story.

Finding ink and the left-side of your brain

Just as I am months late with posting this year, Lynn was late sending postcards last year. Determined to catch up, she went online for inspiration and found some ink drawings that reminded her of art supplies she had hidden away after college. After digging around she found her old art kit, looked to Jordan and Micky as models and took a stab at painting with water and ink. 

It is always nice to get back to art after the new year, even if it takes a while to settle your mind and find inspiration. Isn't it? Whenever it has been a while since I took time to draw, I first feel my the left side of my brain struggling to engage. Once it does, I relax. It is as if the left side of my brain lets out a big sigh of relief as I get into my rhythm. As if to say - ah, she remembers me. :-)

Full Circle

Maybe not the best title, but this card was inspired by a Facebook post- so it seems like full circle when people start making handmade cards from digital media again! Jessica was preparing for a busy few months at work, but there was a little light at the end of the tunnel- which is sometimes all you need ;-)

Icy Dreams

Oddly, while most of us were dreaming of sunny, warm weather Jessica was back in Ghana dreaming of icy, cold days in Michigan.  Jessica was excited that the following winter she would be back stateside to enjoy the snow and cold wind!  How are you liking it friend? 

Comfort

Jessica continued a theme...relaxing on the couch with her mom! They watched a ton of Glee.  Its funny that she wrote about this comfortable time at home, because that's what this farm image evokes for me.  I have a secret (well, not anymore!) wish to take and collect my own photographs of old barns and possible live in a barn turned into awesome home!

This reminded Jessica of when her Mom would tape whole seasons of Survivor and send the (VHS!) tapes to us in college.  We would devour them all at once, and doing this was one of my favorite memories about being roomates.  I remember lots of life that happened around our survivor marathons.  Speaking of moms, Jessica also wrote about her excitement that I was going to be one.  She had tons of questions for me and was ready to be super supportive.

Harvest Scene

Jessica was back in the US for last year's Thanksgiving.  She took the time to do all the things that she loved! shopping, cooking vegetables, throwing pots, and drawing.  Jess told me this scratchboard art was inspired by Oskar and Theodor Hofmeister's "The Haymaker".  She and her mom spent Thanksgiving watching "Sahah" and enjoying time together.  While Jessica wrote it wasn't a typical Thanksgiving, I think spending time with family is always the traditional thing to do.

Good neighbors

I'm not sure if this is a scene from her neighborhood, but on this card Jessica both was thankful for amazing people that lived right near her and tried to get me to visit.  Perhaps to meet them? She wrote it had been too long since I had seen her in the flesh...very true pal. I never made it to her corner of Africa when I traveled there in July. But we talked on the phone often enough that I felt like I knew her neighbors and sounds of her neighborhood.