How Does Your Creative Process Work?

My Journey  Exploring the Creative Process

I have decided that I want to work on my (lack of )  watercolor skills!  I thought simple projects would fit the bill....and so the humble postcard it is.   I mainly get my ideas for watercolors from what's around me...or good ol' Pinterest!  Until I learn the techniques...I will need to study other works and then go from there.

These are my favorite from the last bunch that I did.  I did spray them with a water color sealer. Warning:  It takes a few weeks before the odor evaporates,  These were painted on Cotton Arches and credit goes to Pinterest.

I'm trying not to waste my watercolor paper and so I "practice up" first.  My first attempt at the study  is in my  mixed-media sketchbook.  After sketching the picture,  I work on painting it.

I do another run of the same painting in my Traveler's notebook.  

Haha...I make mistakes everywhere!   Seems I don't know how to spell "December"!

But, three attempts is not always a charm!  My post cards of my winter catus...turned out to be quite disappointing.  I totally forgot what perspective I was working on...haha!   I even  tried covering up my mistake with a label!  It's all good...I send them to my twin sister and ya know what?  She doesn't care!!! ;-)

I thought I would share with you some of the books that I find helpful for learning to sketch and watercolor techniques.  This book is definitely a keeper!  You won't waste a cent on this book.  It's also a great primer on plein air painting as well.  I am not in the practice of carrying around a sketchbook, or doing a "sketch-a-day" but I would love to start getting into that habit. What about you?  Do you add watercolor or other medium to your snailmail?  

A Sketch A Day

Will Keep

Mistakes

Away!

Pam 

Incoming Snail Mail!!!

YEEEHAAAAAhhhhh!!!

Can y'all tell that I am getting ready to go to TEXAS?  That means working on all my TEXAS lingo. And I am ready and rarin' to go!  Hmmmm....that gets me thinking!  I should get some penpals in the general area so I can do a penpal meet up with my Texan snailmail lovin' community! I am able to wrangle out a few letters from kinfolk...,but bless their hearts, its like they get fixin to write...but lose heart.  Anyway...if any of you kind hearted Texan folk want to write me, leave a comment.  Especially if you live in the Dallas, or Sherman area....I'd like that more than you could shake a stick at!

Oh, but back to my blog post.  Above is my recent  postcrossing incoming.  Two are not shown...they got left on a counter somehow.  I love the stamps, and all the nice little notes.   It really does make a sad mailbox happy to get all of these.  So now, it is time for me to go on and get my next batch of addresses. I think I will be doing about 10 or 20 a month.  The above picture gives you a hint of where I live!  This was a  record snowfall that we received here in the "gateway to the south"!  It was great fun getting snowed in...drinking hot chocolate by the gallon, sitting by the fireplace...

And admiring my incoming mail on my nice cleaned up desk.  

Hope you are enjoying this day

where ever you may be

Go and make /send 

some good mail

today!

Pam

Pen Pal Kit

Postcrossing Is Alive And Well!

Post Crossing Happiness!!

Do you remember this from a few weeks ago?  I sent a "fistful" of postcards out to mainly Germany and Russia...  It ALWAYS pays off!

Here is some recent incoming Post Crossing activity in my mail box.  If you haven't tried Post Crossing  (https://www.postcrossing.com/) yet, check out their web site and give it a try.  It keeps your mail box happy.

I just love the cool international stamps,don't you?  I am partial to Japanese Stamps...but I love them all!

This  beautiful postcard didn't have much writing, but where it lacked in writing, it MORE than made up for it in gorgeous postage stamps!  I love the quaint little phrases in English.  I admire anyone trying to learn a new language--bravo!

You may receive more than a postcard from a postcrosser  like I did here. 

 In my Post Crossing  profile, I mention that I teach a geography class to young children, so I appreciated any cards that showed the landscape, or local landmarks.   I do take the cards in and share them with my class.  the children take turns locating the country and city on a map from the point of origin of the  postcard. 

  Because of this , the postcrosser sent a beautiful postcard of local foods of Taipei, Taiwan, along with pictures, scenes of the locality

 and then a coin.  Such a lovely experience!  I plan on sending something back to this kind postcrosser.  

Happy Snail Mailing...

Pam

Have Mail, Will Travel!

Mail Art On The GO!

I received this most delightful package from my twin sister for my birthday some time back.  Of course it was immediately LOVED.

Have you ever used an aqua brush?  I had not.  But I quickly discovered it's amazing feature of its "portability".  It TRAVELS well!  You see, the shaft screws on and off and hold the water.  This eliminates the need for a bowl of water to clean your brush so all you really need it a bit of paper towel.   I took this set of brushes with me to camp in the mountains this summer, it also went with me on a trip to  the Potomac River.  I now include them in my portable writing box along with a baggie of paint tubes.  

Here was the Thank You postcard I mailed to her.  What did I send her for her birthday?  Agggrrrrrhhhhhh!  I still haven't sent her anything.  UGH!!!  She totally stumps me.  I just don't know WHAT to get her, any ideas?

The Craftier the better!
Happy Snailmailing,

Pam

Incoming and Outgoing Mail

Incoming Mail Deserves Outgoing Mail!

I have had some super nice mail coming in lately. I even got a letter from the famed: Limner over at Oh Write Me  blog.  I had been wanting to send her off a letter for such a LONG time, and she beat me to the punch!  Be sure to check out her blog for  some very artistic inspiration.

Writing letters is a labor of love!

Here is a batch of Postcrossing that is going out,  I have been rather inactive with this group  for a few months.  Time to get back into the groove.

I have been having fun with Swap-bot and having an Etsy store allows me to work on my "parceling" skills!

Two Austen Letter Writing Kits going out!

Some more yummies going out from Etsy.

Stay tuned.  I have an update on my letter writing organization that I would like to share with you soon.   I am hoping that it will help me stay a bit more organized.  What do you use that works?  I think that I am going to model my approach from Mrs. Murphy's Mailbox Magic 's system.  More on that later.

The Craftier, the Better,

Happy Snail Mailing.

Pam

DIY: Making Post Cards

Turn Your Art Into Post Cards

Do you like to make your own postcards, or have you never tried?  I enjoy postcards, and I am a member of  a great group called Post Crossing.  This is a great organization for receiving and sending postcards from around the world.  If you find your mail box more empty than full these days, sign up at : Post Crossing and get that mail box full!

DIY postcards might be better suited to Swap Bot  (another great organization), as Post Crossing usually requires purchased cards.  Whichever route you decide to take, making postcards for your personal pen pals is great fun.

When I purchase a product that I am really pleased with, I want to share it with others.  Here are the details of my most recent purchase.  I received this rubber stamp in the mail the other day from an order I placed online from Hobby Lobby. Just a side note:  I was pleasantly surprised by the online sale of 40% off which almost gave me free shipping.  It is quite large, as far as rubber stamps go.  

Here is the back side of the rubber stamp--just in case you were interested.  

I didn't have a stamp pad large enough to lay it down and stamp the ink, so I improvised and just wiped my stamp pad ,seen here, across the rubber.  It worked just fine and I was VERY pleased with the quality of the stamp.

Now these post cards can be sent out properly.  If you are one to make your own postcards, you might want to consider  one of these stamps.  I had been meaning to get one of these for quite a long time and now I am glad I made the purchase.

The Craftier, the better.

Crafty Snail mailing.

Pam

Let Me Tell You About A Letter In My Mail Box!

Make a Snail Mail Statement, with your Original Work!

Have you ever thought of making your own art work into a postcard to send out?  This particular artwork was by Gilbert B.  Battung,  He sent it to me some time ago.  I wrote him to ask him about his process and if he had any more postcards that he had designed.  I never heard back from him but I wanted to share it with you.    It is his little say about meaningful communication.  I like it!

If you have ever designed your own postcard,  what was your process, and did you have them printed off?

Write Letters (or postcards)
Write Often.

Lady Pamela

Making your own Postcards...trial and error...

Making Postcards...the journey begins!

Let's see ...a while back I was majorly into sewing...mainly from necessity...then it was (and still is...my obsession with letter writing and everything that goes along with that)... and then is was  (and still is..learning to play my beloved fiddle!)...then it was (and still is...Latin and Greek studies..)...then it was (and still is...fiber arts--crochet and knitting...)...and THEN I decided it was time for me to get serious about learning  what I could of watercolor painting.  Usually my first step into a new arena is to gather information...as much information as possible!  I begin my new passion with study...for me this usually means books, as I am hopelessly old-fashioned and actually like to glean my information from  something I can hold in my hand ( and I must say, yes you can hold a tablet but I like turning paper pages!). Here is my watercolor painting "library" so far.  These are very basic books, exactly what I need!  My favorite basic book is the  "First Steps" book--pictured in red below. 

Watercolor painting  library!

I don't know exactly why I thought I needed expensive brushes ( I guess I just got caught up in all the excitement of it)...but I got them...now I need to use them! In case you are wondering...places like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, A.C.Moore all have great art supplies at very reasonable prices.

I really want to just do small projects with watercolor painting.  I thought that the postcard size would be just perfect for my little "studies".  Yes, yes...I know that this (above)   is a very amateurish start...but hey!  Whatever!!!

I want to share my beginnings with you all  because many of you are like me...not really an artist,  and definitely not on a professional "artist" level, but still desire to explore  the "artsy" side of  our brains! I already  have 2 people  ( Ha ha! Never mind the fact that they are my sisters!)  that are  ready to do a  watercolor postcard exchange with me, so I am really excited to get started!

 Here are my thoughts for watercolor studies...

1.  Start sketching areas of interest in  my county (Amelia Court House, VA ) particularly old buildings.

2.  Use my Kokeshi doll collection for a definite "series"...(see below for my first catastrophe!)

3.  Whimsies (see above--they look rather stiff, don't they???) no matter...I love whimsical paintings...you can find tons and tons of ideas on Pinterest

4.  I can't think of more at the moment...why not leave me a comment with some ideas??

Here is Ms. Kokeshi...with a rather large, uneven eye there...

Unfortunately...I didn't stretch the paper before I decided to do my outstanding ;-), wash...hmmm...I think that maybe there is more to this watercolor thing than I first thought....

It's ok  if I fail...I have 29 more blank watercolor paper postcards!  Besides that, the folks I'm sending these little "gems" of "art" to,  love me!

Have you thought of trying something new?    Maybe it is watercolors...or Spencerian  writing... whatever you do, just have fun with it...and get out there and do it!  And oh, don't forget to put your very short letter on the back of your postcard!

Write Letters

Write Often

Lady Pamela