MailArt: Melinda Hands Over A Power Deck

Speaking of family, my son, Ell, reached a landmark age this year which, of course, got me thinking and planning another mailart piece. And, as Count Rugen said (Princess Bride): "Get some rest. If you haven't got your health, then you haven't got anything." The idea came to me as I considered that we are dealt life cards in which we have no say. Yet, when we go out into the world, we take them with us and can shuffle them to our choosing. If we're lucky, we have time to choose from several career options. We all have to watch out for the joker. And, our spiritual beliefs are our ace up the sleeve during tough times. If we've had good guidance and if the deck has been stacked in our favor, life could go easily. Or, if not, there can be confusing misfortune. We can also choose to throw the best cards out, not realizing how important it is to shuffle wisely. This mailart piece is about the size of an Uno card deck: card stock, pencil and ink, solarplate images, glue, clippings from the NYTimes, and one deck of cards.

All the World's a Stage...

And the best dads are in the same play...sharing the stage. Happy Father's Day to my two favorite actors: Bug and Philostrate And all the men and women merely players; "They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts..."

There is a Way to Mystery While Seeking Answers

Louise Bourgeois said it to all who can listen, "The purpose of art is to express emotions. My emotions are inappropriate for my size." Painting the mystery while seeking your own answers is to converse with emotions larger than yourself. Can you give yourself permission to push beyond your size? I see that Kathryn Law is having just such a conversation with her paints, and I hope you'll take a look at her work. She mentioned Bourgeois the other day and I found the youtube link of the trailer for the documentary. These emotions are worthy of expression, even if no one listens. The work is everything. I was also inspired to fix a painting that had been bothering me. This painting can be seen at Artist Melinda: Off into the Weeds, Back with Saddle Burrs. This painting is 12" x 12," oil on artists' board, of a door leading somewhere at the mission of Tumacacori, near the Mexican border with Arizona. Verfhond's Half a Thousand Living Painterly Painters #94 and working my way up the sanctuary steps.

Arizona Artist and Diagonals of Tumacacori

This painting went through a number of transitions and the scratching away, wiping off and the additional layers turned out much better than the beginning image. It is 9" x 12," on artists' board. Due to the consensus of my fellow artists' thoughtful comments, I've added some background images. Thank you SamArtDog, Donald Diddams, and Jeane of ARTIT. Update: I was surfing around and found that I am included in Verfhond's Half a Thousand Living Painterly Painters. That's kind of nice. I had to search for my name, but there I was, #94--from my post Paint, Painter, Painted--Art, Artist, Alive. This is the image I used for the scratching, wiping away business. The result, of course, is above.

  First painting of Tumacacori bell tower. I thought this was alright, but a bit boring.