Pink Slip Postcards

This is something that I found on Facebook this morning:  a project that entails sending a "pink slip" to President (for now) Trump.  If you are a Trump supporter, please just enjoy the video for my demonstration on making monochromatic postcards.  For those of you would would like to fire Trump, send him a Pink Slip Postcard on March 15.

See the description of the project here.

I created two 'postcard sheets', each 8"x12", each of which I then cut into four 4"x6" postcards.  I encourage you to make your own if you are so inclined, but if you don't have time, use mine!  Here is a link where you can download all eight of the postcards.  Just glue them to card stock, and send to:

President (for now) Trump

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Updates

Our little post office in Rupert is NO LONGER UNDER THREAT OF CLOSURE!!!  It is staying open for the foreseeable future.  Thank you to the thousands of you who sent postcards for my Postcard Project, which began in January of 2013.  We made a significant impact.

I've put a link in the right margin of the blog, right at the top, for donations to Heifer International.  It goes to the blog post I did a few weeks ago offering a downloadable set of greeting cards.  I will keep this offer open until December 15, at which point I will make the generous (thanks to all of you!) donation, which will provide farm animals, education, and other means of self-sufficiency to people around the world.  Thanks so much to those of you who have already donated.

Back to the Postcards!

Some of you have asked if I ever sleep, implying that I am doing a lot of work lately.  I have had some productive studio time, for sure, and am gearing up for summer and fall workshops.  I do sleep.  What I haven't been doing is scanning and posting all the fabulously creative postcards I've received for The Postcard Project!  I read every single one, and LOVE them all, but the volume has been overwhelming, and other obligations have taken priority.  I am keeping them safe while I figure out how and where to display them...

Here are a few recent ones; it was hard to choose just enough for a blog post, so I decided to highlight the fabric pieces:

All postcards that reach our post office in 2013 COUNT towards keeping it open in 2014.  Rather than scanning and posting every single one on the online galleries, I think at this point it will be more realistic for me to do an occasional post on the blog with select images.  We are well over the 2000 mark now!  THANKS SO MUCH to all of you who have sent and are sending cards. 

The Postcard Project, Update

I am STILL getting postcards, and they are just fabulous!  What an outpouring of creativity and caring response, from ALL over the world.  We're at about 2000 now, and I'm a little behind on scanning and posting, though most of them are up in the Facebook albums and in my online Galleries.  I'll get caught up in the next few days. 

The USPS will make a decision in early 2014 about the fate of our post office.  The data from 2013, which includes volume of mail, will count towards this decision, so any mail coming in this year makes a difference.  YOU HAVE MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE ALREADY!!!  For which all of us in Rupert are grateful.  I read every card, and wish I could respond to every one individually, but there are so many that I'd have to quit my day job (teaching workshops and making art) to do so!  My chickens are particularly grateful for all the chicken-themed cards and those that acknowledge them as an integral part of the postal service (they certainly consider themselves indispensable to the distribution of mail in Rupert).

Stay tuned  for another Fresh Paint Friday, posting sometime tomorrow.

Look! We made the news!

WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

See the Postcard Project here.
A few pix from the news piece.

Buffy and Amelia strutting around being famous - AGAIN!

Steve Bottari, the reporter, and me talking about the postcards

We Have A Winner

Remember the GIVEAWAY last week?  Well, I did choose one card that came in between Friday, 2/22, and today, and that card was sent by Deb Blackmore, from Lakefield, Ontario. 

It is a STITCHED drawing of my post office!  How awesome is that?  She says in the card, "The same thing happened to our village post office.  When it closed, the heart of the town shut down".

Deb is a member of a couple of postcard groups that you can take a look at:

Inspired Postcards and Postcards Again.  Happy viewing! I'll be sending Deb the painting I displayed in the Giveaway post.  Deb, if you don't like it, pass it on, or cut it into postcards!

New Postcard Gallery

It appears that Facebook albums max out at 1000 images, and we reached that in our postcard project yesterday.  With some left over.  So, I created a Postcard Gallery page on my web site, divided up into separate galleries based on the day I scanned the cards.  Visit the Postcard Gallery here.  I've also updated the link in the right margin.  I will keep the Facebook Album up and begin a new one, so you can still find all the postcards there.  The volume you are generating for our little post office IS making a difference!  No decisions will be made until early next year, but this totally COUNTS!  Thank you thank you thank you for all your contributions.  I will continue to respond to cards, though I'm past the 200 mark, bit by bit.  And I will keep you "posted" on progress.  Keep the cards coming!!

Here are a few more with the post office theme. Aren't they just GORGEOUS!!!!

GIVEAWAY

THANK YOU for all your participation in this Postcard Project.  I am overwhelmed and delighted with the response, and vow to keep writing postcards on a regular basis.  I have responded to well over 200 cards, but plan to keep at it, a few at a time, to keep up the fabulous habit of WRITING.

This week I am going to choose a random postcard and send the sender this piece of art:

I will choose from cards I receive between Friday, Feb. 22 and Wednesday, Feb 27. So if you write me a card now, you have a fair shot at the giveaway.  It is 9"x12" on printmaking paper, done last spring as a celebration of ramp season (ramps are the wild leeks that emerge here in April).  Read my Sketchbook Challenge post about it.

Keep those cards coming!  Look at the gallery on facebook.  If you have an idea on a better way to display these, please let me know.  THANKS again!!!

Some Fun Sites

Several web sites and groups keep coming up in the postcards I am receiving, so I thought I would share them.  I'm excited to see how many people are interested in mail art and letter writing, and things postal in general.

Letter Writers Alliance has some really cool stuff available, including rubber stamps, stickers, stationery, and postal PIGEONS!!!

Postcrossing is a site that allows you to send and receive postcards from random places all over the world.  Check it out!

A Month of Letters is coming to a close, as it is a February project, but I hope that Mary Robinette Kowal will renew it. I've gotten lots of postcards and letters with the participant sticker on them.  Start your own Month of Letters!

I found a Flickr site on Mail Art that you can join.  FABULOUS gallery of work there!

Please send me, via comment or e-mail, and links to groups that you are involved in or know about, that are dedicated to mail art or postal communication.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

For Valentine's Day I thought I'd post some of the heart-themed cards I've received in this Postcard Project.  You can see some of my own heart-themed attempts here.

Have a good one!

And The Winner Is....

Mary Ann Van Soest in Indiana.  Mary Ann wins a year's subscription to Fiber Art Now!  Visit her blog here.

This is the card I received from Mary Ann.  See it in the Postcard Gallery.

This was a random drawing, not based on any kind of contest. THAT would be impossible! So many cards are coming in, each one special.  See the original post about this generous giveaway from Fiber Art Now.

Meanwhile, thanks for all the cards, comments, and shares for my Postcard Project!  It has been such a success so far; there are over 600 cards in the Postcard Gallery, and more to come. 

Making Postcards Video

Here is a little video tutorial demonstrating one way that I am making postcards.  You can use this method to make Teeny Tiny Art of any sort, postable or not.  I'll demonstrate this and other methods in a FREE POSTCARD WORKSHOP at Art and Soul in Kansas City on April 4.




Here is the 8"x12" piece that I created in the video:

And the four cards that resulted:

I will be sending these out on Monday.  Have fun with this!  You might try doing it in a group, and even collaborate on the cards.  Let me know how it goes, send me your own ideas on making postcards.   Download the Step-By-Step here.

Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine

Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine, published by Interweave Press, has included our Postcard Project in their "Spread the Love with Art and Three Great Causes".  Check it out!

Stay tuned for a video tutorial on making postcards.  THANKS for all the cards!  We have received over 500 already, from almost every state and many countries.

Postcard Project In Cultural Weekly!!

Looka here!  Cultural Weekly, a weekly online publication about cultural issues, has published a little article about our Postcard Project.  Take a look!

Don't forget to look at the cards posted in my Facebook Album.  I will catch up on scanning and uploading this afternoon and tomorrow.  Today's delivery was a gorgeous stack of fabulous cards, including a HUGE postcard, about 9"x12".  Here is my post box the other day:

 And a few of the cards (there are LOTS more!)  that feature the post office theme:

 

 

I am totally blown away by the cards coming in!  I will keep making postcards and sending them out, beyond the 200 I promised.  I'll post more cards as themes emerge: hearts are a big one this month. 
THANKS again for all your sharing and participation in this project!!  Keep the cards coming, and I'll keep them posted on FB and keep making and sending cards out.

A GIVEAWAY for The Postcard Project

Fiber Art Now, a quarterly magazine for contemporary fiber arts, has offered a year's subscription to one lucky winner in our Postcard Project.  Here is how it works:  on Friday, February 8, I will draw a postcard at random from all that I have received to date.  [I'm revising that date, due to overwhelming response (I'm editing this on Monday, 2/4 at about 9:30 pm):  I will do the drawing on Monday, Feb 11th.  Give a little more time to get cards in].  The person who sent the card will receive this free subscription! 

You don't have to send me a fiber art postcard to be in the drawing, but here are a few of the cards I have received that ARE done in fabric and stitch:

See the collection of postcards from this project here.  See a progress report here.  Make a postcard and send it to:  Jane Davies, PO Box 45, Rupert, VT  05768.

Report from The Postcard Project

The postcards are really rolling in now!  THANKS to all of you who are sending cards.  Keep 'em coming.  I just wanted to share with you an exceptional card sent by my friend Janno Gay, who is the proprietor of Flower Brook Pottery in Dorset, VT.

I've received so many wonderful cards!  Instead of posting them on this blog, I thought it would be simpler to create an album in Facebook.  So here it is. 

During Art and Soul's Kansas City Retreat in April, I will be hosting a FREE one-hour postcard making session, on Thursday, April 4, 5 - 6 pm.  That is during the break between day and evening classes.  This is just for fun, with absolutely no obligation to send the cards to my post office!

The Post Office

As many of you may know, I own the post office in my small town of Rupert, Vermont.  It is one of the smallest, and definitely the cutest, post office in the state, and probably in the country.  It just missed the small post office closures by the skin of it's little postal teeth, but they are cutting the hours it will be open.  The postal service will review the activity at our post office annually, and decide what to do with it: restore the "normal" hours, close it, cut back the hours even more, etc.  The two things that make a difference to The Postal Powers That Be are (A) revenue, the amount of money the PO brings in via stamp sales and package shipping, and (B) - and this is where you come in - the VOLUME of mail that it handles.

So, in an attempt to (A) increase the volume of mail that comes through my little post office, and (B) to do something really FUN, I'm proposing the following:

• YOU send me an art postcard. It can be original handmade, or a photocopy of something you've made. Print your name and address clearly on the card.
• Mail to: Jane Davies, PO Box 45, Rupert, VT  05768
• I  send YOU a postcard, handmade.  I don't promise it will be something you want to frame, but it will be original.  I will send postcards to the first 200 respondents.
• I will post ALL the post cards I receive on this blog.  On each card I will indicate the name of its creator and the place from whence it came.  If the volume is overwhelming, I'll open a separate blog just for the cards.  If nobody sends me a card, I will be sad and our post mistress will be out of a good time, and eventually a job.

Below are a few samples of the cards that I will send.  Each is approximately 4"x6":

Here is a little video of the post office in action.  Well, at lunch break when the post mistress is out:

See the Postcard Gallery here.