RIP Mailart365

 "Not every act of art creates something special, but it creates something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

Last week, I tried to log in to Mailart365.com to post some new images. I found that the site is no longer accessible. Only two of us were still posting in 2025; even the creator of the site stopped posting a few years ago. I completed five years of creating 365 decorated envelopes and postcards each year. I took a short hiatus after year five. I was up to 110 items in year six. Fortunately, I kept an image of each envelope and card in a file, so I have my own record for reference, and I am still committing acts of art every day.

This is one of the first envelopes, front and back, that I posted in year one of my adventure on Mailart365, a subscription renewal for Classical 89 radio.

An envelope from year two.

A collage postcard from year three.

A crayon colored envelope, front and back, from year four.

A decorated magazine page folded into an envelope from year five.

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!

Commit Acts of Art: More "Chunk-o-Cardboard" Postcards

"Not every act of art creates something special, but it does create something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

During June, along with gardening, attending funerals, concerts, and working two open houses for the new West Jordan Cultural Arts Center, I have continued to make "chunk-o-cardboard" postcards in hopes of more trades. I have quite a stockpile now. Two more of these trades came to my attention this week: an international trade with one partner and a USA trade with three partners. All I need are addresses and time to write a message on the back.

Here are a few of the new cardboard postcards:

This card looks better in person as the silver tape under the decorative packing tape looks dull.

This month I also made and sent some high school graduation cards to three grandnieces.

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!

Commit Acts of Art: A "Chunk-O-Cardboard" Postcard Exchange

 "Not every act of art creates something special, but it does create something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

I participate in mail art trades from time to time on swap-bot.com. The current trade I joined is sending three partners a postcard that is a "chunk-o-cardboard. It does not have to be decorated, but I cannot send something plain through the mail, so I used some decorated packing tape to upgrade pieces of snack cracker and cereal box postcards. I couldn't just make three cards, so I kept going and have enough for another trade. I added a few extra touches to the last four cards. If anyone wants one, give me some place to send it.

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!

Commit Acts of Art: Loose Papers in a Sketchbook

 "Not every act of art creates something special, but it does create something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

Several loose papers and drawings were slipped between the sketchbook pages I am chronicling here. I don't know when or in what order these loose pieces were done, but they are certainly of the sketchbook decade.

Begun, but never finished. They may be better as unfinished studies.

I remember this sketch was modeled on a photograph in a magazine, probably LIFE.

More random pages.

A strange mother and child, or a strange drawing of a mother and child?

Commit Acts of Art: More Leaves from Old Sketchbooks

 " Not every act of art creates something special, but it does create something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

These are more pages from a 1965 sketchbook. They are all 14" by 17". These pages were done with crayons. I still like using crayons.

I have no idea what this was supposed to be, if anything:

Some still life:

A couple of beauties here:

A bridge too far?

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!

Commit Acts of Art: Finding Old Sketchbooks

 "Not every act of art creates something special, but it does create something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

It is said that anyone who can read cannot clean out the attic. Too many opportunities to sit and read an article in a magazine that someone saved for some reason, or flip through the pages of a book you saved because you were going to read it one of these days. I am the same way when I look in one of my storage boxes full of pages torn out of various magazines and old books stacked in the closet. I have to look at them. The questions are always Why did I save this. What was I going to use it for? What project did I have in mind and never started? I put the boxes back on the closet shelves and shut the door.

Well, last week as I was trying to clean and reorganize my office/studio, not the closet, I unearthed some of my sketchbooks and several loose drawings from the mid-1960s mixed in with the art paper stacked on shelves in the corner of the room. I have looked at them a few times over the years, but I had to sit down and look at them again until my cleaning time ran out.

Most of the pages were still life crayon drawings in the Cubism style. I was very into Cubism, modern art, and experimental techniques in the '60s. My teacher, mentor, and friend, Floyd Cornaby, encouraged experimentation.

Here is a set of pages from my sketchbook from 1964 or 65. I was 16 when these were done. Each page is 14" by 17".

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!