Enveloping the Word: Book and Magazine Page Envelopes

 I took a page from an old, oversized art book showing photographs of a modern art piece and, using a template, cut out an envelope. I used a black fine-point Sharpie to outline some shapes and added tiny marks around them. I had a good time listening to a Russian army band rendition of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor [one of my all time favorite Bach pieces in any instrumentation] while I was working. After I folded the envelope, I added a few little embellishments and called it good.

The cut page from the art book.

I enjoy taking pages from discarded art books and various magazines and making envelopes out of them. I use the envelopes to send letters to my grandchildren and other relatives and friends. They always know they have a letter from me when they see the envelope in the box.

An envelope made from a magazine page with a few embellishments.

This is not great art, but it is my art. It is not as avant-garde as Ray Johnson's mail art and his New York Correspondance [sic] School members. I wish I had known about the growing mail art community in the early 1960s when I was an art student, before life took me in a different direction. I believe my first art teacher and mentor, Floyd V. Cornaby, would have loved it. It was much cheaper to mail letters back then, too! First-class postage in 1965 was five cents.

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!

Enveloping the Word: January, Part 2

 "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

A few more envelopes: pen and ink and folded magazine pages:

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!

Enveloping the Word: January

" 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 finished my eighty-two Christmas card envelopes a few days before Christmas. I mailed the cards to overseas addresses in early December. The ones going out of state were next, followed by those within my state. I saved the envelopes for cards to friends and relatives in my city for last. I have a friendly acquaintance with a clerk at the post office who takes my city cards and letters, hand cancels them, and puts them in the next day's delivery. This saves two or three days of delivery time.

I have made a multitude of "chunk-o-cardboard" postcards for swapping on swap-bot. The chunks do not have to be decorated, but it is against my nature not to decorate the cardboard with some little flourish before I send it off to find its way in the world.

My art in December and January has been making envelopes from Southwestern art magazine pages and decorating letters with pen and ink. Here are some samples.

 

I need to develop a new design for the inked envelopes, even though they are fun to do. February inspires some possibilities. We will see what happens.

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!

Enveloping the Word: Christmas Card Envelopes

  "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

Last week, I was hurkle-durkling [a Scottish term for waking up but lying in bed for a few minutes, thinking, pondering, reviewing the need-to-do list, and mentally preparing for the day]. I remembered with shock that it was already December, and I had not started decorating my Christmas card envelopes. I send out close to eighty cards every December, tucked in hand-decorated envelopes. We bought the cards in early November so I could get started earlier than in past years. Did I get started early? NO! I had not even decided what to doodle on the envelopes. Ack! I haven't written my yearly Christmas letter yet!

That morning, I hurkle-durkled for longer than usual, pondering and hoping for a quick solution. I needed a design that was simple and would not expend too much of my time to finish each card. I settled on circles, or globes, encircling the address field in a wreath. I cut a simple stencil of circles that I could easily and quickly embellish, and proceeded from there.

This is the stencil pattern transferred to an envelope.

This was the first attempt. I added another circle. Eh

This is the second rendition.

The third iteration. My wife likes this one, so I am going with it.

Here are a few of the letters I mailed in November while I should have been working on Christmas cards.

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!

Commit Acts of Art Every Day: Exploring Art in September, October, and November

  "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

As I was writing out some notes on postcards for three different Chunk-o-Cardboard swaps [seven cards in total], I was signing the cards with this blog address. I realized that I haven't posted anything since August. I was juggling too many things and trying to live up to my creed [Commit acts of art] to have mental clarity enough to blog anything. I will now try to slow down and catch up.

In September, the Exploring Art class created sketchbooks using a reverse piano-hinge binding. I love this binding because it lies flat. You can paint, draw, or collage on the pages, and, if needed, pages can be easily removed and replaced. I try to make a couple each month.

The October class explored mail art and ATCs, or artist trading cards. We folded single pages from magazines and calendars into envelopes, used templates on printed papers to cut and fold envelopes, and drew designs on regular, "store-bought" envelopes. To prepare for Halloween, we made a pumpkin patch of jack-o-lanterns. I urged them to send a Halloween message to someone using the envelopes.

A week after the class, I received a note from one of the class participants. She sent me a template she made of a small envelope her husband received that week. She chose not to "carve" her pumpkins.

November's class was a messy festival of paint and paper. We explored monoprinting with jelly plates.

Now I need to get busy on my Christmas card envelopes!

Commit Acts of Art Every Day! 

Enveloping the Word: Creating an Envelope from a Book Page

 "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 tore some pages out of an old art history book yesterday. I do that occasionally, not because I like to destroy books but to get printed papers with interesting designs and colors for whatever art project I feel impressed to work on.

The pages are 12 1/2 inches X  9 1/4 inches. These columns of print look interesting.

Covering the text with a black Sharpie marker is the start of something new.

Adding some lines of color and a few circles in the blank areas takes it a step further.

After adding some spots with a white paint pen. I like this. I could put it in a frame and hang it on a sunny wall, but I have already drawn an envelope pattern on the page, so get the scissors.

It is ready for folding.

It is now an 8 X 5 3/4 inch envelope; just right for a greeting card. This will be the front of the envelope, but I will put the address on the back.

I will write the name and address in the blank spaces. I often use the folded side of an envelope for the address so that the front of the envelope will not be marked and soiled by the postal machinery.