MAIL ART TRAIL

Morning all, ooh I'm on catch up and realised I hadn't done a post regarding the mail art I received recently from Sarah - it's so lovely getting happy mail don't you find!

If you haven't joined in for a while, why not put best foot forward and give it a whirl - go on you know you want to!

Stay At Home CJ - February Reveal - Innocence and Experience

The start of another month can only mean one thing - it's time for the Stay At Home CJ reveal post!

This month we had a challenging theme from Pam - Innocence and Experience.  And an equally tricky background to work with.  Thanks to Pam for giving us something to really get our teeth into! :)

Only eight entries this month as sadly GlitteryKatie is currently rather poorly - get well soon Katie!

First up, Pam's own take on her own theme:

Pam - "I based it on one of William Blake's drawings and took the 'experience' bit rather than the 'innocence'- my background was always meant for this :) hence using the old cheque and the old book page -  I added the clock and the text of one of Blake's poems - it is from 'London' and was a quote i used as the title of one of my dissertations and still rings true in the work I do. Blake was a crazy old coot but a decent poet and a good artist of slightly wacky and scary pictures. I've used inks, masks, pencil , pen and spray colours with gold tempura on the clock."

Gill 

Virginia - "Knowing that the original idea was because of a William Blake poem made me think about other pieces of literature and statements that I liked.  In particular this quote came to mind, when we lived in Stafford we actually had this statement painted up on the main living room wall, I think it says perfectly what I wanted it to say.  As a child you have so many dreams, hopes and aspirations for when you are older that you see the world through different eyes - innocence.  As an adult you learn that sometimes life doesn't quite go according to plan and as such a lot of childhood dreams are not realised in adulthood - experience.  This statement reminds us, that there is nothing wrong with retaining those dreams even if they don't always come to fruition and I like to think that there is a part of the world we cannot see, hear or feel where our dreams are lived out, if only we could tap into it. The original background that Pam created was beautiful, but it was also very bold so my first task was to tone down the background with a thin layer of gesso.  I then tore parts of an atlas onto the page as I feel that the quotation links back to maps and backed that off again with white gesso.  I then played with finger painting, a little white, turquoise and blue combined to start bringing the piece together.  I had an A-Z of the Celtic alphabet to hand and copied it by eye with pencil and then with promarker and fine liner pens onto the page.  I ran a turquoise ink around the edge of the page.  I then used some Bo Bunny stamps and distress inks to stamp the hexagons both solid and hollow and the chequer board and the word believe.  Finally I stamped the heart image which was a gift from Carmen an absolute age ago and is one of my favourite stamps onto tissue and then adhered it to the top of the piece, I used perfect pearls to highlight the heart in a red metallic and again for the crown in gold perfect pearls, so although you can't see from the picture they are both metallic.  Finally I added a few ink splats to the page!  A fab background and theme to work to, thank you Pam, I really enjoyed playing!"

Pat

Sarah - "I really loved Pam's background so decided to use it pretty much as it came, tricky as it was.... I discovered doing this page that I am a lot better at drawing dead things than alive things - not quite convinced by my Bambi, never mind :)  Everything was done with posca and sharpie pens and acrylic paints.  The words I must admit were traced before I coloured them in, I can't do lettering that tidy freehand!"

Carmen - "I know it's dead simple. I know it's a bit dodgy and hands aren't my strong point - the 'old' one ended up with 6 fingers at one point - I'm looking at it thinking "something's not quite right here..." I also got told off by a horrified Devvie for covering up the background so much (Are you ALLOWED to do that??) but this has turned out to be one of my favourite pages from the Stay at Home CJ :)  So have restrained myself and left it simple because I loves it I does.  Thank you Pam for a gorgeous background and (VERY) challenging theme to play with!"    ..... and I know that I (Sarah) shouldn't be playing favourites, and I do love EVERY entry this month - but wow this one leaves me gobsmacked, I LOVE it Carmen!!

Sami - "I based my page on the pagan sacred union of the God and Goddess on Beltaine (1st May), I hope it's not too 'rude'!. The God and Goddess are both reaching sexual maturity and on Beltaine they come together to consummate their love for each other and to ensure the fertility of the earth and the return of the summer. Without this union the crops would not be fruitful and the season would not move forward. The earth is experienced in this cycle of fertility, renewal and rebirth but the God and Goddess come innocent to this rite. I used an original pen and ink drawing I did and a poem I wrote back in 2011. I printed these onto deli paper so that when they were pasted onto the page the original images would still show through. I highlighted areas with neo water colour crayons, stencils and chalk ink, washi tape and white and black paint pens."

Lou - "‘When the stars threw down their spears, and watered heaven with their tears’ ― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience"

That's all for this month - another great crop of pages, once again I am bowled over with the variety that comes from a group of people working with the same background and same theme!

Next month we are all heading underwater, as Sami's theme is "Mermaid Tales"

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!