b mused

April's Postcard of the Month

April is Kite Month.

Who knew?! And this came to my attention because my pal Val, when asked what came to mind re: the month of March, said: "Flying kites". So, in looking at kite-flying images online (last month) >>> TA DA!! >>> April = Kite Month.

April's card, atypically, is pretty much the same as the first prototype:

Almost the only real difference is the kite strings. I opted for more substantial strings - thinly cut silver paper/foils - instead of the metallic silver thread. I'm not sure I made the right choice...

Version #2 has a lot of elements that I really liked: the more dynamic sky, the cute spikey grass:

And I also liked isolating/using the one kite-flyer - seemed to make it more 'mine', as opposed to the sort of lack of ownership I feel re: the whole rubber stamp image as-is. But, I found it this one a bit dull compared to #1.

And then, things got interesting. Tangents were pursued. (You are hereby forewarned.)

My friend, Linda, had recently come across these old embossed paper 'frames':

that I had given to her (20+ years ago, in a divestment fit). And she gave them back to me!

Which led to me recall having seen something similar in this book that my mother had given to me (probably 20+ yrs ago, too):

And sure enough:

Which then led to me remembering this old postcard I had in my (very small) collection:

I just love these 'window' effects. And, in the "Scraps" book, I found this image of a little kite-flyer:

And I just happened to have a whole bunch of old envelope windows that were just begging to be used. So this - version #3 - is what happened:

I liked a lot about this one, except I thought the blue envelope paper was too blue, plus I thought it didn't show well against the polka-dot blue paper. Nor did I like the dots on the left, or the rather arbitrary vegetation at the kite-flyer's foot...

And then, in preparation for a Monday lunch with Mum AND her oldest friend, my 'Aunt' Connie, and my 'cousin' Rory, I made some carrot cake (oh yeah - still on this bender) muffins (cupcakes?*), using these totally adorable muffin (cupcake?) tin liners:

Which led to the idea - version #3 - of maybe using the ladybug as a kite. I just laid the Ladybug over the other kites and took the photo to get an idea:

This was not met with any enthusiasm! The Ladies Who Lunch(ed) thought the Ladybug was too much of a diva - stealing the spotlight.

Then!! I had a visit from a group of NINE women - mostly artists (one, a poet) - up to the studio, after they first lunched downstairs at Toscano's and saw the display of my Winter panels there!

Winter VIII, panel of 12 of the postcards sent out in 2000:

The instigator for this visit - Nancy Ellis - is an artist who had participated in a collage workshop that I led last April, as part of the Emile A. Gruppé Gallery's Plein Air workshop series. (not outside!)

This is a collage of Nancy's that I just love - composed at the workshop:

It was a very pleasantly stimulating/inspiring visit with all these vibrant, enthusiastic artists - following conversational threads to new horizons. One being my introduction to this book by Molly Peacock - "The Paper Garden" - the story of 72 year old Mary Delany, who, in 1772, created a new art form, mixed media collage - 985 botanically correct cut-paper flowers, which are now housed at the British Museum:

If you want to see more: http://www.mollypeacock.org/.

So, I thought while I had all these artists' eyes available, I'd poll re: prototype choices. And most of the enthusiasm seemed to be, again, for #1. Also: consensus that the angled, uneven horizontal as per the old postcard (Best Birthday Wishes - above) was more interesting than my straight-across division.

But!! Aunt Connie and Rory having brought Mum these Pussy Willows:

And!! Having also found these Pussy Willows in the "Scraps" book:

I was all determined and prepped to make multiples of version #4:

But!! When I looked at this the next day, it just really left me flat. SO dull! I'd somehow managed to leach out all the joy and freshness of that first one!

OK, my primary resistance to going with that first design was that it was so simple, lacked any subtlety. Using this rubber stamp as-is just felt too easy.

Plus the bold, primary colors didn't exactly represent my my pastel inclinations for April's palette. But it was a very likable image. So I re-prepped.

Some of the April postcard fixin's:

I never ended up using any of the cute grass (lower r.) in these postcards. But, used it was!

First in a birthday card for my happy friend, Sharon:

And I was so happy with this card. It has just the feel of Sharon and our fun bunch of playmates!
If I could have made multiples of this card (postcard-sized), I would have loved to!
Only have a limited supply of balloons and those little flowers...

Sharon, w/ stunning b-day tiara setting up for Karaoke battle:

I also used the grass in this Easter card I made for Mule:

This bunny paper punch got a lot of use!

(that's my eye, reflected in the bunny's haunch as I took the photo...)

I also made an Easter card:

for my oldest friend, Leslie (7th grade, Newport, RI), who is 'godmother' to Esther t. Bunny:

Esther tableau

Biker bunny! Too cool, eh?!

Bunny Bunny Bunny. My friend, Barb, and her granddaughter, Ava, also used the punch to punch a bunch o' bunnies out for Easter cards they made during one of their Wednesday tea + fun sessions at my studio:

So... back to the postcards. (I told you there were tangents.)

I did indeed go back to idea #1; a set of 21; 17 steps:

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4 - The kids

Step 5 - first, silver thread, kite string

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Step 10

Here come the kites! The first is a little duck - cut from ad for ties!

Step 11

Step 12 - Sailboat kite - also from tie ad.

Step 13 - Butterfly kite - yes, from tie ad

Step 14 - The last 3 kites are all from a little pack of Japanese origami paper

that old friend, Leslie, sent to Esther t. Bunny some years ago.

Step 15

Step 16

The only difference between Steps 16 & 17 is that I didn't like how abruptly defined the kite strings were where they met the kids' hands. It made the 'strings'the most prominent part of the composition.

So I took a green marker to 'em - just a little bit, right by their hands, to mute the effect.
Step 17

I think it helped.

And I think my (minor) trepidation with sending these cards out into the world does have a lot to do with COLOR. Subtler hues are usually more my norm, and especially when it comes to what I wear! > > > Black, grey, mouse colors. I could undoubtedly benefit from a color infusion.

So... to this end, I made myself buy (from 'my' store):