b mused

February's Postcard of the Month

Homage and Adieu!

A Valentine to all my subscribers over the years.

I wanted to go out with a bit of a bang after these 85 months, i.e. a tad more complex a card than just a 10-stepper, but still viable for composing 50 of 'em. So I decided to do:

a postcard version

of one of the collages that got me back into collaging again after years of pastel-ing:

Red Pods, 2009

I made this and 2 others for a SPA show way back then.*

I'm just now realizing that this rather perfectly bookends 10 years of collaging. :-) Not just the echoed composition, but a 'style' phase.

In these 10 years, I moved very much away from the "inner landscape"** type of juxtaposed images in my compositions, to what I've been calling "painting with paper" - impressions of my external landscapes. Which is what all the Postcards of the Month have been.

This was the throw-down prototype for the final postcards:

I was a bit disappointed that I didn't have enough small doilies (they are so Valentine-y)

to do 50 cards, but that white 'lace' paper seemed a totally viable substitute.

The Fixin's

The paper from whence the 'fans' originated:

50 sets of 5 hearts

25 sets of the top 2 hearts

Steps: The Movie:

The Steps

(24, this month)

The final notes! (see addendum re: more on 'final')

In case you missed 'em:

Here comes the love!

Panels of 50 of the final Postcards of the Month:

Fin.

*These were the other 2 collages that I made for the 2009 SPA show. Both of these represent a transition between "inner landscape"-type collaging and "painting with paper".

Blue Pods, 2009

Oh, The East! , 2009

(crappy photo - doesn't really show the tiny image of an ancient middle-eastern city

that's in the upper, 'moon' part...)

**These early collages are examples of what I've called "inner landscape"-type collaging:

On the Other Hand, 1977

(image used on the poster for my 1st solo collage show in 1978

at the Rexford Reed Library, Goddard College.)

Resolution, 1977

Revolution, 1977

Sarah Berhardt, 1979

And then these, post-2009 collages that represent the transition from "Inner landscape" to "painting with paper". The first 4 are definitely still 'inner-landscape"-y.

Queen of, 2010

Sanded Time, 2011

Untitled, 2011

Tinal Pool, 2011

and finally, less "inner" and more "painting with paper". :-)

Sailing Through the A-Air, 2011

Addendum I: Discounted Subscriptions!

Since I made extra postcards every month, I have quite a few left-overs after 85 months. So... I am offering an annual subscription to receive one of these already-made postcards every month. $120/year. Contact me if you are interested. :-)

Addendum II: Why Adieu?

Primarily >> cramped working quarters

for the past year: home, tiny room

after 8 luxurious years of actual studio SPACE!

(photo of me and Bentley Wolf, by Peter Wolf)

But there were other factors:

I was feeling stale. For the past year of so, when it was time to come up with my monthly designs, I often felt like I was repeating myself.

April, 2016

April, 2018

May, 2012

May, 2018

I'd be attracted to the same materials, components, same ways of combining them. So I figured a break might be refreshing. I may still revive the series to make it an even 100 months!~

Another factor was my father's decline. I sensed that he would be needing more attention soon, and not being tied to this monthly PoM commitment would free me up to be available. And what perfect timing that turned out to be! The DAY that I sent out these last 50 postcards, Dad came down with a debilitating lung virus that, combined with his already precarious health, came close to doing him in. And, Lo and Behold! >>> I was free to stay with him and help him regain some health and independence!

I stayed with Dad for most of a month. All the stories I never would have heard! An amazing and unexpected gift of prolonged and intimate time with him. :-)

During which I had totally intended to write up these last PoM notes! But did I? Nope. Did a whole bunch of jigsaw puzzles~~ instead.

So that's why these final notes are so late.

It is indeed a bitter-sweet freedom, and I am indeed sad to not have this monthly focus and sharing, but it felt like a good time to stop - for a while at least!

So... THANK YOU!! To all of you who have been so enthusiastic and supportive these past 8 years!! What a wonderful run it's been!

ADIEU!! For now. :-)

~(don't worry - the annual Winter cards will continue!)

~~I started 10, but only had the patience to finish these 6:

One of the ones I started but couldn't finish was the beautiful puzzle that Mule had made for me from this photo of the Barred Owl with the Cardinal that we took 4 years ago: