Mailart 365 has moved
Thanks for visiting Mailart 365. This site is an archive of mailart produced by artists doing mailart 365 from December 2010 to August 2016. As of July 2016, we moved to a new and more modern site at www.mailart365.com. Come on over and check us out there003a&b - Attic black figure pelike from Rhodes
Monday, June 20, 2016Working through my postcard stash, I came across this and can't for the life of me work out how it got there. Usually at museums, I'll skip through most pottery, so there's no way I'd buy a postcard of a vase.
As it turns out, this isn't a vase, but is in fact a "pelike", which is a particular shape of drinking vessel, which was popular in Greece around the 5th century BC. Unlike the better known amphorae, which have pointed bottoms, the pelike has a flat bottom and can stand alone, which seems a rather obvious design if you ask me.
So, when I started this piece, I had no interest in Greek ceramic art, but the longer I sat studying the piece and drawing it, the more I came to appreciate how the skilled the sculptor was and by the end of it I felt that I could really appreciate pelikes.
002a&b - Tracy Mills II
Friday, June 17, 2016
As a postcard fanatic, I own far too many postcards that I'm "supposed to send" and often buy bundles of cards which often contain stuff that's just rubbish.
One aim of this project was to get through some of these and inject some life into these cards which nobody really wants to get.
This is one example of the sort of thing I mean. This card was part of a bundle and was from the now-defunct Athena chain. It's titled "Tracy Mills II", so I tried to google for who the person is, but could find nothing.
So obviously, this card would probably appeal to a grand total of nobody in the world. Hopefully, now with a little watercolour and fineliner enhancement, I hope that the new lease of life will make it a little more appealing to the 2 new recipients.
One aim of this project was to get through some of these and inject some life into these cards which nobody really wants to get.
This is one example of the sort of thing I mean. This card was part of a bundle and was from the now-defunct Athena chain. It's titled "Tracy Mills II", so I tried to google for who the person is, but could find nothing.
So obviously, this card would probably appeal to a grand total of nobody in the world. Hopefully, now with a little watercolour and fineliner enhancement, I hope that the new lease of life will make it a little more appealing to the 2 new recipients.
001a&b - The famous Round Houses Veryan Nr St Mawes Cornwall
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Today is the beginning of my 365 reboot and begins with this rework of a John Hindes Studio work, photographed by Edmund Nagele.
This new 365 project has been inspired by 365er Stripygoose, who we recently visited on Bird Migration day. Having completed all 365, Stripygoose invited Elenatgeezer, me and Positivelypostal over to her place and posted them all on one day in the same postbox, after which everyone present made a pact to do a full 365 all over again.
After some thought on themes, I decided to indulge my passion for postcard halfs, so I aim to make 365 pieces based on original postcards, where I cut them in half and do something creative with the other half. This pic is of somewhere in Cornwall and has been reworked in watercolour with Fineliner.
Obviously, as I am working with 2 sets of 2 halfs, then technically I'll be making 2 365s, but I didn't think that was fair, so will count both sides as a single piece, labelled a and b for simplicity.
As the blog posts come, I'll be expanding on the rationale behind the theme a little more, so watch this space.
This new 365 project has been inspired by 365er Stripygoose, who we recently visited on Bird Migration day. Having completed all 365, Stripygoose invited Elenatgeezer, me and Positivelypostal over to her place and posted them all on one day in the same postbox, after which everyone present made a pact to do a full 365 all over again.
After some thought on themes, I decided to indulge my passion for postcard halfs, so I aim to make 365 pieces based on original postcards, where I cut them in half and do something creative with the other half. This pic is of somewhere in Cornwall and has been reworked in watercolour with Fineliner.
Obviously, as I am working with 2 sets of 2 halfs, then technically I'll be making 2 365s, but I didn't think that was fair, so will count both sides as a single piece, labelled a and b for simplicity.
As the blog posts come, I'll be expanding on the rationale behind the theme a little more, so watch this space.