Chris wells's Blog (68)

Here's the front of a very nice collage postcard I received from Melissa Wand. I am enjoying the technique of partially obscuring text with thin, transparent colored paper. The quote on the back is worth thinking about as well:

Thank you,…

Claire has moved into an historic site called Grandview Chapel in Wernersville, PA. She sent me some great scans of old postcards and current photos of the place. Above is one scan and below is another.

These were not the only images she…

I received some wonderful pieces from Matthew Stolte this month, including the above mixed media piece. Mixing some kind of prints/stamps in with my vispo has been one of my goals; so far they've been mostly separate. This has given me some ideas.

I also received the piece below:…

I was pleased to receive an envelope of two pieces from Eduardo Cardoso this week. I have admired his art greatly since I discovered it a few months ago. The piece above shows that the direction I've been going with some of my own visual poetry is similar to what he has already done. His Tumblr is also worth following:…

I received this mail from Gü earlier this week, and it was an utter delight. The envelope had three different pieces with the theme of "letters". The first piece is the "dead letter pile up" collage card above. It is a photo mounted on some nice black illustration board and a bunch of letters glued on. Inside the envelope there were also some loose letters--not sure if…

I received three items in two envelopes from MomKat earlier this month. I was pleasantly surprised! Above is the first piece she sent, which I believe was part of a larger mail art project of "red hot canvas cut-ups." Below is the note she sent to accompany it. I will indeed reciprocate with some things as soon as possible.…

I received this lovely wax painting from Erin Young a couple days ago. I have done some reading about encaustic painting. Very interesting. Also, there is quite a skillful creation of depth in this piece. Thanks, Erin!

A skillfully-made ink drawing/wash by Trey Moore.

Below is the back of the envelope he sent, which includes some kind of stamp for a roofing company. I assume this must be an old stamp--"asphalt-asbestos roof coating" does not seem to be a phrase in usage nowadays, except perhaps as a concern when removing an old roof.…

I received an invitation by mail to exchange mail art with Pia Z. That seems very appropriate. Above is the nice, simple stamp art on the back of the postcard she sent. Thank you, Pia!

I received this nice collage postcard from Dean, Artist in Seine. It was a surprise, as we have not had a previous exchange. Thank you,…

When I was going through my mail art pieces, I came across this stamp from Juana and wished I had shared it before. So, here it is - a blog post devoted entirely to Juana's stamp. This is about 1 inch in diameter. 

I received this card from Helle Pollas the other day. The card came in somewhat dented and damaged, and I was not sure if it was intentional or if it was due to a "collaboration" with the international postal system. In any case, what I received was a piece with a glamorous (and tragic) star contrasted with discarded/found elements ("trash"?) and paint splatters that…

I received this wonderful collage postcard from Stephanie Dodson the other day. It was the first thing I received actually in the PO box following the fiasco I mentioned earlier. And I loved the surprise! Very interesting and creative use of color, text, pen, etc. I hope to received many more works from Stephanie in the future, and I will definitely…

The two postcards above were received from Jan Hodgman. They are asemic in nature and the last is specifically conceived of as a minimalist/post-minimalist work as well (I never know which term is more appropriate nowadays).

Here's a bit…

IUOMA friends, those of you, known and unknown, who have sent mail to my PO Box:

Unfortunately I learned today that my name was never actually put on my PO box, so it is due to a couple layers of mistakes that I have been receiving mail in it sporadically at all. The postal clerk said he would personally correct the issue today. I'll be pinging myself with a postcard this week to test it out.

If you got mail returned from my PO box, as of today it is supposed to be fixed. If it…

Miss Noma sent me a wonderful packet of inspirational cutups and permutations. I made this in response and sent it back to her. I copied some of the cutups in different positions and did erasures of the results. I also took a phrase from the cutups (I believe a quote from an interview with William S. Burroughs), "people say to me Oh," and created five cardstock rings of 24…

Above is the envelope and the backside of a letter I got from Juana today. It took considerable effort to get this package to me due to postal machines misreading the back of the envelope as the front, and thus returning the mail to her! (See her…

I got this beautiful pen drawing from Trey Moore last Friday on a handmade 4x6 postcard. It's inspired me to experiment with some pen work for some future projects. Thanks, Trey!

This little journal from Sue Skene is made from recycled chipboard from the cover of an old bookkeeper's ledger, grocery bags, and pages from a dictionary discarded from a library. It's quite beautiful. I think I'll experiment with grocery bags in the coming weeks.…

I just got this in the mail today. No return address, no note. I am a pretty smart guy, so I did some detective work and believe it's from res. A humorous and well-done altered postcard. A nice surprise, and really cool!