Owls in my Mail Art

The mail art continues! Since March, I've been sending out mail art with my doodles and illustrations on the front. Since I draw so many little owls, I figured I will share my original illustrations by sending them out into the universe along with personalized letters!

At times, I only have a small pad of paper in my purse and a few minutes to sketch, so I quickly draw the owl.  Later on, I get back to it, tracing it with a black pen, preferably a Sakura Micron.  Then, I take a tiny brush and wet it and use the tips of my watercolor pencils to add color. Because of the tiny size, minimum water and color is used.  Despite how small these illustrations are, it's quite fulfilling seeing the end result.

Made from scrapbook paper doodled with a teal Sharpie, washi tape, and plant sticker.

Made from a magazine ad, doodled with a black Sharpie.

Above, I used a white Gelly Roll medium pen to trace around the owls to make them stand out. Since it was on glossy magazine paper, I had to go over it a few times to get a layer of white that I was happy with.

Made from scrapbook paper.

The above envelope was made from a piece of scrapbook paper that was originally a faded out yellow color. I used some inexpensive Crayola watercolors to make the blue background, since my son was right next to me playing with them. :)  The dark blue swirls on the bottom left are also Crayola watercolor.  I cut out the owl with my tiny surgical scissors I bought on eBay years ago. Next, I added some collage elements: lanterns, garden globes, and snow cone, all taken from a Bed Bath & Beyond summer sale catalog.  I used white acrylic paint and a tiny brush to add the dots and the white liner around the owl.  Then, I added the stamp and washi tape and used Sharpie to write on the washi tape.

Writing My Blues Away

Watercolor Doodles made into an envelope from a template. 

In the past couple of months, I've noticed my severely dipping moods due to a somewhat harsh winter.  It hasn't helped that there would be some hope in the weather warming, then the snow would return the next week.  For example, today is the 2nd day of Spring, yet it snowed on and off during the day.

As a former Californian, the lack of sunlight in this East Oregon life has caught me off guard and I now know the true effects of the Winter Blues, or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).  This caused me to step away from the whole social scene, dropping off of my usual online channels, social networks and my virtual world of choice, There.com. The one thing that I have been able to focus my lacking energy into is writing letters, and creating mail art.

I drew Sad Clown, cut him & his word balloon out, stuck on a surf magazine page.

It seems like quiet activities that don't require electronics have been ideal for me lately.  The touch of paper has a strange soothing effect.  Along with letter writing, I've also been writing more and more in my journal, and slowly getting back into painting.

In a post I wrote in 2010, it looks like I was going through similar symptoms and withdrawing in the same way.  Read about it here.

How do you handle the Winter Blues? I'm curious to know, so please comment below, or better yet, send me a letter!

May Beltran

P.O. Box 1092

La Grande, OR 97850

USA

Mail Art Doodles

Sometimes I get a hankering to write a letter or two. Last year, I put my snail mailing on the back burner and I truly felt the void, getting only bills and junk mail. This year I've been making more of an effort to write letters. Not only is it strangely therapeutic, but it's a quick fix for my doodling addiction and lets me dabble in collage if I'm up to it. It's also a non-committal art.

My process for mail art usually starts with a hand written letter.  This usually takes a few half-hour sittings. After the letter is written, I look for a magazine page I tore out previously, or a scrapbook page depending on occasion and the person I'm writing to.  I'll either use a template I made of an envelope I liked the shape of or just eyeball it and fold the page into a reasonable size, gluing it together with Tacky Glue.  Then, I'll dig through my scrap pile pick out a piece of paper that might or might not match the envelope.  Then the fun part comes with doodling all over it, affixing some stickers, washi tape, stamps, snapping a picture, and sending it off.

I'd like to correspond with more artists, illustrators, and Etsy shop owners who also like sending mail art. If you like sending and receiving bright, artistic, and colorful mail, write to me:

May Beltran

P.O. Box 1092

La Grande, OR 97850

USA

Building Creative Habits

I've been asked recently by somebody who graduated from an art program but hasn't been working in the field how to get back into drawing. I explained to her that it's like exercising. (Just like blogging, right?) You can't just expect yourself to run a full mile when you just start up.  You have to first commit to a strict schedule, do some stretches, then walk more than run, then over time swap it, and eventually do more running than walking, then do all running. Theoretically this is easy, right runners and bloggers? I explained it this way because this particular person seems to be fit and I was trying to speak her language. I personally don't run and don't often exercise. Shame on me!

[ Doodles in Bed ]

For artists who want to get started back into a creative schedule, there must be some time in your day for art. This can be the tricky part. There are always excuses that make it "OK" to put your art on the back burner. I know this for a fact as a first time mother of an almost 2 year old boy, and now recently unemployed from a place that I worked at for almost 6 months that had nothing to do with my art career. It was a hard lesson to learn and eventually passion trumps the need for money.

If you are an artist, allow yourself time to create. You are a creative person. Why would you neglect your creative needs? To me, sleep is overrated. I will stay up an extra hour or two, in bed, with an LED book light just to get my doodles onto paper. They may forever stay hidden in my sketchbooks on a dusty shelf, but at least my creative brain muscles were allowed to play. 

So, go on. Grab that envelope of an old bill and a ball point pen and doodle the next time you're on a boring phone call, or waiting for food at a restaurant with poor service. It's OK to let yourself be creative because you are an artist.

2012 Daily Paintings

[ 2012 Daily Paintings ] 

I'm painting again! I'm not going to say I've been painting every single day. That would be unrealistic given my other responsibilities, mainly, taking care of my 1 year old son, and all that goes with it. Nothing keeps me painting than my limited time on the internet and computers in general. Honing in on my unique style painting and playing with color brings such joy to me, and I'm noticing progress with each work. 

Each painting takes 24 hours or less, which can span across several days. I've been averaging about 2-3 a week. At a manageable size of 5" x 7", I can explore simple subjects and different techniques, moving on quickly if I'm not "feeling" it. After the first two, I switched to acrylic. I'm more comfortable with watercolor pencil and ink and needed to challenge myself. So far, I'm diggin' it!