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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Postcard Art....

Man on Floatie....a postcard painting
is a fun vacation thing to do.  My work does not rely on the outer environment so traveling doesn't necessarily involve big plans for plein air painting.  Some artists I know love to make travel journals that involves art-making each day designed around a place and time.  Not me.  I actually relish the break from the intensity of studio work.  I pack a small wicker suitcase with:  drawing materials, a small set of pan watercolors, a couple of brushes, and some postcards.  I find traveling with oils too cumbersome.  I like to travel lightly.  Painting small cards and actually putting them in the mail is a fun thing to do.  I enjoy the look of a handmade postcard after it has traveled across the country.  Most folks enjoy receiving them as well.  And, well, the others are happy to give them back to me.  One of my favorites was done quite a few years back around the pool of beach-side condominiums.  The patriarch of a large family spent the afternoon in a floatie-of-sorts.  And I spent the afternoon painting him.  I really don't think he knew what I was doing.  It took so very long, as I recall, as I had to wait for his floatie to spiral around toward me repeatedly....each time gaining only a couple of strokes.

If he only knew.