resolutions: mail by snail.

in 2011 i am going to send more snail mail. it doesn't have to be by much (and i won't actually keep count, because that is something i don't have time for) by i have felt sad at my lack of postal prowess in the past few years. this blog is a bit to blame (not that i kept it up very well this year, either).

2010 saw me away from my partner for a longer stretch than i have been away from him in years. we're the kind of lonesome weirdos who like that sort of space. though i missed him a lot, i also got to write him the near-daily postcards that figured so heavily into our courtship and early days together.

i'm not just going to write more to aitor, though. i'm just going to...be more involved with mail.

maybe i can kick-start the resolution with this offer meags has made. or maybe i will write to the people i met through the mail. i even heard some mumbles that the folks at cranky yellow in st. louis might produce some kind of snail mail service. i'm listening.

if all goes well, i will realize a project in this direction within the next couple of weeks. fingers crossed!

care.

while on the road, we try to hook up a string of mailing addresses so that we can get supplies and mail from home. sometimes, special friends use these addresses for the kindliest of purposes. when i manged to pick up my packages, i was delighted to find my brooklyn 'mail box' filled with goodies from leah in berlin.

see me modelling this shirt? it is for leah's band with some doodling done by yours truly. sorry for the weird face i am making. aitor says he knows that face well; it's what i look like when i am concentrating. truly, it was hard to take that picture in a mirror in such low light. i had to flip the picture, too, to make the artwork make sense. i guess this is how you see me. i just think my part is on the wrong side. you know what else? i feel like a total moron that it took me until i was in front of a mirror trying against hope to photograph my own chest to realize that nadja is basically aidan backwards. very clever, guys. rock on, too. i miss you.

and look what else i got:

squished pennies (euros?), cola powder, fizzy cubes, itching powder and a reindeer antler key chain from helsinki! what loot (i know, i know, the key chain is for aitor). thank you, little leah. you brightened my week.

gifts from afar.

with all the skies filling with soot, i was quite surprised to be receiving any mail from across the seas. i suppose it is mostly europe that is affected but i imagine this spewing volcano to be choking the life out of all air travel. so imagine my extra delight when i got this package today from the inimitable sarah mcneil - all the way from new zealand.

sarah is, among many other things, one of my newest commissioned button artists. we've been having a multi-month correspondence to develop her sets, the artwork for which i received digitally a couple weeks ago. well, sarah really went above an beyond by putting together a package of originals for me. she also packed the envelope full of other goodies - gocco prints, postcards...well, take a look...

here is a sneak peek at the artwork for her button sets:

somehow, sarah's artwork can't help but create an ethereal glow when photographed. in spite of all these lovely marvels, the crowning jewel of this package is an incredible watercolour/collage piece in her loose series of spirit drawings. it's very much like the one i photographed on the first day i met sarah in a chilly toronto gallery art fair.

sarah has always known my obsession with it. this really is a generous gift, lady. i don't usually get gifts for asking people to work for me. i'd better get busy making that custom hat. toronto yarn shops beware; i will soon raid you of your muted-toned bulky yarns. i know a lady with a penchant for greys and soft hues and she lives in a place that is going to have a winter soon. i bet it will end up looking like those clouds of ash.

oh, and if anyone wants to come over and frame all this stuff for me, i could make you a hat, too. i bet framing artwork will be my goal for 2011.

i feel really spoiled. but i am okay with it right now. i've been stressed and buoying distractions are an especially welcome cure.

reach out and touch someone.

over the holidaze, my good friend tara invited me into and art-in-the-mail chain letter type thing. although i usually scoff away internet chain letters (though, granted, i generally get the ones that quote ghandi and then promises curses if i don't make wishes and forward them to my friends), i jumped at this opportunity. i did a similar one once that involved unknown women buying me new panties. it was fun. and, to be honest, i like the idea of sending something i have made to a stranger for no good reason every once in a while. the idea is that you send off one piece of art and received thirty six in return. like all pyramid schemes it is eventually doomed to collapse, but i was willing to toss my work out into the void without great concern of my returns.

but man, my gambling paid off. i have been so spoiled by my postal gifts. pictured above is one of the hand knit fingerless gloves made for me by alina velieva. below are pictured a brown crested chickadee on wood from vancouver's only east-side beach (and sometimes shanty town), crab park send to me by penny bucker and a woodland linoleum print by laura jean.

stuff keeps arriving, too. like the hard-to-communicate-through-photographry postal fortune cookie sent to me by emily in halifax. it's great! my mailbox is so much more fun. this whole process reminds me of things i used to do when i was younger. right after i got the invite from tara, i got another one from christa. now i feel bad for feeling overwhelmed and turning her down. there are a bunch more friends from far afield that i would include a second time around. thanks, strangers! you've really perked up my sullen january. i feel entirely undeserving.

postal round-up.

so, a few weeks back, we gave out the mailing address for dad's garage theatre (where i was performing in atlanta) in the hopes of getting some much-missed postal affection. aitor and i have both come to miss mail during these many months away.

but man were we over-spoiled by the avalanche of mail we received when we got to atlanta (and it kept coming in over our stay).

first of all, there was an amazing care package from shannon gerard filled with life-affirming post-it notes, my favorite tea, coffee for aitor and a little handmade marvel to help me keep up with my beau:



i would imagine that these creations will be available at some point via shannon's etsy shop. she's such an inspiring crochet dynamo. thank you so much, shan!

if you were looking closely, you might also have noticed that cigar box in those pictures. that is the housing for my own personal portable library project. i hope to start it tomorrow, but we will see. i am now hacking up some serious lung butter so i am going to see how i am feeling before starting more activity.

speaking of lung butter (an image i think i stole from my friend lauren bride), we also got a couple of great letters from miss lauren. they were a swell surprise filled with tales of death and redemption from her subterranean apartment.

but the quantity prize goes to melissa, who showered us with feats of rubber stamping prowess, newspaper clippings and tales of high drama from the trenches of public school instruction:



thank you so much to everyone, especially leah who forwarded all of our mail from home. which reminds me...i owe you some postage money.

really, this has given me much to do while i have been feeling so ill. hooray for mail!

mail call!

hey, do you miss us? want to send us mail/gifts? if these predicaments apply to you, then you are in luck! we will be in atlanta, georgia, from august 27 - 31, 2008 (where i will be performing) and our lovely hosts have allowed us to use their mailing address. here it is, internet:

Becky Johnson and/or Rev. Aitor
c/o Dad's Garage Theatre
280 Elizabeth St. C-101
Atlanta, GA. 30307

so mail away! we probably miss you, too.

otherwise, you are stuck doing what lauren did. and that is way too infinite.