More FREE Mail PFF #43

Free Frog!

This is old paper as well. Since I've been posting images of my envelopes sent to my wife (then my fiancée) while I was in South Vietnam over forty years ago, I think it's old enough.


This is another envelope that does not really meet the criteria for being sent free through the mail system, but I broke the rules back then instead of just gently bending them like I do today. I was asked by the military liaison at the Holter Museum here in Helena, Liann Meyer, to participate in an exhibition for current military and veterans during Military Appreciation Month. It officially ends on the 30th of May, but there is going to be a reception for all the artists (seventeen of us) and our families this Saturday afternoon, which is Armed Forces Day here in the United States. After getting a sneak peek earlier this week so that I could take photographs, I can't wait until tomorrow to meet the other artists.

This is one that I didn't include in the exhibit. I have put fifteen of them in a single frame, and included the First Day Cover that I did for Lee Nordahl in another smaller frame. I haven't counted the ones that are still in the album, but I've more than a few left to share.

Make certain that you stop by The Best Hearts Are Crunchy for more eye candy on Postcard Friendly Friday, hosted by Beth Niquette.

More FREE Mail PFF #42

A ZIPPY Butterfly

We're doing an Antique show this weekend, so I thought it would be okay to post another of the envelopes I did for my wife over forty years ago. For more on the whys and wherefores of these love letter covers, visit my First post about them HERE. Also, if you follow the label links for Vietnam, there about another 10 of them that I've posted over the last couple of years. This one got a little wet around the edges somewhere along the mail stream, but not enough to make it unreadable. Make sure that you visit Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy for more Postcard Friendly Friday cards that are always worth looking at!

Flash Gordon and Atlas Rocket Chalk

I've been working on this one since the beginning of February. After seeing a painting by Teresa N. Fischer in late February I altered the layout a bit and included the box of Rocket Chalk. Matter of fact, you might want to look at some of the rest of her work because I'm thoroughly hooked on her approach to vintage toys in a big way.

I learned a lot about including something other that a fruit jar, although I'm still stuck on glass. I'm going to tackle some old paper in the coming months as I prepare for a one-man show in Eastern Montana because the focus of that show is OLD PAPER, and specifically it will include some pieces from the area. For now, I'm satisfied with the way this one turned out, and I'm back to working on First Day Covers for a while.

Butterflies Are FREE Mail Art PFF #41

Badly faded Butterfly - still FREE

We recently received an invitation from the Holter Museum here in Helena, Montana, to display OUR envelope art. The reason I say OUR is because I created these envelopes over forty years ago for the woman who would become my wife upon my return from Vietnam. They belong to her. This is one that didn't go to the Holter.
The last four months I was in Vietnam I was stationed at the 1st Medical Battalion field hospital north and a bit west of Danang. I chose to take what was called 'Graveyard', which was the night shift from eleven until seven. It was fairly easy duty, as the ward I was assigned was a surgical ward.  Marines who had come in after three in the afternoon for minor surgery (something requiring sutures) would have to remain overnight, as some could not be returned to their units after five PM - the gates were closed.

My wife, then my fiancé, had been sending me Flair tip pens and a Rapidiograph to feed my creative habit, and I had occasionally been drawing on the envelopes for the love letters I sent to her. As I did last year, I will occasionally post one of these envelopes. They helped me maintain some level of sanity in what was a pretty ugly environment.

Be sure to visit Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy  as she hosts another Postacrd Friendly Friday.

Neon Cupcake PFF #40

A tasty celebration

For the past week, I've been alternating between doing First Day Covers, my first of the year, and a new fruit jar that I've been working on since the first of the year. I can't seem to stay away from it, although I know I need to be doing the covers just to support my old paper habit if nothing else.

I worked on a neon sign for the new Neon Celebrate Forever stamp, but to do the neon proper, it really takes a stark, very dark background to properly display it in all of its brilliance - fully lit. After four days of struggling with it, I came up with what you see. A small little celebration with neon sprinkles, which I promptly ate after I took a few photographs. Yum.

Be sure you stop by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy for more delectable delights of the Eye Candy variety. You won't be disappointed as she hosts another Postcard Friendly Friday.

Today's Your Birthday, Happy Birthday to You!

The unopened stash of Rooibos Tea

A Full Flyer

Malone, New York. April 12th, 1949. The world welcomed Penny. I don't know if she cried, and I wasn't quite old enough to understand what the fuss was all about, since exactly one year earlier, in the same hospital, I was born.

My fascination with mail art really didn't begin until sometime in 1953 when my folks took us (by then there were three of us, just like in the photograph on the envelope above) to the opening of the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. We'd moved to Shelby, Montana, by that time, so I don't remember anything about New York or my first two years. I do have one brief memory of the actual move when we were forced to spend a night in Wolf Point, Montana, on account of the road being closed because of a blizzard. I do believe that the photograph itself was taken in about 1953, although neither Penny nor myself are really certain about the year.

Many years later, I was given the Nick Bantock trilogy, Griffin and Sabine, by Penny and my youngest sister Judy. Although I was doing what I considered envelope art all along (some of it I've posted here and will be labeled as mail art if you're interested), that was really a turning point in the mail art that got exchanged between Penny and myself. She's now become adept at finding the right little pieces that make mail art a very FINE art!

I can't think of a better way to get a smile out of someone, even if you can't see it when it happens, than by sending them a piece of mail art. Nothing fancy required. Some of what I do comes easy to me, especially since I've played this game for over fifty years. You would actually be surprised at how your small act of kindness never goes unrewarded, and it always starts with the satisfaction gained from brightening the day for someone.

We lit up the smiles for each other a little early this year. Matters not, we enjoy the giving just as much as the receiving. And by the way, that's our brother Dan in the middle, and me sitting on the edge of the wagon.