One Year of Mail Art - March + April

Since last June, I've been sending monthly mail art to the same four participants. Each month has a theme, includes two puzzle pieces and a few letters on the back of each envelope, which will spell out a message with all twelve months and the arrangement key.

March's theme was Trompe L'Oeil and included mirror tricks and anagrams. This was a tricky one to put together as I was preparing to move.

April's theme was Ponies and Pansies, inspired by flowers and horses. It included two collages and a recipe for dandelion cookies on pressed dandelion paper.

One Year of Mail Art - January + February

 
Admittedly, it was tricky to get January's Mail Art out. I was still recovering from surgery and was in a bit of a post-holiday lull. Unfortunately I didn't take great documentation of January's pieces, but the theme(s) were Old and New. Within the main envelope were two smaller envelopes, one new and the other old and tattered. Inside each were a set of drawings; the New envelope containing drawings of things when they were young and the Old envelope with drawings of how they've aged.

And per usual, I included  two puzzle pieces and the series of letters on the back of the envelope (which, with all twelve months and the arrangement key, spell a secret message.)

At the start of this month, feeling more up to it, I had fun putting together February's Mail Art. The theme was Hearts & Arrows, but I decided to take a non-romantic approach to this Valentine's Day related idea. I used some new air mail envelopes I bought online from Thailand and put together a little booklet of watercolour paintings and made a word search puzzle.

A Year of Birthdays!

Last year for the 2011/12 holidays I illustrated two postcards and sent over one hundred of them to friends all over the world. I was happy to have done it but what I didn't consider was how much time it would take to collect everyone's addresses and write out dozens of personalized messages, during final exams nonetheless.

So, this year I've come up with a new way of sending a little bit of love through the mail. Instead of sending postcards for the holidays, I'm going to do birthdays! Since January 2012 I've been saving those email notifications that facebook sends out to tell you which of your friends are celebrating their birthdays that week. I've been keeping track of them in a little calendar at the back of my address book. My plan is to set some time aside every Sunday and write out postcards for upcoming birthdays.

I illustrated this card today and I plan on making a couple more birthday specific ones. I'm already a little behind on January birthdays so I have to get a batch of these printed pronto! If you'd like to receive a postcard from me and you're not sure if I have your address or not, email me at meagsfitzgerald[at]gmail.com.

One Year of Mail - December

The theme for last month's Mail Art was Hibernation. I had lots of fun with the sleepy and cool palette. It was definitely inspired by the week I spent sleeping after the surgery and general wintery feelings up in Edmonton.

I started sending mail art to the same four recipients in June, you can see the other months here.

One Year of Mail Art - November

It's been a while since my last post, things have been busy since I realized my time in Chicago had to be cut short. The last few weeks have been amazingly productive, as I've packed and moved and also incredibly fun as I spent my last days in the city with good friends. I have lots of fun projects to share in the coming weeks.

I'm writing this in my sister's kitchen in Montreal. I arrived here after great trips to New York City and Burlington, Vermont where I was interviewing people for my graphic novel, Photobooth A Biography. Nothing could have gone better, and I'm feeling very appreciative towards all the people who made those trips a breeze.

I'm starting on a batch of mail art for December, which means I can share what I sent to my four recipients in November. The theme for the month was "Miniature" and I had lots of fun making itty bitty drawings, folding tiny envelopes and creating tiny photobooth pictures (taken in a real photobooth by adjusting the focus and photographing an existing strip.) I sent the miniature envelopes in regular sized ones so they wouldn't get lost in the mail.

One Year of Mail Art - October

I had lots of fun last month putting together October's Mail Art with these vintage envelopes (that were a gift from my friend Lisa.) The theme was Spooks and Specters and the letters included ink drawings, paper ghosts and skull inspired photostrips. As per usual I included two puzzle pieces from the 24 piece puzzle I made when I started this project in June. The letters on the back of the envelopes also spell out a message once they've received all twelve months and I give them the arrangement key. 

I'm working on November's Mail Art now and I'm feeling mighty clever about it.

One Year of Mail Art - September

For those who don't know, I'm sending Mail Art to four recipients for one year. Each month has a theme and there are two ongoing puzzles, one with images and one with words. I started in June and I'm just about ready to send out October's letters.

Click here for the previous months.

These were the envelopes I sent out in September... though I forgot to include/ misplaced some old photographs that got shuffled around in my move... not to worry though, I found them and they'll go out this month. The theme for September was Leaves and Leaving.


I'm really excited for October's Mail Art, it's my favourite month and the envelopes I'm using were a gift from my friend Lisa Amerongen, they're gorgeous. Stay tuned for next month's!

One Year of Mail Art - July + August

In June I started my one year of sending mail art to four recipients. Each month is themed and there are two ongoing puzzles, one image based and one word based.  The word puzzle is an arrangement of the letters on the back of each envelope, it will take all twelve envelopes to decode. They get two of the twenty-four pieces of the large picture each month as well.  Other items include little drawings, photos, poems, lists, etc.

July's theme was "Travel" and August's was "Daydreams". For July's envelopes I collaged pieces of an vintage-looking map and for August's I used the fabric envelopes that I silkscreen and stitched them shut. I just sent out September's mail art today and I'll share those next month. To see June's mail art, see this blog post.

One Year of Mail Art - June

One of the perks of my Photobooth Expedition IndieGoGo campaign was to receive a year of Mail Art. Four people are receiving this perk, so in the first week of every month until next May I'll be putting together little themed packages filled with drawings, poems, photos, etc.

There are also two puzzles that span the year. The first is a large drawing I did and cut up into 24 pieces and the second are letters on the back of every envelope that once I give the recipients the key on the last month, they can arrange to spell out the secret message.

I'll share the contents of the previous month's Mail Arts every month here on the blog. Unfortunately in June I forgot to photograph all of the contents before I sealed the envelopes. These drawings were included as well as a photobooth picture and a letter written on my typewriter. Below shows this month's puzzle pieces. The theme was "Summer Treats."

This week, I also bought these beautiful $2 stamps and some vintage envelopes off Etsy that haven't arrived yet. I calculated that since December 2011 I have now sent about 205 pieces of mail.  My collection of vintage envelopes has grown so much that to justify having them I should probably send another 205 before the year is out.