Never too much mail art

More mail art!  There is never too much of it - I LOVE IT!  Anyways, here are some photos I have yet shared with you!

The heart of rock and roll was sent to me by Penny:

I love it!  Mail art & music...and holiday (Valentines) appropriate!

This lovely bloom card was sent by Jan:

Again, quite holiday appropriate and I love the glitter!!

More glitter, in the form of a butterfly:

Was sent by Brandi!

Kim sent me a lot more hearts:

Thanks Kim.

This lovely mixed media card:

Came from Theresa and she included a fabric heart too!  Thank you!!

Another mixed media piece came from Katie:

Thank you Katie!

Lastly, and certainly not least, my mom sent me:

I am so excited to go shopping!!

I think that I've received all the mail art that is headed my way for now.  I have signed up for another swap but the mailings on that are not until the first week of April... so there might be a lag in receiving mail art.  On the other hand I now need to make some more mail art so I will be able to show that to you!!

Group Art

Last week in group art therapy class we were told to draw a picture of a negative experience from our past that had turned into a positive experience.  Here is my drawing:

And then we tore them up!  As a group we created a piece with all the torn up pieces from our individual art:

I enjoyed the process!!  The group piece is quite large.. at least 4 feet!  It was kind of wild having 15 girls all doing art together on one sheet of paper, but it worked.

Hope you enjoyed the art peek!!

Doodles

Today I wanted to share some doodles with you!!  This one was done at my internship site when I didn't have any clients to see:

This one:

was done when I received mail art with that stamp... I just had to add it to my art journal!!

This was done during the recent art therapy workshop:

I got the "Enjoy" brad from the workshop too.

This last one was done during class:

It reflects my feelings on all of the reading we have to do this semester.

Well friends, that is all for now!!  Thanks for stopping by - have a GREAT day!!

House-Tree-Person

One of our classes this semester is about assessments (aka tests).  This week we did the House-Tree-Person test. In order to learn about the test, we read (ALOT) and then we actually do the test as if we were the client.  So, first you have the client draw a house:

And then a tree:

Then a person:

Last, they have to draw a person of the opposite sex:

Here is what you should know about my test... I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  Our teacher gave us 15 minutes per drawing.  I would have done a very quick house and stopped after about 3 minutes, but with so much extra time I kept adding details.  The tree was also more detailed than I would probably have done without knowing I had 15 minutes (in the real test you don't give a time limit - you let them take as long as they want.)  By the end of the tree my arm/hand were hurting so my people were draw rather quick and then I just read an art therapy article until the time had elapsed.

Things like that are important to consider.

This semester we have to give tests to two people.  So, after today I decided not to use this one.  It wore me out and most of my clients are significantly old and highly medicated since we are in a hospital so they are usually already tired.  I think the best part of the class was getting to see everyone else's drawings!!

Coffee Filter Art Projects

Today I am going to share some more of my art therapy directives from my site!  So, I have had a coffee filter art theme going on lately!  (All of these pictures are my examples)

First, I did Tye-dye Coffee Filters:

I made colored water using food coloring.  Patients used eye droppers to pick up the colored water and drop it onto the coffee filter.  This project was used for motor skill development - for people who needed to work their hands.  A few days after doing this project I was walking down the hall and saw one of these hanging on a patients door!  It made me super happy!

Another coffee filter art project I did was Coffee Filter Mandalas.  You can do this many different ways.  I offered my patients the change to do this with watercolors:

And with water-soluble markers (Crayola Brand):

The best part of these last two was that you get 2-for-1 art... place a sheet of paper under the coffee filter when you add the watercolor or the water (in the case of the markers) and ta-da:

Awesome, right?

If you happen to try any of these please let me know how they turn out!!  Thanks for stopping by today, have a great day.

Themes

Have you ever noticed a theme in your art?  A few weeks ago in group art therapy class I made this collage:

And then this weekend at our art therapy workshop I made this:

Quite similar, right?  So, yes I have a theme of military vs. civilian life.  I wonder how long that will take to go away!  When, on Saturday, when our workshop leader was giving us direction to make art about inside vs. outside, my first thought was to do something like the page you see above.  That I was outside of the norm while in the military because I was female with rank and also because I was artsy.   Now that I am out of the military I am outside of the norm for civilians because I was in the military for so long (and how that affects traits/characteristics/beliefs)!  So... I contemplated for a bit about what else I could do to truly represent my feelings on that topic, but decide to go with my first instinct anyways because it was true to how I feel.

I have a lot of this type of thought/feeling - very dichotomous.  I did a collage about that last month - The Dichotomous Self.  Its not always about the military/civilian life, sometimes just polarities I notice within myself.

When I was just starting my recovery from hip surgery I certainly did a lot of hip/bone type themes.  Whatever occupies your thoughts will come out in your art - either blatantly or subtly.

What I was wondering is, have you noticed any certain themes that tend to show themselves in your own art making?  What about your thought processes?  I'd love to hear from you on this topic!

Love was in the air

Hello!  Hope your having a wonderful Monday. I know that Valentines day was last week, and I am a bit late getting to this post, but life has been kinda crazy!!

First. I wanted to share some Love/Valentines Day themed mail art with you.  The week before Valentines I sent out the last of the Valentines mail art I had made....

because I had signed up for a handmade valentine swap!

A few days before Valentines I sent this one out:

It was for mom and dad!

And I got this:

It came from Sherri - an instagram buddy I made because she wanted to trade snail mail with someone! You know I couldn't pass up!

My last lovey-dovey mail art was:

Its re-cycled mail art which is awesome!  Also, on the inside it says that it came with "crazy, beautiful, unconditional, abundantly bountiful love" which I think is pretty awesome.  This one came from Amy and I think it was part of the Valentines swap!

And lastly, on Valentines Day...
At my internship site we had a dessert competition and therefore I got to taste a bunch of wonderful desserts.  Also, a friend of mine submitted a photo of he and I to the local newspaper for a Valentines Day Couples online gallery and of course they selected us.... I say of course because we are in no way a couple... he just thought it would be funny to submit out photo.

So, did any of you have a great valentines day??

Craziness

Hi there friends.  Just wanted to say hello and apologize for not writing much this week!  I have been so busy that I feel a bit crazy.  Homework seems to be keeping me busy to the point I am finishing assignments the night before they are due and I am not working on anything that needs more attention than a few days - by that I mean research papers!  I forced myself to start writing one of the papers on Wednesday when class was canceled due to our instructor being sick.  I spent Valentines day at Internship site and then prepping for today.

Today we are having the interviews for next year's incoming art therapy class!  I am the art therapy adviser's graduate assistant so I am quite busy with this.  I had to go shopping to get food to feed all of the applicants (19 or 20 of them) plus the girls that will be helping me out.  I also had to email all of the interviewees (and FYI there are another 10 not being interviewed today!) and arrange their interview times and find out if they were going to dinner with us tonight!  So, I will be there from 8am until probably 9pm today!  Yikes.  The good thing is that I get to meet all of the people that will be in next year's class.

Also..... My iPhoto library has been giving me some issues and since I am still new to Mac computers I don't know how to fix it.  I will be trying, but need time!  I appreciate your patience.

One thing I did not share with you yet, and still have access to the pictures, is that our Peace Papers artwork is being exhibited at the school library! This is the art made from our old uniforms.  So, here is the sign at the beginning of the show:

All the small pictures on the border are mine!

and my piece:

And some others:

Mine is the one on the left!  

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!  I will try to write more next week!  Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Marble Painting

Hi there!  Today I wanted to share with you one of the art therapy directives that I do with my patients! Its called marble painting and it is fun for kids of all ages (yes that means adults!)  So, here is what you do...look for a box lid (or make a similar contraption) and tape a piece of paper to it.  Then squirt some paint randomly around the paper:

Next you add a handful of marbles and pick it up and shake it all around.  It turns out different every time.  You have very minimum control over how it tuns out which is part of the reason that I like it - it requires no skill!

This project is good for people who need to work on upper body strength and bilateral coordination.  It could also be done standing to work on ability to stand, you could have the person sift their weight from foot to foot or rotate their trunk from left to right!  And of course you can do it just for fun!!

If you try this project please share a link or leave a comment and let me know how it turned out!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

A Few More

I have received a few more pieces of mailart over the last week!  I thought that you would like to see it, so here it is:

This card came from Lynne in PA!  Thanks for the card, Lynne!

My next card came all the way from Australia:

It came from Pam, who also sent me some postage stamps!!  I LOVED IT!
Last, but not least,  got a card from Helen in WA:

The quote is pretty awesome, right?  Thanks Helen!!

sdfsd

The Last of My Postcards

Today I am sharing the last 3 of my postcards that were made for the Musings on Realities International Mixed Media Postcard Exchange. 

All my art got send out a few days ago:

I love making mailart!  If you ever want to exchange postcards (or other similar type of swaps)  let me know (via email!!)  I love sending out my art... and I LOVE getting art in my mailbox!  

Thanks for stopping by friends!  Have a great day.

WOYWW 6 FEB

Hi there!  Happy WOYWW!   Today my desk looks like this:

I am working on the cover of an art journal:

It belongs to someone else - we did a swap!  I also added art to a few pages:

But that is it for now - so much homework lately that art has kinda taken a back seat!  To see more desks, head on over to Stamping Ground!!  Thanks for stopping by!

Some More of My Mailart

I showed you guys a few Valentines Day themed postcards last week, today i wanted to show you some postcards I made recently that were not that theme!  So, here they are.  First, Art theme:

And I also had a few "hero" cards:

So, even though they were not Valentines Day themed cards, they were still kinda in that same color scheme, huh?  And that last one was originally supposed to be a Christmas postcard!  I made it work though!  All of these cards were made for the Musings on Realities International Mixed Media Swap!  They have already been sent out to their new homes around the world.

Come back Thursday for some more postcards!