Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Mail Art Journal: Love Letters, Part 2

Yesterday I posted a couple of pages from a new art journal I'm creating that uses copies of letters as the pages.  Those pages were letters my husband and I exchanged some 25-30 years ago.  I also decided to include in this art journal copies of letters which my parents exchanged 55 years ago, during their engagement.  My mother was still in Houston, Texas, but my father had already moved out to California to start his career.  My fabulous sister found their letters, scanned them and made books for each of us kids a few years ago.  At the front and back of my art journal, I have envelopes in which I have tucked letters - one from mom to dad (in the envelope above) and one from dad to mom (below):
I added some index prints from their wedding pictures (my same fabulous sister scanned my parents wedding pictures and put them on a disk for each kid) and a little stamping onto the letters.  I'm not sure why it scanned so poorly, but you get the idea.  I have a few more pages to go to finish up the art journal, but I'm really liking how it turned out.
In one of Dina Wakley's classes, she mentioned an artist that often used letters in his art - I think it was Matisse. I remember that the idea caught my attention then, and I've been wanting to get back to it.  The book "Good Mail Day" (which I blogged about and offered up in Pass the Book at this post) brought that thought up again and provided the spark of inspiration for this art journal.  I'll be teaching a class based on this idea (not just for love letters) in April, if you are in the Bay Area and would like to take it.  Have you ever used personal letters in your art or layouts?
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12 comments:

  1. AmyFebruary 8, 2011 at 10:43 PM

    I love that you have been using letters in your art pages Rinda - they add beautiful authenticity to the creations and they make me, from this far away, want to come and touch them all ... not wanting to sound strange, but I really love the tactile work you do :-)!

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  2. scrappyjackyFebruary 9, 2011 at 12:01 AM

    These are such beautiful pages, Rinda.The letters are the perfect backdrop and the photos [which I looked at in close up] are just beautiful.....your mum looks so happy.

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  3. helenaFebruary 9, 2011 at 12:11 AM

    love what you are doing, Rinda, wish I was in the Bay Area. I have used emails as the background for some layouts, but not letters

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2011 at 4:00 AM

    What treasures you have, and what a beautiful way to incorporate them into a journal.

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  5. Deb @ PaperTurtleFebruary 9, 2011 at 5:38 AM

    You have such a nice collection of sweet letters and photos, Rinda. It's great that they ended up in your hands so you could create such fantastic art pieces!

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  6. SianFebruary 9, 2011 at 7:21 AM

    Well I have the photos I took for the post about letters I did, and I have a postcard one lined up for some time in the future; but I haven't actually used them on a layout yet.

    We have some letters my MIL and FIL exchanged, but we can't bring ourselves to open them although we don't want to destroy them either.

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  7. debs14February 9, 2011 at 8:14 AM

    These are fabulous Rinda, what a lovely way to honour your parents and remember them as a couple and not just as 'mum and dad'.
    When my dad was discharged from the army, he had saved every letter he had received from my mum and she had saved every one of his. They completely filled his kit bag and they are currently packed away in my garage. Your post is prompting me to open it up, pick out a couple at random and use them in a page. Thank you for the nudge in the right direction.

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  8. JO SOWERBYFebruary 9, 2011 at 9:16 AM

    i love family history researching and this is such a clever and inventive way of telling their stories for posterity,
    Jo xxx

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  9. TerryFebruary 9, 2011 at 1:44 PM

    Not only is this a wonderful tribute to your parents, but a wonderful memory and keepsake for you! Have a nice evening!

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  10. IreneFebruary 9, 2011 at 5:23 PM

    What perfect timing to post this with Valentine's just around the corner. I love how you reveal enough of the letter to show how much your dad loved his beautiful bride-to-be. Yet we wonder what else is written under those classic black and white photos. Beautifully done.

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  11. laurieFebruary 10, 2011 at 4:36 AM

    i love looking through old letters. handwriting is so personal - i remember after my mom died finding something that she wrote and bursting into tears, not because of what she wrote but because her handwriting was so "her".

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  12. RhondaFebruary 14, 2011 at 3:00 PM

    This is wonderful!

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