postcard

December 30, 2017 by Kat

New Year, New Postcard Swap!

It’s that time of year! The holiday decorations are coming down and the celebrations are wrapping up, but there is still something to look forward to…The 8th Annual Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap is just getting started! I’m excited to get the 2018 swap launched. You can learn more, sign up, and see info on past year’s swaps here. This year’s swap deadline is Saturday, March 17.

Chase away the dark and the cold with some great art and connections with other fun, likeminded participants. I hope you will join us this year!

January 15, 2016 by Kat

Ready and Waiting

Do you know what this is? It’s my small art display, ready and waiting for some new Liberate Your Art postcards to arrive! Have you signed up for the postcard swap yet? There is still LOTS of time to make your postcards before the March 12 receipt deadline. Learn more and sign up here.

And actually, I’ve received the FIRST postcards in the swap already! They are from Pam in Pennsylvania. Check out her art here, and just maybe you will get one of her lovely postcards!

Still no decorated envelope though, so you have the chance to be the first for the 2016 swap. I can’t wait to see what arrives!

May 6, 2014 by Kat

Creative Display

I’m always looking for creative and easy ways to display 2D art. For many years, above my computer I’ve had multiple magnet boards to hold art cards, postcards, tickets, receipts… any little bits and pieces I wanted to see regularly or keep handy. Every so often I would clear off the magnet board and start with a clean slate, but most of the time it was a messy mismash of stuff. Kinda like life, huh?

Over Spring Break we stayed with some family in Washington, DC, and our cousin Kate, an artist herself, had an awesome solution for displaying 2D art. After arriving home I found myself looking askance at my messy magnet boards, dreaming of a solution like hers. So I emailed for the scoop on how she did it, and was extremely pleased to find out that all I needed was a trip to IKEA!

I bought two sets of the DIGNITET wire hangers, along with the RIKTIG hanging clips. The primary purpose for these items is hanging curtains so you’ll find them in the drapery section. It was approximately $30 total for two sets. It’s a perfect way to cleanly display a lot of paper items, especially POSTCARDS, don’t you think? It would work great for photographs as well, and I think our holiday cards will have a new place for display this year.

Right now, it just feels nice to not have all of the magnet board clutter hovering above me at my keyboard. My husband told me it looked waaaay too neat for my studio. I’m not quite sure how to take that comment. 🙂

Next, I just need to clean off my desk. But that’s a project for another day…

February 4, 2014 by Kat

A Stack of Letters

Finally, finally! I’ve been anxiously waiting for weeks for that first decorated envelope to arrive, and now I can write a Liberate Your Art postcard swap update here on the blog. The envelopes have been trickling in, but there hadn’t been any decorated ones until this week. Now it feels like the swap is officially under way, and it’s time for a swap update! There is still plenty of time to join us in the swap, if you haven’t already. Just visit the swap page here to get the details and sign up.

Here’s the stack of envelopes I’ve received to date. Pretty amazing to receive this many 6 weeks before the swap deadline! You all are overachievers. 🙂 The very fun purple envelope on the top of the stack is from Tina Wittmer. I am partial to purple lately, so this one tickled my fancy!

I love what Carlyn Clark did with her envelope: Using what looks like a magazine ad, she created an envelope and managed to make the tiger lick the stamp. That’s pretty cool!!

Lynne Foerster added some lovely little hand-drawn details to her envelope. Personal touches like this just make me smile. I almost don’t want to open the envelopes sometimes, for fear of ruining the art!

And finally, a different kind of mail art, stamps from a new country — Malaysia! It’s the first-ever time we’ve had someone living in Malaysia in the swap. I’ll be saving these stamps, for sure.

So there you have it, the first Liberate Your Art blog post for the 2014 swap. I look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks. If you decorate your envelope, you just might find yourself featured here!

And the winner is…

Stephanie Skiff wins the drawing for a print of the The Last Tree. Thanks to everyone who entered. While I expected a number of entries, I didn’t quite expect all of the lovely comments that you all left. Thank you so much. I wish I could give you all a print! (Oh, I guess I can, and do, in the swap!! Join us!)

September 13, 2012 by Kat

Liberate Your Art 2012 Blog Hop

It started with a simple idea: Host a swap to encourage people to create, share and connect through their art. This second year, the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap just kept getting better and better. The addition of the Facebook Group added a fun, virtual element that went beyond the simple enjoyment of getting real-life mail. I loved seeing the excitement as the postcards were mailed and received. So much art liberated, so many connections made. I have to say, this year’s swap not only met my goal, but exceeded my original vision and delightfully surprised me!

So here are the stats of the 2012 swap:

1152 individual pieces of art liberated
193 artists participating
11 countries represented

From the USA, postcards came from 36 states and territories. Beyond the USA, we had artists from United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Norway, New Zealand, Germany, Slovenia, The Philippines, Portugal and The Netherlands. Pretty cool, huh?

As I laid out the art for the swap, I was incredibly inspired by all of your creativity. I was amazed at the individuality of the art. No two were alike. It made me stop and think about how there are more ways to express our creativity than it is possible to imagine. When we try to define what art is, we limit the possibilities.

I was inspired at the last moment to create something special to celebrate. Before I swapped the postcards, I went around and took a photo of one of each participants cards and created this video. Forgive me if the colors are off or if your art is oriented the wrong way, I didn’t have the time on swap day for perfection. There are 193 pieces of art shared in the video, and I think you will be as inspired as I was, seeing all of this art in one place.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for an amazing swap this year. Now, let’s finish it off with a bang. It’s time to hop!

August 23, 2012 by Kat

Today, in Color (+ a Giveaway!)

After sharing the dramatic black and white landscapes from Avalanche Lake yesterday, I thought I would share what the lake looked like in color. Aren’t those shades of green just amazing? I loved the subtle complementary color contrast of the greenery with the reddish lake bottom, visible through that amazingly clear water. The reflections are nice too!

With all of the postcards flying around the world for the Liberate Your Art postcard swap right now, I’ve been inspired to liberate some of my own art! I’m giving away a set of “Classic Italian Transportation” postcards to TWO lucky winners.

You can enter up to five times! You are eligible for one entry for each of the following:
1. Just because! Everyone can enter at least once.
2. You are a Kat Eye News subscriber
3. You follow me on Facebook
4. You follow me on twitter
5. You follow me on Google+
Please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry by the end of the day Monday, 27 August. Drawing will be done randomly from all comments on Tuesday morning, 28 August.

Yay! I can’t wait to give these babies away! Liberating art always feels good.

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