Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap

December 27, 2016 by Kat

2017 Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap is Open!

The holidays are wrapping up and you know what that means… It’s time for the Liberate Your Art postcard swap to get started! That’s right, when the festive lights start coming down and the parties are ending, you still have something to look forward to in the dark winter months.

The Liberate Your Art postcard swap is in it’s seventh year. Wow, I can hardly believe we’ve been doing it that long. If you haven’t joined before, this is your year. You don’t want to miss it!

This year’s swap receipt deadline is March 18, 2017. Get more info and sign up for the swap here.

And to inspire you, here is last year’s video of participant’s art… I hope to see your art in the 2017 video! Join us.

April 14, 2016 by Kat

Liberate Your Art 2016 Final Celebration

It’s time to celebrate! This weekend we wrap up the sixth annual Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap. It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing this for SIX YEARS now. It’s still so much fun, isn’t it?

But let’s not delay… Here are the stats you’ve been waiting for on the 2016 swap:

1050 pieces of art liberated
175 artists participating
12 countries represented

The total number of participants was lower this year, but the enthusiasm was just as high as ever! We even had artists in two new countries participating: Israel and Belarus. Awesome!

I created this year’s final celebration art piece to remind each and every one of us that we are on a journey. We may start on the path of liberating our art timidly, fearful of the response we are going to get. Art is such a personal thing, it can feel like we are putting a piece of our heart and soul out there, where others may reject it. But you know what? The more you liberate your art, the easier it gets. The more confident you get. You just have to keep taking small steps.

Liberating your art is a lifelong journey.

Take a look at where you are today compared to where you started. You will see how far you have already come, even if you have a long way to go. Whether this is your first year, or your sixth year, or your twentieth year of liberating your art, there is a supportive creative community here to help you take that next step. Celebrate where you are, and encourage your fellow artists, no matter where they are at.

Let’s celebrate with a video! About 60% of participants sent me a digital image of the art featured on their postcards for use in the 2016 video. As you watch it, imagine 40% more! That’s how much art was liberated. Enjoy! (And if you can, watch it in HD.)

Thank you to all participants for liberating your wonderful art, and for connecting to celebrate each other on this lifelong journey.

Now, it’s time to HOP! I have a special bonus for the blog hop participants in the form of a giveaway drawing! At the end of the final celebration, by random drawing from all blog hop links, I will be giving away:

One copy of my book Art with an iPhone: A Photographer’s Guide to Creating Altered Realities. It’s so exciting to finally have my book in print and I want to share it with you!
One 6×9″ fine art print, matted to 11×14″, of this year’s Final Celebration image “Lifelong Journey” shown above. Having this image in your studio will be a reminder to honor and celebrate wherever you are on your journey, and to take that next step.

If you would like your own 6×9″ fine art print of this year’s image “Lifelong Journey,” it is only available for purchase during the time of the final celebration. To order, click here if you are within the US and here if you are outside of the US. Postage is included in the purchase price. Thank you! Your orders help me defray the extra expenses I incur on behalf of the swap. (And don’t worry, if you purchase the print and then win the giveaway, I’ll refund your money.)

All right, are you ready? Let’s celebrate! Share your experiences with the 2016 swap. You can link in from a blog, Flickr, Facebook, even Instagram! Make sure your image is public, and you are good to go.

An InLinkz Link-up

March 18, 2016 by Kat

The Big Day

Thanks for all of your thoughts and comments on Tuesday’s post! We will definitely continue the conversation on making art and being creative when we also have to live in the real world of jobs, families, and commitments of all sorts. I’ve already been thinking of where to start our conversation…

In the meantime, I wanted to share images from Swap Day in the Liberate Your Art postcard swap, Sunday March 13. This is the day everything comes together! Postcards are swapped and readied for mailing.

It all starts with a pile of envelopes!

Before swap day arrives, I open each envelope and make sure it has everything it needs: Postcards with a personal message, stamps and address labels. I remove any paper clips, extra postcards, extra envelopes, nice notes to me, etc. so that I know each envelope is ready to swap. It goes into my magical red boxes, one box for US participants and one box for international.

Next I lay out the envelopes around the house, interleaving the international participants with the US participants. In past years, every one swapped with an international participant, but we didn’t have enough this year. Next year, recruit your friends outside of the US!

Next comes the actual swapping! I take the postcards, stamps and labels out of each envelope and lay them on top. Each set of postcard is distributed to the five envelopes to the right of it. Hopefully the video helps make sense of the process!

All of this I do on my own, early in the morning before the helpers arrive. My cat Roman supervises, but our dog is not let anywhere near this process! I do this alone because I’ve learned (the hard way) that it requires close attention to make sure the swap sequencing is not messed up. You don’t want one stack of postcards with too many and other stacks with too few. Fixing problems like that can be a challenge, especially if multiple people are working on this at the same time. This takes about 2 to 3 hours, if you don’t include the time spent on social media trying to post along the way.

At 10am, the helpers arrived for the sticking and stacking! This year’s helpers:
Top, left to right: Jeannette, Sue, Marcella
Bottom, left to right: Jana, Deb, Mark
Not pictured: Dorothy

Then, for the next couple of hours, we all stick on stamps and labels!

Thanks to Jana, my hand model, for showing the process!

It could be tedious work, but it goes quickly with the help. We chat along the way, commiserate on labels that don’t peel well, and get to sneak a peek at the art after the work is done! All of the helpers left with a nice stack of bonus postcards, thanks to participants who sent extra.

We finished in record time. Partly because of the experienced crew, and partly because there were fewer participants this year.

But here they all are, six stacks ready to go!

Two mailings have been sent already, on Monday and Thursday, so postcards are arriving at their final destinations.

Success! Art is Liberated! We will have the final celebration / blog hop in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

March 11, 2016 by Kat

Final Mail Call!

It’s one day before the Liberate Your Art postcard swap deadline! Sunday is swap day and Monday the liberation of art begins. Yay! This will be the last mail art update of the 2016 swap, so enjoy the beautiful bounty!

Hey, no one can say “It’s not the Mona Lisa” to this envelope, from Linda in California.

PJ in Tennessee added air brush and sparkly stars to her white cardboard.

Kitty in New York added some nice layers to a manila envelope. Love the butterfly stamp!

This beauty is from Christine in Canada. Very zen! Front…

…and back. The words on the flap: She collects dazzle from dust. Lovely!

How about some graphic art! Anna in the UK is 16 years old. Anna, your art is amazing! Everyone is going to want one of your cards. You have a wonderful future in art!

Jane in North Carolina created a collage with a lovely central theme: Art is in the heart.

I couldn’t tell if Kathie in North Carolina used a pre-printed paper, until I opened the envelope and looked at her art. Yep! It’s her art on the envelope – gorgeous!!

I love the back, too…

Jen from Virginia shows the artistic nature of letters and words. Yes, I agree: Art is absolutely joy!

Susan in Texas left her mark!

I love all of the little messages on this envelope from Nancie in New Jersey. This is the back…

…and the front is equally wonderful.

Charlotte in Maryland must be dreaming of spring with this beautiful green collage…

“Let your art go… Set it free… Liberate.” Love it! From Susan in California.

This was a sneaky envelope… The postmark was California but it was from Sea, who lives in Canada but was in Panama at the time of mailing. Confusing! But gorgeous!

Chrysta in New Jersey went for full coverage. Bright and beautiful!

Flowers are a good way to go! Jill in Pennsylvania created a lovely garden…

As did Vicki in New York!

Here is some wonderful color from Lynn in Pennsylvania. Magic!

Karen in Arizona submits food as art. It looks like she printed directly on the envelope, or maybe did a transfer? It’s really different! Love it!

How about some hugs and kisses? From Teena in Virginia.

Those of you from prior years will remember Natasha from California! I always love getting her envelopes. A cheery message this year!

Suzette in Texas created this gorgeous collage of her images along with printed papers. The repetition of size works really well…

I like how she worked in the USPS stickers on the front, too. As if they are part of the collage. No end to creativity!

And one final one, not envelope art but stamps. I love it when I get to see stamps and cancellations from a new country – this one is from Edan in Israel. So glad to have you in the swap, Edan!

Almost there! Final mail call will be tomorrow afternoon. And then it’s on to the swap… What we’ve all been waiting for!

March 2, 2016 by Kat

More Art in the Mail

We are just over a week out from the Liberate Your Art postcard swap deadline of March 12. So exciting! Here are a few more of the wonderful envelopes I’ve been receiving in the mail. Enjoy the mail art!

We’ll kick off with an envelope in my favorite colors, from Terry in Portland. I loved her collage layers! Front…

…and back.

Jacques in Washington created this beautiful envelope, painted and stitched.

Mary Jane in Australia added these mixed media flowers around the envelope. Gorgeous!

This happy envelope is from Debbie in Norfolk, UK. Those flowers wrapped around the back!

This painted scene was on a bubble envelope from Mary in Michigan.

A lovely collage from Michelle in Virginia. I especially love how she integrated the address block!

Sheila in California always paints her envelope. I love getting yours, Sheila!

Gorgeous doodles from Cheryl in California. I saw this one in the Facebook group and knew it would make the blog!

More doodles, from Danielle in California.

And some colorful doodles from Jenny in Nevada. I really like the shimmery envelope Jenny used. It adds a little something to the whole thing! Hard to show in the photo, though.

Keith in the UK (Yes! We do have men participating!) used one of his images printed on paper, and folded into an envelope. I like how intentional it all looks. Well planned out.

And finally, a wonderful cat for Kat, from Renee in Washington. Someone likes calligraphy! She notes she’s a “First Timer” on the back of the envelope. Welcome Renee! So glad to have you!

I wonder how many more great envelopes arrived while I’ve been away on business? I’ll find out tomorrow, and share with you next week!

February 24, 2016 by Kat

Plain White Envelopes No More

And they keep coming! Envelopes are arriving daily as we get closer to the Liberate Your Art postcard swap deadline. Just a little over two weeks until swap day! Woohoo!

Last week I shared what you can do with manila or kraft envelopes, but what about plain white? It’s the best canvas out there!

We’ll start with Jacques in the UK, who added a gorgeous drawing to the front of this envelope. Nothing plain about it!

Alison in Nevada added a simple geometric design, which is striking.

Continuing with the geometric theme, Dorothy in Oregon created this piece with pen, marker and little bit of collage. I love how the postmark breaks up the lines…

Some tape and a stencil, and you’ve just created mail art! I love the angle. From Bethany in Florida.

White envelopes are perfect for stamps and watercolor too, as Rinda in California shows us.

Let’s see… tea and letters to friends. Perfect! Imelda in California added this beautiful original piece into the corner of her white envelope.

But you don’t have to start with an envelope… You can use other papers to create your own envelopes too. Kate in Illinois adds some lovely lettering to an envelope made from printed paper. I love it!

Juana in Washington takes a page from the book… literally. It looks like a page from an old yearbook or graduation program that she has used as the envelope, and then painted/collaged from there. One of my favorites!

Finally, Lynne in Pennsylvania created her envelope from scratch. Painted, then folded and finished. Love it!

Bonus detail on the front…

Another week closer to the swap! It make me happy that all of the postcards will be liberated into the world soon. And sad, because I won’t be getting these awesome envelopes too much longer!

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