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April 12, 2018 by Kat

Liberate Your Art 2018 Final Celebration

Wow! We had another fantastic year of sharing art in the 8th Annual Liberate Your Art postcard swap. Here are this year’s stats:

804 pieces of art liberated
134 artists
10 countries
31 US states

It was a crazy year for me personally, since the swap coincided with the FIRST Robotics Competition season, and we are heavily involved with my son’s team. We completed the season at Pacific Northwest District Championships in Portland, OR last weekend, and we are completing the postcard swap this weekend. Whatever will I do with my free time??

But no matter what is going on with me, this postcard swap is all about YOU. The swap is really made great by the active participation of all of the artists, and you were a wonderfully active bunch in the Facebook Event Group this year! Thank you for continuing the fun of getting happy mail by reaching out to the artists who created your postcards and sharing the postcards you received online.

As always, a theme emerges from each year which inspires the special edition art I create at the end of the swap. This year’s message, Art brings Light to the World, was inspired by a comment one of my swap helpers made on swap day. As we were sticking on labels and stamps, Kate said, “Wow, there is so much positive energy in this mail!” Such a great observation! Collectively, the art and personal messages of inspiration and encouragement you all liberate into the world is positive and powerful. Your art is a light in a world which is often characterized as fraught with conflict and division. Keep liberating!

Thank you to everyone who participated this year. Enjoy the video of the art from ~70 participants who send me images. It’s always amazing to see the range of creativity in this group of artists!


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 6×9″ fine art print of this year’s Final Celebration image “Art brings Light to the World” shown above. Having this image in your studio will remind you to keep liberating that art to make the world a better place.
  • One copy of the second edition of my book, Art with an iPhone: A Photographer’s Guide to Creating Altered Realities, which was published at the end of 2017. Sharing my process is another piece of the art I liberate in the world!
  • Eight packets of postcards from other participants. You all were a generous bunch, and even after sharing them with the helpers on swap day, I have extra postcards to share with the rest of you! 

If you would like your own 6×9″ signed fine art print of this year’s image “Art brings Light to the World,” 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 this year’s 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


Filed Under: Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap, The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: blog hop, final celebration, liberate your art, postcard swap

February 25, 2018 by Kat

Mega Mail Art Update

Whew! We are exactly THREE WEEKS from Liberate Your Art postcard swap day, and the mail art is rolling in! With this mega-update, I’m including many of the wonderful envelopes I’ve received over the last few weeks.

Let’s dive in, starting with Stephanie in Southwest Florida…

…and another Florida envelope, from Kelly. She decorated wallpaper to make the envelope. Great upcycle!

This envelope from Diane in Australia has some lovely colored pencil birds. Front…

…and back!

This happy, bright envelope is from Bethany in Florida. Her envelope proclaims her a member of IUOMA: International Union of Mail Artists. Check it out!

Djuna from New Jersey included this lovely quote:

Lovely lettering really makes this envelope, by Kate in Illinois…

…and this one from Crissa in New Jersey.

A fun collage from Michele in Michigan…

A beautiful tree from Sea in Canada…

This awesome envelope made it’s way across the Atlantic, from Debbie in the UK.

Lisa in North Carolina liberated this beautiful butterfly…

Jeannette in Washington sent a great message to us…

Local artist friend Jen in Oregon made this fun design…

Anne in Maine uses gel pens to dress up a manilla envelope…

Johna in Montana created this gorgeously textured piece…

…the back too!!

Lynne in Pennsylvania created this lovely, soft piece incorporating one of the staples of the swap… The butterfly stamp!

And celebrated Liberate Your Art, for those in the know, on the back.

Peggy in New York sent this fabulous envelope which just begs to be colored… Maybe that’s because she has created her own adult coloring book called Lotus Trip, and she sent me a copy. Thanks Peggy!

Finally, Janice from California asks this question…

Hopefully, your boots will take you to the mailbox, to mail your postcards if you haven’t already. Only THREE WEEKS to go!!

Filed Under: Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap, The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: liberate your art, mail art, postcard swap

January 28, 2018 by Kat

All the Pretty Envelopes!

Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap

Yes, mail art has started arriving for the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap! It never fails to amaze me how quickly some of the postcards start to arrive. It’s almost like people have been waiting all year to send! It truly is a joy to get this kind of happy mail, and now I get to share it with you all, too.

The image above is from Hope in Michigan, and it’s a fitting introduction this year’s mail art, don’t you think?

Next up we have Lisa from Texas. Let’s definitely have coffee sometime Lisa!

One of our first international participants is Heidrun from Germany. I’m a sucker for stamps from other places, and what a great way to wrap up the postcards!

Here we have an amazing, colorful envelope by Imelda in California.

I always love getting an envelope from this lady! It’s Sherry, from Alaska. Isn’t it great what a little pen and marker can do for a white envelope?

This gorgeous blue envelope has heft and texture… can you feel it? This is from Val, although I’m not sure where she is from. She has a mailing address in Idaho and a business card from British Columbia…

Finally, we have Christine from here in Oregon. Hiya, neighbor! By the way, the owner of the UPS store felt so bad that his employee put a label on your envelope. He told me, “We don’t put labels on your envelopes, they are too pretty!” I think it still looks great.

Thank you all for the lovely envelopes! Whether or not you decorate your envelope, it’s great to see all of this art liberated. There is still time to join the swap if you haven’t already! The deadline is March 17. Sign up here.

Filed Under: Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap, The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: #lya2018, liberate your art, postcard swap

April 2, 2017 by Kat

Getting caught up…

So there have been three things in my world since the start of the year… Work, the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap, and Robotics. Let’s get caught up a bit on how everything has been going!

In Robotics, the six week build season ended on February 18. The team successfully completed two robots, a Practice bot (left) and a Competition bot (right). The Competition robot has very strict rules on when it can be used, so the Practice robot gives a team more flexibility to continue to refine and improve the hardware, software and driving between competitions.

Last weekend we had our second District competition, and it looks like our team is headed to the District Championships next weekend at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington. Yay! Take a look at this great highlights video from last week’s competition to see the robots in action. Look for 997 on the robot and the kids – that’s our team! It’s pretty amazing what these kids achieve.

In the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap, we had a successful swap day on Sunday, March 19. (I squeezed swap day in between robotics competitions. Scheduling in my world is pretty tight these days.) I had four great helpers and we were an efficient bunch!

Art has been liberated for the last two weeks. One more week to go! The last mailing will be sent from the Robotics District Championships in Washington, a fun little overlap of my different projects.

The Final Celebration for Liberate Your Art 2017 is a blog hop on April 14-16. Party on the blog in two weeks!

Filed Under: Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap, The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: FIRST robotics, liberate your art, postcard swap, swap day, Team 997

March 16, 2017 by Kat

Last of the Mail Art

We are SOOOO close to the Liberate Your Art postcard swap deadline! Swap Day is just three days away. I have a crew of helpers lined up and I’m checking in the last few envelopes. You can always tell when the end is near… The envelopes start arriving expedited! 🙂

This is the last blog update of mail art from the 2017 swap. The next blog post will be about Swap Day and liberating the first of the art. Can’t wait!! Enjoy the last of this year’s mail art…

The first comes from Andrea in Austria. Her envelope was a little worse for the wear by the time it arrived here. Yikes! Close call! I have had envelopes arrive empty before, which is always very sad. Thankfully that didn’t happen here!

A little closer to home, Terry in Oregon created this lovely collage:

Tennille, another Oregonian, created this lovely envelope-scape! One of my favs this week. Thanks Tennille!

Neha in Florida collaged the envelope front and back. Here’s the back:

This one, from Cathy in Virginia, is painted and stitched. Love this color combo!

Natasha in California created a lovely design in colored pen. I think Natasha’s envelope has made it on the blog just about every year she’s participated!

Regina in Virginia caught my attention with her fun monster. Yes, life is a CIRCUS. For me right now, anyway…

Amy in Nashville created her envelope with the same art as her postcards. Very nice!

Fast in Virginia created this lovely piece and then printed it onto the envelope. Clever!

And we finish up this year’s mail art sharing with this envelope from Scott in Illinois. Rock on!

Thank you ALL for sharing your art with every person who handled your envelope. I’ve seen the smiles they bring. You’ve already liberated your art! The postcards are bonus, at this point. And they will be liberated MONDAY!!

Filed Under: Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap, The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: liberate your art, mail art, postcard swap

March 5, 2017 by Kat

Mail Art = Happiness

Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap

It’s getting down to the wire in the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap. The swap receipt deadline is two weeks from yesterday (Saturday March 18), and swap day is two weeks from today (Sunday March 19). That means art is liberated two weeks from tomorrow! Woohoo!

And of course, as we get closer, mail art keeps arriving! Here are this week’s favorites…

Val from Canada did some fun papercuts. I love the dimension! (Survival through the mail is sometimes hit or miss though…)

Another Canadian! Lynn stitched this lovely envelope…

…and added some cool ink art on the back.

Longtime participant Sheila from Arizona painted what looks to me like a field of blooming wildflowers. I don’t know if that’s what you meant Sheila, but that’s what I see!

Diane from Australia converted a kraft envelope into an explosion of bubbly color…

Deanie in Arizona shows the way to Liberate Your Art!

TWO WEEKS to go! Coming soon…

Filed Under: Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap, The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: liberate your art, mail art, postcard swap

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