I seem to have been caught up in painting lips and sweets over the last few weeks, probably because I’m surrounded by them as it’s Christmas. This painting was featured in a post about Christmas recipes by The Young Creatives:  http://theyoungcreatives.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/on-the-23rd-day-of-christmas-festive-food/ 

They feature work by artists up to the age of 25 so the first thing I might do in 2012 is fill in the questions I was sent for that, I only qualify for their blog until July and then I’m officially an old creative. This fills me with dread.

I really want a teapot like this but I would probably eat it.

@aisforanika sent out a call for anyone who was making Christmas snowflakes so she could make it snow on her blog. I was up for that because the lack of real snow is depressing. Even more so because weather forecasters are even bigger liars than politicians. I made far too many of these but the fumes from the gold spray paint cured a chest infection I was starting, probably. I think I’ve discovered a new cure that can’t be any more dangerous than prescription drugs. If anyone wants a snowflake in their life I do have rather alot to share… You can read Anika’s blog post here: http://www.aisforanika.com/b/2011/12/26/its-snowing/

The internet moves much faster than I do and I realise Christmas is in the far and distant past but I thought I should blog these before 2012 comes running in on top of me.

I sent less mail art than I would have liked due to exhibitions and real life taking up far too much time. Above is the mail art I promised @TheChecks whose music I have loved for years now. I got a really nice message about my work from them and sent some watercolours flying off to NZ for them to enjoy.

My friend Maye’s birthday and Christmas come along at nearly the same time so I sent her some mail art this week because I haven’t been able to see her often enough for the past year and more. The ‘magpie’ story began somewhere along roadtrips we used to take where we would judge how great the day would be on the number of magpies we saw so I sent her one of the RSPB magpie brooch pins. My superstition will eventually make me send her a second one.

These were sent to my favourite cousin who I didn’t get to see because exhibition timings ruined my plans for a trip, so I sent some lovely prints of work that only she would not find offensive and other  bits and pieces including mini envelopes. I’ve now made so many envelopes from old books that I could start a new world.

I sent a package off to @annajanesearle whose work I’ve admired for a while now, she does amazingly intricate illustrations and her blog is always full of great thrift finds and projects, it makes my day a better place. You can read her post about what I sent her here: http://www.annarack.blogspot.com/2011/12/mail-art-from-second-magpie.html

I sent some Christmas postcards and alot of snowflakes off to my friend Steph and @Dig_A_Pony in return for cards. @Dig_A_Pony sent me the most amazing Victorian card ever, proof that we were Victorian twins once upon a time.

I forgot to photograph them but I sent three envelopes full of snowflakes to my three little cousins which probably made an awful mess on the floor when they opened them but now they’ll know how I live – above was the aftermath.

A few of the postcards I sent everywhere. Thes were made from alot of snowflakes, some Christmas tree shapes and an old t shirt. Dry brushing for the ‘icy’ look might have been the most fun I had all Christmas but I also woke up with a very sore arm the next day – which makes me seem oh-so-lazy.

Here’s to mail art of 2012.

Some red, black and white from the summer months. During early June/July I did alot of work in collage. I stumbled upon some old comic books in the attic and the typography was both hilarious and wonderful. I love a collage with a sense of humour.

These include comic books, fashion magazines and some monoprints. I hope to use these as inspiration for a series of oil paintings.

A second lot of playing card collages up for swaps. The clubs follow on from the hearts which have long since gone: http://thesecondmagpie.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/heart-exchange-is-no-robbery-art-swap/

Each card measures 8.5cm x 12.3cm, slightly larger than the average playing card. As always I will swap these for absolutely anything, including art. Things I’m currently collecting include Irish cigarette packets (empty ones), shoulder pads and silica gel, buttons and anything shiny. Ridiculous yes, but you would be surprised what I can make from those. If there is anything in particular that you think I need in my life let me know and we’ll swap.

I think everyone secretly wishes for amazing things sent by snail mail. Ever since I was a child I’ve loved receiving post, though recently it seems to be more junk or bills than anything else, unless I pay for it. In the past few months I had just been involved in collaborations that involved sending work by mail, until @jessicagowling followed me on twitter. I was soon addicted to checking her blog and was delighted when we finally got around to swapping mail art, she sent me the most wonderful envelope back in June and above is my reply. I think one of the most inspiring things about Jessica’s work is the nature theme, if you are interested in that or printmaking as I am, you should definitely find her in social network land and follow her everywhere.

About a month back @Dig_A_Pony sent me some Victorian sugar mice, too amazing to eat really, and also enclosed some of her prints which you can see here. I admired her work so much when I first saw it and the more I look the more I want to live right in the middle of it. Shown on the right is the reply I sent to her.

Back in July it was my friend @Rooofz 18th birthday and of course the perfect excuse to send some surprise mail as we live quite a way away from each other. I included various bits and bobs of painting, collage etc and also one of the t shirts I produced for @adamficek of RKC (Roses Kings Castles) as I still had the screen from that.

Last May/June/ @PeterDohertyoff ended up in Pentonville yet again, for a while I had been considering a project sending mail art to prisoners so put a couple of mini pieces together for him. There are restrictions on what you can send to prisons so if, in the future, I do follow this project up I shall probably have to read up on those. I’m pretty sure that nothing dangerous was enclosed…

Above is a parcel I packaged up for my friend Steph of Sparrow Squad, you can read about them in my last post: http://thesecondmagpie.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/sparrow-squad-helping-sparrows-live-where-you-live/

Steph had requested two discs of the artwork I did for her so I put those together and added a few other things including stencils for Sparrow Squad, one of my playing card collages and a Peter Doherty-QPR shirt from the old days – I used to hand paint t shirts for friends and enemies. I posted this about a month ago and it should have arrived within a few days at the most but only arrived at it’s destination today, much to my relief. I had been preparing a riot for An Post.

A few weeks back I posted one of my tea zines to Twinings Tea. I used their mixed berries teabags to create the pink version of the zine/mini-book and I decided to send one to them so they could enjoy it too. Last week I received a lovely letter and a complimentary box of mixed tea.

And finally, I also posted one of the traditional tea zines to Tetley Tea as I created the one seen above with their circular teabags. Two days ago I also received a letter from them which included a voucher for any of their products.

Here ends the first episode. If you’re interested in swapping mail with me just drop me a message here, on twitter, facebook or email. I will soon be swapping a second lot of playing cards for anything and everything.

Back in early June my friend Steph contacted me about possibly doing some artwork, illustrations, logos and badge designs for her charity, Sparrow Squad. I was delighted because this meant that I could produce pretty illustrations, without the trademark arms, limbs and strange concoctions I usually come up with.

Something I didn’t realise, in spite of being a pretend-ornithologist, is that sparrows are decreasing in number all over the UK; this seems to be because their natural habitats are being destroyed. I live in the wilds and have hedge sparrows peering in my windows at every opportunity so their decline was never obvious to me.

Sparrow Squad, as it says on the ‘tin’, help sparrows live where you live. They will be donating feeders similar to my sketches above amongst other things to help bring the sparrow numbers up. The illustrations of nasturtium, sunflower, peanut and elderberry are being printed onto postcards which will be available for sale from their site soon.

Support Sparrow Squad by ‘liking’ their facebook and following their blog:

http://www.facebook.com/SparrowSquad

http://sparrowsquad.blogspot.com/

A second collaboration with collage artist Liz Cohn. So far Liz has collaborated with several artists on over 900 cards. I was delighted to have the chance to work on these four cards, my favourite being the ‘Dancer’, closely followed by ‘Silver’.

If you would like to collaborate with Liz, contact her on DeviantArt: http://lizole.deviantart.com/

Or visit her website: http://www.lizcohnartstudio.com/lizcohnartstudio.com/welcome.html

You can view the previous collaboration here: http://thesecondmagpie.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/heart-exchange-is-no-robbery-art-swap/

The two weeks of August and the first two of September are one of my favourite times of year. Each year I eagerly await harvest time, I think perhaps I have romantic notions of harvests of long ago with shocks, sheaves and hand cutting.

The first six images show a field that I watch grow from spring to summer and lie in wait during winter. I can’t put into words how much simple satisfaction I get from this.

It always surprises me how much the average person doesn’t know about plants, crops, trees so when I finally confirmed which crop was which, I drew myself little sketches of the ears. I’m unlikely to ever forget. I think I’ll survive perfectly fine in the wilds.

For the first 7 months or so of this year I surrounded myself with newspapers, magazines and scrap paper and created collages. I was travelling up and down the country a lot at the time and it was easier to transport a bag of paper than a bag of paint/brushes/canvas etc. During that time I felt if I concentrated hard enough on using scraps to create a new world, the one I was in might disappear just long enough to create some fairytale mirage. They weren’t an easy 7 months, 2011 seems intent on testing me in every way. An ‘outsider’ may perhaps be able to see a reflection of that in this work, full of tears and sharp edges.

Almost three weeks ago I came down with what I thought was going to be one of those summer flu bugs, the ones that seem even worse in the heat and I prepared myself for a few days of whining about it. After four days of feeling like shit I decided a trip to the doctor was needed, huge red and white pills and a worry of meningitis. Luckily I didn’t have that. I only believe in medicine when it suits me and in spite of taking the pills I ended up in bed for the next seven days. I don’t remember ever being that sick in my life and I still can’t see much of the funny side of it, it’s captured my sense of humour. Perhaps because I rarely even take a painkiller I reacted badly to all of the medication, I had panic attacks that still leave me cold when I think about them.

I can walk in a straight line and my legs have stopped shaking at the knees, I’m searching for my sense of humour in all of the blue boxes. 

I gave the ‘vomit’ illustration to my sister for her attempt to make me better by allowing me to eat cornflakes and salmon together. The rest I might sell to anyone who wants to be reminded of my misfortune.

(I should probably add that the title of this post comes from the lyrics of ‘The Art of the High Five’ by The All New Adventures of Us.)