Group Painting, Try Deux

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Together by Rhoda Anderson and Leah Peterson

Once upon a time, I had a wonderful idea I was really excited about. I asked people to send me found objects so I could compile them into a painting. And people sent me things! and I was so pleased!

Then, Some Stuff Happened and I was unable to start the painting with any verve and flourish. Soon after that, we moved. Then moved again. Then moved again, then again and One More Time. And THEN we moved here, back to San Diego where most of the items entrusted to me made it. We had one small catastrophe (is that a thing? a small catastrophe?) where an envelope with a few items was lost. I’m SO SORRY if your item was in that envelope.

I want to try again. Would you try again with me?

If you’re willing, here is the plan:

My vision is for a group painting made of objects from around the world. Would you send me something small in the mail? Something that fits in an envelope and doesn’t require lots of shipping is ideal. Buttons, small stones, bottle caps, bark, leaves, scraps of paper, shells, broken jewelry or seed pods are all ideas that have worked in the past.

My intention is to keep track of where you are from, any story attached to the item and where it gets placed in the painting. I will share that online and anywhere the finished work hangs. Unless you want to keep that information private.

If you want to mail me something, leave a comment and I’ll send you my mailing address. And if you would spread the word, I’d be most thankful. The more items from the more places the better, my old uncle Wilber used to say. (I don’t have an uncle Wilber.)

For an idea of what Found Object paintings look like, use this handy link or look at the painting at the beginning of this post. Now look at me. Now look in the mirror. Now look at this (then laugh) and leave a comment so you can send me some stuff.

Ask Leahpeah, A Collaboration Letter

Dear Leah,

Your interviews rock!

I love your interviews!

Are you still doing interviews?

Why aren’t you still doing interviews?

Will you interview me?

Why won’t you interview me?

I know someone that would be a great interviewee!

If you don’t interview me, I’m going to tell everyone you wet the bed.

Sincerely/Best Wishes/Warm Regards/Love/Later,

Your Readers

Dear Ones,

Thank you for your email! Thank you for liking the interviews! I’m sorry, I won’t interview you, even though you are AWESOME and INTERESTING!! This is not because I don’t like you or think you are pretty. Because I do. And I like your brooch.

It’s because I’m not doing the blogger interview series any longer. There may be a few straggler interviews that could possibly come in from last year, but at this point it seems highly unlikely. However, I would certainly post them if they did show up in my inbox because everyone that I asked and emailed questions to, I love and would love to include in the series.

I’m working (and when I say ‘working’ I mean the term very loosely) on the group painting and some video interviews. I’m also working on interviews and articles for print magazines like the ones I recently did for LAB and CRAFT. Also, Alphamom will be posting all the video interviews I did last year on their new website once it launches. Additionally, new projects get posted to my website homepage as they get launched.

Thank you for reading and liking the interviews! I hope you like the next stuff I do, too. If you are an interview-reading craziak, could I suggest two places you could go get your fix? Ransom Note Typography is starting a series and of course, Matthew from In The Air who interviews an awesome variety of people.

xoxo,
lpc

Two Many Links

It’s no secret I shred like a demon. And now I find out I can make my own music?? (Via Waxy)

Not Martha made awesome rechargeable sun jars. Her step by step instructions rule. These are definitely a contender for next Christmas.

I waited breathlessly for months for Paul Ford to write again and now he is. My lungs thank him as does my brain because he is one of the funniest and smartest writers I (would like to) know.

Miss Snark is a great resource for writers. She is very to the point and full of great information. I would love her as an agent as I’m sure she wouldn’t put up with any funny business. She links to the 20 worst Agencies.

Joe sent me a link to a Thomas P.M. Barnett blog entry which says in well-written words what I sometimes feel after receiving a whole bag of reader mail.

I can’t believe this happened. It just seems so stupid and preventable.

Sassy keeps yelling that we need this stuff to combat the ants throwing a party in our walls. I must admit that it feels like nothing will work but we will be giving it a try as soon as it stops raining.

Susan sent me a bunch of stuff as did Susannah and Lisa. Photos and an update to the painting page coming soon.

Tyler and I play a game where we text each other numbers and it’s like a code where the other person has to decipher it using the keypad to see what they said.

For example: “99966688 277733 2 366677755443323.” is “You are a dorkhead.” But sometimes when a word uses two letters that show up next to each other on the keypad, it gets confusing and since there is no way of knowing what the other person said you just make it up.

For example: “666667777 333333 77766622255” is supposed to be “Moms def rock” but because M and O are on the same key, it ends up being hard to figure out. (Unless I’m your mom. Then you know I rock and there is no question.) But thank goodness we have free texting because the kids and I use it all the time. This entry from Bethemedia is about T9’s effect on our language. I hate T9 and have it turned off but as a result I probably have to hit more buttons than T9 lovers do. On the other hand, I won’t accidentally say ‘book’ instead of ‘cool’ and it won’t be until my boys start saying it and thinking that book is another way to say cool that I’ll start using it to make fun of them which will really just perpetuate the issue and I’ll be the only 93 year old person still saying ‘That is so book’ and ‘Rad’. I am the only 36 year old person that still says ‘Dude’ on a regular basis so I guess that is par. (Via Kottke)

Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton is my new favorite song. (Via Joe)

Sarah sent me this the other day. She and I are going for sure and bringing our crystal shards with us. Also, have you sent in your entry for the Cringe book yet? (Read Heather’s entry here.)

Stuff!!

People sent me stuff! I went to the PO box this morning and there it was. Thanks to Ashley from Washington State and Leta from Indiana. I’ll get the painting set up and get things started. Anyone else that has stuff, send it! I also got the Traveling Journal in the mail. I’ve been wondering when it would show up. I’m thinking hard about what I want to put in there. But I’ll get it off before too long. Thanks, Paige.

No One Cares What You Had for Lunch

Maggie wrote a great book. No One Cares What You Had for Lunch, 100 Ideas for Your Blog. But each one of those ideas has its own ideas and variations. So, it’s actually like 1 Million Ideas for Your Blog. (You can use that, Maggie.)

In chapter 4, Take Your Time, which, incidentally, has the darlingest, tiniest picture of a glass of wine and a burning cigarette next to the page numbers, idea number 63 is: Make Contact.

You miss real mail. The kind with a stamp placed on the corner of the envelope and your address scrawled out in human handwriting. Get a P.O. box and turn your readers into pen pals. You can send postcards, bookmarks, photos, and small tokens of affection. Agree on themes for swaps and post photos of the results on your blog.

It might be cheating to take this challenge since I already have a P.O. box, but I’m not going to let that stop me. For a long time I’ve wanted to do a painting that has contributions from all over. If you aren’t familiar with my paintings, you can view them here. You’ll see that I use a lot of found objects like leaves, seeds, papers and twigs but I could also be using things like buttons or string or any small bit of a thing you have around the house.

So, send me stuff! Maybe only what fits in an envelope. I don’t want anyone having to pay lots of shipping. Make sure to include your name and where you live so I can give you credit both in my blog and on the final painting. I’ll post periodic shots of the painting getting done here so you can all see it coming together. I’m so excited!!

Send stuff here:

Leahpeah
543 Country Club Dr #B 538
Simi Valley, CA 93065
Updated to add: this address no longer works. Please email me for the address.