Ralf and I Make an Exquisite Corpse - 5/3/2015 - Image-a-day

My good, old pal Ralf Schulze over there in the Aardvark Farm sent my a sweet mail art letter recently crammed with all kinds of weirdness. One interesting bit was an unfinished drawing with an invitation to complete, so I did. This is kind of collaboration is sometimes called an "Exquisite Corpse", a game that artists, particularly surrealist will play to keep the creative juices sharp. I feel fortunate to have a friend like Ralf who prompts me to continue to play at art; just have some fun and not take the art-making too seriously.

The animated GIF is fun, but makes it a little difficult to clearly see the two individual drawings, so here is the original drawing that Ralf did on April 10, 2015.

And here is what I added this morning.

I look forward to many joint projects like this in the years to come!

Thanks' Ralf!

OK HW

Old Stamps - 4/22/15 - Image-a-day

I collected stamps when I was a kid. I remember riding my bicycle down to the Woolworth's in downtown Eau Claire, Wisconsin and buying the "Big Bag of Stamps of the World", which was a little canvas sack full of stamps from all over the world, still stuck to the corner of an envelope (who was doing that job?). It was a gold mine wrapped around a treasure chest and I would loose entire weekends combing through those magical bits of paper. I had a basic, starter stamp collecting book that has organized alphabetically by country and date. Each page would have a scattering of pictures of some of the stamps from that time and place and it was always an extra thrill to find a stamp that matched one of those.

These stamps where another gift from my pal Ralf Schulze included in the mail art post from last time.

Thank you my friend!

OK HW

I Got Mail! - 4/20/15 - Image-a-day

My old friend Ralf Schulze of Aardvark Farms sent me some real mail today. Ralf has always been the master of mail art! He fully decorates the envelope front and back and then fills it up with all manner of Dadaist weirdness. Today I'll share the front of the envelope. Hand drawn popcorn mixed with some rubber stamp ants and bugs, finished off with interesting postage stamps.

Thanks' Ralf!

OK HW

Love Yourself by Ralf Schulze - 3/17/2015 - Image-a-day

Today's image is a drawing done by my good, old friend Ralf Schulze. It was in a crazy package of bootleg movies and music and random DaDa bits and pieces. Ralf and I met through the underground comix zine scene way back in the late 1980s. We have managed to some how through the years, maintain a friendship. He's always been good at constructing elaborate packages full of art and silliness. It's like unpacking some lost time capsule from a tribe that got wiped out by unknown forces. I've tried to repay in-kind with my own packages, but they always seem to fall just short of Ralf's weird, eccentric glory.

I love this demented piece of art called, "Love Yourself". I see a skull fragmenting across some cyberpunk universe. If you can't love yourself, then who will?

OK HW