Artwanted.com portfolio updated with "Tribute to Meesa"

See my new watercolour-pencil drawing Tribute to Meesa.

envelope with front and back decorated with laundry pen on Christine Tarantino's blog

You can see the front and back of this on Christine Tarantino's blog.

Oswald magazine now online

Oswald magazine issues are now online. You can read my name as a participant in "The Ball is Round" exhibition (whoopee!) in Oswald 1 (2006), p.6 (http://www.netmailart.de/english/oswald/Oswald_1_2006.pdf).

objection to eBay's decision to ban sale of blood art

See my objection to eBay's decision to ban the sale of blood art at http://www.artnewsblog.com/2005/03/blood-art.htm .

postage stamps for new rate May 12

You can see about the stamps that are being issued for the latest rate change (again) by the USPS at http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2008/pr08_018.htm . Though the idea of the Flags 24/7 idea may be marginally interesting, in the context of the subject of the U.S. flag having been done to death on US postage, it certainly might have been time for another subject. The same is true of the Purple Heart. The medal with Washington's arms has already been commemorated on postal stationary and on stamps of other denominations, so it should be given a rest and another subject done instead.

envelope decorated with erased coloured pencil on Christine Tarantino's blog

You can see my envelope decorated with erased coloured pencil on Christine Tarantino's blog at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLy_nT263PQADGKAbYXSKZ_Nitu5wCaNIcmSiQ0Kxxqu8NGEIv0d0ydaVeHY-1GmnQ6gUBgHiRvIWpNaIKh1qjeaLXJ0oL8zumwxHmqSVN8I0-MEVsD2f8-eoVf4KxXZi0nNP3-w/s1600-h/chev0014.jpg .

Russian website on animals who create art

There is an interesting website (primarily in Russian with a limited English version) on animals who paint at http://animalsart.ru/english.htm .

erased coloured pencil drawing in collections of Le musée du Fumeur, Paris

My erased coloured pencil drawing She Enjoys the Taste of the Smoker has been included in the collections of The Smoking Museum (Le musée du Fumeur) in Paris.

erased coloured pencil drawing to be shown in group exhibition "Intimate Artifacts" at the University of Toledo

My erased coloured pencil drawing Blueprint of the Folly Constructed the Year We Were Studying Peerage Law will be displayed in "Intimate Artifacts," co-curated by Madeline Muntersbjorn and Jeanne Kusina. The exhibition will take place at Eberly Center Art Gallery at Tucker Hall from April 3 through May 3. There will be an opening reception April 3 from 5-7 p.m.

collage with dust cover decorated with coloured pencil in Tech Arts Festival

My collage with dust cover decorated with coloured pencil Big Annie will be shown in the Tech Arts Festival Art Show in the Peninsula Room of the Memorial Union Building of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan USA from February 22-29.

collaged envelope and front cover of collective artists' book on Christine Tarantino's blog

You can see this at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6J8oWGQts1V_mor9UmFEtjjZGLQmg63oIXBuJDT7ZNAh7BD-Pg6TMGW5PltxXcbzURIed19cUN3_2x6-fRgOXsdrMLmL9j7CrxWM5iaF-bV7MlErbXwSKNAdwoJ0prUXSTAO76Q/s1600-h/manning0011.jpg .

death of "fancy cancels"

On this very good website about postal marking devices, one can read about this sad demise (outside of some exceptions for Registered Mail) of the "fancy cancel" and see an example (of a devil's head). There were a lot of interesting and creative examples including workaday stars, turkeys for Thanksgiving &c. It's really disappointing that these outlets for individual postmasters' creativity are no longer permitted.

John Adams quote spray postmark

A number of current USPS spray postmarks contain the John Adams quote, "Let us dare to read, think, speak and write," as part of the "Power of the Letter" promotion. In a country in which all of these are restricted, to a greater or lesser extent, and some even viciously, are we to take this as sick humour, or a hypocrisy so towering it is difficult to know where to begin? When the FBI can and does (under the pretext of "fighting terrorism" but really with this the purpose for which it is most seldom used, the chilling of political and philosophical dissent playing a major role) "investigate" what you are checking out of the library or buying or reading at the local bookstore, might your daring to read be tempered? When the USPS or perhaps FBI or CIA slits open your mail and then is so stupid to return it to you, or returns to you by the dozens or hundreds letters clearly and unambiguously addressed to others (and purposely misdelivers mail apparently for the purpose of reducing attendance at your art opening and crippling the success of a show and then swearing at you when you dare to object), when customs stands on its right to open outgoing mail, might you think twice about what you are writing or reading? When a "presidential" spokesman warns you to watch what you say, and the FBI and Secret Service back this up with all the viciousness and vigour of secret police agencies, doesn't it take a lot to continue?

I have elsewhere, extensively, shown how certain thoughts are de facto outlawed by such legislation as the Michigan Mental Health Code (not as thoughts per se, clearly, because there are, at the least, very few occasions in which others can discover anything about your thoughts except from some sort of expression of them [though this might include expressions that are sometimes subconscious such as body language], and when the method of such discovery -- leaving aside the extent to which it is accurate -- includes your speech, writings or artwork the First Amendment becomes an issue).

That an agency that has to some degree forced readers, thinkers, speakers and writers to muster much greater daring to continue would employ this quote in a promotional way is, to put it mildly, rich.

food colouring drawing

You can see my drawing ("The Talent Scouts") done with food colouring at http://home.freeuk.com/composer/boyer.html .

experiments with "naked mail" at Improbable Research site

You can read about these at http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/postal-6-4.html .

pen-and-ink portrait on Andreas Hofer blog

You can see my pen-and-ink portrait contribution to a blog on Andreas Hofer at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIWq-8avUwkRFI3ZEtEdj_wR_Bc1KNFP9DQIm6I09Ir5lPgjodLEAw3rxm1XkGSDxN1WwPDIdAtARU3Ue6qz8Dzacc4TORonUa9Pa4lpFYDPwDreUfSeeoDo7Bk7GDwYAhmtY4g/s1600-h/IMGP8164.JPG . Later the works will be included in exhibitions; I'll provide updates.

coloured chalk and "keyed" envelope on Christine Tarantino's blog

Two of my decorated envelopes (one with coloured chalk and another "keyed" envelope) can be seen on Christine Tarantino's blog at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinxyV0xvi7Yuop9wbCLHB_0NkwSV-pBccY7u30x6rjYpiEtC-mp6-yE4M82OgcHVOwda6AQFlN6lQ6GpKlXRRd09xW0jKkiWhnrU-j-qdI3KkW__QwiPE18ou5zUDG4rPOik55Mg/s1600-h/chev0005.jpg .

drawing in group exhibition in Mt. Clemens, MI USA

My drawing Her Reflection in the Distance of the Camel with Pearl Handle is going to be in the group exhibition "Mailed and Mounted" at Anton Art Center in Mt. Clemens, Michigan USA from February 22-March 20.

computer desktop design

A design I did for a computer desktop can be downloaded and so used (provided it is only for this purpose) at http://www.geocities.com/Paris/6721/The_guerilla.gif .