Seren

I am finally back and getting caught up. (11.17.2008) Being on the road is exhausting, but on some level I must love it because I keep doing it. If you are still waiting on something for me...it should all be in the mail this week, but I am mostly caught up now. Thanks to everyone for being so understanding. *******

I am a writer and artist living in southern California now, but previously from Minneapolis.

My zine, Postal Press, has been on hiatus due to my move and several major life changes, but I'm back on track and looking forward to creating more art.

I also am the sponsor of the 15 day collaborative art journal call. I have 80 journals traveling all over the world. Each artist keeps the journal for 15 days doing whatever it is that they do in it -- write, doodle, draw, paint...you can see pictures on my blog.

I look foward to swaping art and making new swap-bot friends.

I am really into mail art...I make post cards. Primarily collage, but I've also experimented with alcohol ink on steel. That was a ton of fun!

I'm also a huge fan of polaroid post cards. I take my camera and walk around...photograph things that catch my eye.

Lastly, I am a book artist. I make books as well as create art in books. I keep an art journal and host an art journal project and an art journal swap group that includes artists from around the world.

I love text and letters...stickers, rubber stamps, foam stamps...whatever. And rub ons...I'm addicted to rub ons and use them in my art a great deal.

I rarely use glue of any kind. I'm a xyron kinda gal...and I love paint. I typically use Golden, but for book work I really like the el cheap acrylic in the little plastic bottles -- Delta.

Most of my collages are made from images cut from magazines...and usually include sheet music and text from some of my favorite books. Oh, and newpaper print in foreign languages. I dig that too!

I travel a great deal for work, so sometimes I will be sending my swap items from a place other than home. I also tend to start projects very early to ensure they get done and mailed on time...so if there are changes on the horizon, please notify me as soon as possible.

Red, orange (not neon, not burnt orange – bright and cheery but not obnoxious, yellow (not neon), powder pink, magenta, greens found in nature – all those shades

Chocolate with Peanut Butter, red/pink Sweet Tarts, gummy bears (but not other weird forms, like worms), hard candy (no mint of any kind), Butterfinger Candy Bars, real salt water taffy.

I admit, I am not a huge candy eater and I don’t chew gum, my weakness is honestly cake (no coconut) and peanut butter. If you really want to know my food addiction, it’s Cheetos Cheese Puffs. I love them although they are very bad for me! I also love Peanut M&Ms.

Kolo Vineyard or Matchbook Paper Albums (I use them for travel art journals and LOVE them), Yupo Watercolor Paper, Volkswagen Beetle Stamps or stickers or ANYTHING Beetle related, Alphabet Rub-ons (not black), marbled paper, classical sheet music, non-English newspapers, Dr. PH Martin Hydrus Fine Art Watercolors (any bright color), Winsor & Newton Watercolor Postcards, Frisket Film (high tack), colored masking tape, ink droppers, FW acrylic ink (bright colors), iridescent acrylic ink, bright color fine point sharpie markers, the new Sharpie Pen (these are awesome if you haven’t tried them…I would love colors – can only find blue), yellow craft sponges (the round ones), foreign postage stamps, vintage photographs of people – especially women and little girls in old time-y dresses, calligraphy pens (not the fountain kind, the nib kind), Xyron adhesives – all sizes, only permanent, watercolor pencils, funny pencil sharpeners (the cheap plastic ones), unusual international fashion magazines, golden fluid acrylic (any bright color), alphabet stamp sets (large, small, weird fonts, foam, wood mounted, upper or lower case – LOVE THEM), www.paper-source.com cards, envelopes and enclosures in any bright color, tree and/or leaf punches, rubber stamps, rub-ons, die cuts (I love trees and they show up in my art a lot!)

Anything mint flavored, dark and white chocolate, scrapbooking papers (I have a TON of it so if anyone wants some, please let me know where to send it and I will do mail it when I move my studio in the fall – you pay postage), anything cutesy (teddy bears, dancing animals, hello kitty, etc), most things blue or purple, candles (I love them, but can’t have them in my rental), highlighters (long story, but I don’t like them), coconut, hazelnut, cheap glue and glue sticks, thin stationary paper (I like to use dip ink pens for writing letters and the ink bleeds through).