Loads of interruptions today, mostly good but my good intentions of finishing my #Letter365 early so I could relax with friends came to naught, so it was another late one to finish it off. The back of the envelope is below.
Hope you were hanging on to the edge of your seats – I know the thrill of seeing another picture of me posting a letter is reassuringly thrilling but this one with the darkness, the glaring shine on the day-plate and the sinister drips of water must be close to adrenalin-overload level!
Anyway I did an artwork and put it in that envolope pictured so what more can you ask?
Trapped at home manning the Dorset Art Weeks installation Margaret Toft came to my rescue with a bit of friendly company, some yummy cake and A L Kennedy’s book “On Bullfighting” – the same A L Kennedy that once publicly spoke a love poem to me. Well Margaret certainly deserves a mention!
The reverse of the envelope has been left free of annotations as you can see:
I am caused to remember the final chapter of Richard Brautigan’s novel “Trout Fishing in America”, The Mayonnaise Chapter. At the end of the previous chapter he writes, “Expressing a human need, I always wanted to write a book that ended with the word Mayonnaise.” The last chapter is in the form of a short letter with a P.S (the last words of the book) which reads “Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonaise.” It probably explains a lot about me.
I’ve done the work, created the envelope, annotated the back, posted it and now when it’s late and I am dog tired you expect me to write witty things or deep philosophies. Give me a break, I’m going to bed.
Having talked about the envelope becoming part of the artwork it seems like something in me is wanting to make it mandatory to decorate the envelope back. As if i need more things to do each day!
If you were missing the envelope going in the box, that is here below:
After a long day of Dorset Art Weeks and a late finish i find that I have committed to myself to a set of actions for the next month of this project. Of course I cannot say what it is or how it might affect the work I produce in that period.
Over that last few days I have been asked quite a few questions about #Letter365 and how I might distribute pieces to those who have bought unspecified dates. Also, in telling the story of the project people have commented that the envelopes have become part of the artwork. This has caused me to consider the display of envelopes in the final installation and I am now considering opening the envelopes by slitting three sides to open them so both front and back can be seen.
Now that #Letter365 has gone on sale in a low key way I am convinced that most pieces will get sold, but when I do one like today’s I start to wonder about how random I can be about distributing pieces to buyers who have not specified a date. As a parent you are not supposed to have favourites among your children: as an artist it is a bit different I hope and although all must pass my quality control checks I inevitably will have favourites. So today I started thinking that maybe I will make the next 280 pieces as versions of this one in an attempt to make it easy to have random selection.
When doubt creeps in I resort to begging people to buy. Tomorrow’s envelope might bear another begging message: “buy this or I’ll have to have the cats put down”, “buy this before the bailiff comes” or “if you don’t buy this UKIP will be our next government”.
This one has my last Lawrence of Arabia stamp. I wish I had put a comma after DESTROYED.
I am not saying if the contents are in fact the Mutus Liber, but today has been a more encouraging day for my Dorset Art Weeks ordeal. Today saw some people who were really interested in my work and I sold a couple more pictures and another #Letter365. Just a little less tired too and I’m aiming for an early night. Perhaps soon I will be able to do some work on my websites and do some drawing and painting.
I have lots to say about lots of things around this project and art and this day but I am totally spent.
I will just put up this picture of the back of today’s envelope which i have had to seal with scotch magic tape and scribble over because these envelopes are really rubbish.
After a slow and depressing day of Dorset Art Weeks inactivity, a draining on-edge preparedness, I was composing, in my head, how this posting might go. I was considering that I might have to write on the outside “DO NOT BUY THIS ONE”. But despite being very tired and low it turned out fine – well more than fine, I am really pleased with it. I hesitated about doing it because I knew it would take quite a time to do and it was already late but it paid off. So a more successful #Letter365 than the open studio day!