I finally sent these postcards in, about a month late. I made so many, and there are still some half-finished that never made it to the done pile–they’re on my desk, mid-process.
“Come help me photograph these,” I said to Ming. He agreed. We chose this glass table on the north side of Freedom House, to lay them all out.
It’s a lot of postcards. Part of what held me up was needing to write on the back of each postcard why I love Nevada. I’d made so many, that was a big task.
The process was–I asked for materials, received the instructions and stencils and blanks, did the art, participated in one of the zoom workshops. Did more and more art. I photographed many of the postcards I made, as I went along.
Then I needed to decide I was done, take final pictures, package, and mail them. Deciding I’m done can be a difficult part of the process. Even writing the note to go in the envelope, apologizing that they’re late, was a difficult step. Deciding whether to include a note, and what to say.
So I’m proud I did it, and I hope they can still use them. I used to be super responsible–now I’m a lot more scattered. Stress of grief about my mom dying, plus age, plus slightly reduced executive function I don’t understand.
arranging them
“Does this look ok?” I asked Ming, after I laid them out.
“Looks great!” he said. “But let me try arranging them differently.”
Ming is a spacial genius, so I knew he might have a better way of arranging them. When I saw what he was doing, arranging them into the shape of Nevada, I was very excited! I cheered. We photographed that–then he photographed me with the postcards.
I wanted him to read what I had written on the backs of some of the postcards, so I handed him a few.
I love to have multiple projects going–multiple zines, art embroidery, plant stuff, ATCs. This postcards project about love of my chosen state, art making, mail, positivity, and communication brought together several of my interests. The slight emphasis on quantity helped me loosen up; I could make tons of postcards, so they didn’t all need to be exquisite representations of my truest truth. So that was a great gift, to be invited to try that.
If they do it again next year, I hope I can make more.
