“Hey Cam, its your 50th birthday, as such, i’ve got a lot to say”
My pal Cameron Uganec of Lynn Valley hit 50 so i made a spoken-song-arts-and-crafts-thing / its not long because he suggests “brevity is key” so i tried to not ramble on as per usual – making a “Ramones-sized song”.
Sharing here so i remember the fun making this for a great pal including: my Mom’s heavy duty pinking shears; Dymo labeller; scribbling “lyric and chord” writing; and a pink insta-camera + mighty hat a’la Richard Brautigan (made in Utah), and a Royal Stewart tartan jacket.
Thanks for being a top-notch gent Cam (and always driving and getting coffee etc).
oh! comes back around so the envelope goes int an envelope and round again
Sometimes the letters come back – due to an errant digit or NATA or maybe just want another circumnavigation / so, off they go again! Get in on the rotations.
Thanks to R Scales for original snap – art’d up by dvo
[UPDATE]
The very special dispatch loaded with b&w lomography photos from Gandhi Beach & oil pastels of sherbet-colored houses in Kerala India, Jack Kerouac exhibit in Kobe items, collage of fake IDs (or are they?), & snaps from Suez Canal – which (somehow appropriately) required two circumnavigations to reach Montréal due to an errant “8” not “3”.
Question: Does the mail travel west or east from JPN to QC, Can?
From the front porch of the kura studio with cicadas chirping on a sunny day in Okayama come riffs and reflections about tatami mats revealing generational touchpoints, thoughts of friends passed on, reminiscences about american road trips with bands in renegade youth, sickness and healing, tree doctor tests, mystery old-timey radio shows, submarine films and evasion tactics from the signal corps.
Overall: home is where the projects are, planes can take you places you forgot (or try to) and phones can call anyone anywhere and the ¥10 is optional. Importantly, do you remember the number?
lousy photo of interesting stack of passports etc (waiting to be) in process
I’ve started modifying old passports with ink, stamps, ink stamps, fake maps & assumed espionage… this means late night eBay buying Albanian passports. Just so many weird good items to remix i cant/wont/dont stop.
The paper is so tactile / interesting & with all the visa stamps, (stapled) photos (sometimes Mom & kids in one photo), stamps, visas, details of all kinds + occasional ephemeral papers slipped in.& almost-intimate details make such a starting point for stories. {note: takes a bit of daring to desecrate at first, however lovingly}.
I ones i purchase are $10 or so. Yugoslavs are cheap. CCCP/USSR and DDR can get more expensive. Lots of Romania, Bulgaria and old Kingdom of Greece stuff. Odd (in a way) how this sort of ephemera is abundant from some countries, scarce from others.
The US ones (above) are great, via Israel… perhaps/seems Israeli citizen(s) had applied for US citizenship, gone to US and other countries and eventually returned. these ones have a loads of country stamps so interesting to speculate on story. Again, feels rather intimate and mysterious.
Several i’ve picked up seem to be “the last one before emigrating”. Now i’ll continue the story with my odds and ends and alterations and possibly put up for sale/trade to continue their journey. {i should probably do that etsy shop…}
Passport issued by The Matinée rock and roots band for Dancing on your Grave
Oh and while i’m passporting, had an extra “headband” photo so finally decorated up my The Matinee “Dancing on Your Grave” passport. Will be scribbling in poetry and usual inky stamps on the pages within.
Note to self: finish tuning up Cascadia passport from & share here
PS since i’m typing… more random passport-inspired items in archive (i have almost all of my mine from various countries) plus other related:
The last few weeks have seen busy-ness with the construction, wedding anniversary, wife’s birthday, Golden Week projects, a crash day, medical treatment, Mother’s Day, plus Ichiro’s nursery school routine,… {and a few other complicated projects}.
The next couple of days hoping to catch up busi-ness with on another batch of deluxe letters, postcards, art dossiers, treats all accessorized with a stash of stamps – both postal & inky (and continue my glacial pace of replying to *almost* three emails a week :-))
And… A few results of recent making/writing/glueing etc.
Love letters, Loved Written with stick & blood ink Fingerprint for proof
a letter i shouldn’t be sharing but hopefully you can’t read the ink and quill scribble. note thumbprint for authenticityvaguely poetic sharpie notes on the back of Suez snapshots (includes mug shot of me at sea cause i am goofball)
Plus: a few dispatches through the wormhole to intended recipients. A stationery sampler to Hez and mysterious India B&W lomo postcards to Beez. Yes amused and pleased.
India B&W Lomo spy photos (extended set), framed with letter like i am a big shotsuper stationery variety fun time to the someone who i know loves it
Oh and…
Just arrived (May 6th for accuracy) at my seitai doctor’s office to see the painting print I gave him (Gravelly Beach No. 4 “Sakura”, oil on canvas sheet 2005) is framed and hanging in his waiting room.
Gravelly Beach in Seitai doctor’s office, Okayama, Japan
Yep, I’m exhibited at goat farms, doctor’s offices and refrigerators around the world. To which my pal Dan in Massachusetts, said, “You’re on my wall too” with this evidence:
Gravelly Beach in Western Mass
Reply: “You’re making me feel like a big deal here buddy. Truly appreciate it. I mean there’s nothing finer than sharing creative pursuits out into the world >> especially this “gravelly beach” series which has been sitting in storage for 15 years waiting to float around for people to breathe life into it”.
Arts and crafts update from the Kura barn withrecent dossiers of various mixed media projects including: Suez Canal panoramas, more Kerala India spy photos & sherbet-coloured houses in oil pastels, poetry & travelogues on hotel stationæry, and the circular story of a postcard series from Cascadia, also a fun-gible Shiba Eno stamp.
Assembling dossiers with artifacts which span continents, generations and mediums. Get in on the fun with an Art Dossier delivered to you, whichever century or continent you live in.
First is” Spanish Alleys” – a set of 2 quality, hand-finished art prints of paintings by me (hello!) from alleys in Barcelona – right off Las Ramblas, peeking into apartments from a Juliet balcony – and Granada – amidst a jumbled alley of a Teteria with shishas, paper lamps and buildings seeming to fall into each other. Watercolour and pastel mixed-media.
“Spanish Alleys” set of 2 painting postcards from Barcelona and Granada
Second is “India Lomos” – a set of 4 B&W photo prints from a Lomo “sardine can” spy camera from Cochi (Kochin) Kerala, India featuring a steel steed bicycle, Royal Enfield motorcycle, “Danger” stacks, and cenotaph by the church (was Portuguese, then Dutch, then British, now tourist) which held Vasco Da Gamma’s bones. All fuzzy and mysterious (both bones and photos).
“India Lomos” set of 4 b&w photos from Kerala
Both limited to sets of 5 and hand-finished with affection here at Tsuchida Cottage, Japan. Available (along with other “Extras” at BuyMeACoffee.com/daveo where you can also sign up for the DaveO Shop Club and receive a postal treat automagically each month plus extra digital treats #worthit
Get in while they are fresh and shiny, think you’ll love sharing with your friends (or keeping for yourself).
Just dropping off a load of dispatches at the post office. Indeed, they are always amused by my stacks of stacks, dispatched to many parts of the world, hopefully to you. Each made with affection and intention.
