unexpected gains

As I was labeling an envelope the other day, I found myself noticing that my handwriting had changed. It has become curvier, more sophisticated, slightly more beautiful. I was taken by surprise and wondered how that had happened. I am not entirely sure, but I am assuming that one year of training my hand-eye coordination by drawing a postcard every day has paid of in unexpected ways.

It feels a bit like the wondrous results of cross training: I am a swimmer by heart, but like to engage in Yoga or gym exercise as well. I will find myself surprised at the strength in my arms and legs when I jump into the water after a long hiatus and discover that I have only grown stronger exercising my body in these other domains.

When I look at my new handwriting, I will hopefully always be reminded of this year of trying something entirely new!

358/365, sent to Venice, CA

359/365, sent to Duesseldorf, Germany

360/365, sent to Seattle, WA

361/365, sent to Seattle, WA

362/365, sent to Seattle, WA

collective calm

Each tradition and religion has scheduled moments of collective calm. Judaism turns inward every seventh day, the Sabbath. The Best Day in Islam falls on Friday.  Christianity has the Sunday to relax and sit back. We turn silent on a daily basis in prayer or meditation. It is rare, however, in American culture, that the entire population quiets down at the same time. There are only three days where the nation retreats into the private domain without shopping opportunities: Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Years Day. It is the enveloping silence on these days - that is the most pervasive quiet I have experienced in this culture.  Growing up in Germany, the entire country settles down every Sunday, when the stores are closed and nothing, absolutely nothing is there to consume.  The pulse of the society is resting and rejuvenating in literally doing no business at all.  I love to feel these moments of mutual rest that open up opportunities for creativity and moments of sharing and bonding.

352/365, hand-delivered in Bellevue

353/365, sent to Bern, Switzerland

354/365, sent to Seattle, WA

355, 365, hand-delivered in Bellevue, Wa



356/365, hand-delivered in Bellevue, WA

357/365, hand-delivered in Bellevue, WA

memories of winter walks

My dad just reminded me of the nightly winter walks we took together during the holiday season. We would walk for at least a mile, if not longer, always the same streets of our small town Braunfels, located in Central Germany. We would peak into our neighbors' windows and count the lit up Christmas trees.  Each day we would see if there were more trees added to the number.  It was a math game as much as it was a festive tradition that we repeated year after year.  Just a fun way to add a little brain and leg exercise to these dark days of the year.

346/365, sent to Braunfels, Germany

347/365, sent to Jever, Germany

348/365, sent to Munich, Germany

349/365, sent to Koenigswinter, Germany

350/365, hand-delivered in Seattle

351/365, sent to Bliesdorf, Germany

ode to Magnuson Park

I just went for a walk along Lake Washington in beautiful Magnuson Park here in Seattle. It is a park I like to visit every season as it has retained its original vegetation and coloration of the Pacific Northwest landscape. It always amazes me that not only the colors of a landscape change with the seasons, but also its entire atmosphere. On a hot summer day you will not find parking space in the entire park as thousands of visitors flock to the lakeside and dip into the water to cool off. Now - just a few months after - on a crisp, cool winter day, you will only find a handful of human visitors strolling along the paths, while the entire landscape explodes with the sounds of migrating birds.

These six cards are layered prints.  I used recycled cardboard and Styrofoam, cut out shapes of stars and printed them onto the cards. You have to wait for a layer to dry before applying the next series of stamps.

340/365, hand-delivered in Seattle

341/365, hand-delivered in Bellevue, WA

342/365, hand-delivered in Bellevue, WA

343/365, sent to Los Angeles, CA

344/365, sent to Los Angeles, CA

345/365, sent to Los Angeles, CA

hand-made gifts

As a child and teenager, I savored the pre-holiday season. We had an unspoken rule in our home to make gifts for other family members instead of buying goods. I remember sitting at my desk, listening to classical music and creating things. I have no recollection of what I made, but a strong sense of the peace, quiet and deep satisfaction the making of gifts instilled in me.

As we are celebrating this year's Hanukkah season so early in the year, we have decided in our small family unit to save one night for home-made gifts. We threw each person's name twice in a basket and every family member had to draw two names. The past few weeks have been exciting seeing what each and every one - children and adults alike - came up with. We are all excited to both give and receive our hand-made treasures on one of the nights to come.

These watercolor cards below will accompany the hand-made gift giving frenzy.

334/365, hand-delivered in Seattle



335/365, hand-delivered in Seattle

336/365, hand-delivered in Seattle

337/365, sent to Bliesdorf, Germany

338/365, sent to Seattle, Wa

339/365, hand-delivered in Seattle

December reflections

I can't believe it is December already! Has it really been almost a year since I started my postcard adventures? I was thinking me crazy then to undertake such a "senseless" endeavor. I still have vivid memories of the first days in January, when I was trying to figure out the logistics of things. I was taking it day by day then without having much of a system in place. I was nervous that people would judge me for each postcard that was not perfect. It has been a long and at times challenging road which created self-confidence, a new familiarity with art techniques, endurance, a connection with old friends, expressions of gratitude with the people in my life and lots of positive feedback (even though sometimes I feel my husband is the only person reading my blog:)
This set of postcards goes - once again - out to the teachers of my children as a humble sign of appreciation for all their hard work!

329/365, sent to Seattle, WA

330/365, hand-delivered in Bellevue, WA

331/365, hand-delivered in Bellevue, WA

332/365, hand-delivered in Bellevue, WA



333/365, hand-delivered in Bellevue, WA

my Israel

When I was in my twenties, I lived in Israel for 2 and 1/2 years. I have grown to love the country and the people with and despite their conflicts. I was one of three volunteers for a German organization called Action Reconciliation and Services for Peace (ASF) who returned to Israel after the organization withdrew the entire volunteer cohort during the Gulf War in 1991. It was important to me then to remain in Israel during crisis and to be there with friends and the people I worked for. I did not want to send the signal that I am here to help out when things are great, but when it gets tough, I am out of here. That is not what good friends do. In the batch of postcards last week, I sent multiple out to friends in Israel to state my concern and pledge my support for the newest conflict and struggle in the region.

324/365, sent to Bremen, Germany

325/365, sent to Seattle, WA

326/365, sent to Seattle, WA

327/365, sent to Los Angeles, CA

328/365, sent to Frankfurt, Germany

paint chips illustrations

We are in the process of renovating our kitchen. I carry the burden and pleasure of having to make lots of functional and design decisions in the process. It is interesting how some decisions come easy and others are harder to make. It is mostly when I don't have a specific idea about how I want things to look, that it is more challenging for me to make the decision.

Part of the kitchen remodel was finding a wall color to match the newly created space. Standing in the paint store, I was overwhelmed by the amount of magnificent colors and equally tantalizing names accompanying them. I walked out of the store with lots of paint chips but not a better idea of how my walls were supposed to look. Inspired by artist Geninne Zlatkis (www.geninne.com) who has used paint chips to create her illustrations, this line of postcards came into being. They are bright and vibrant and whimsical at the same time!

318/365, hand-delivered in Seattle

319/365, sent to Redmond, WA

320/365, sent to Hamburg, Germany

321/365, sent to Jerusalem, Israel

322/365, sent to Jerusalem, Israel

323/365, sent to Berlin, Germany

fall leaves

I took a walk in my neighborhood this morning. The rain had just stopped and the birds were chirping excitedly.  The sky was hovering in multiple shades of gray over the houses. When I glanced at the 20 feet tall cedar trees lining the streets, I could almost envision a time of this Pacific Northwest landscape before urbanisation. Thick luscious woods with generous rain forest type vegetation and tall cedars creaking in the wind.
The next five postcards are close-ups of leaves inspired by the fall colors of this year's beautiful fall season.

 

313/365, sent to Bellevue, WA

 

 

 

314/365, sent to Seattle

315/365, sent to Seattle

316/365, sent to Bellevue, WA

317/365, sent to Garberonnes, Botswana