Even better

What’s even better than my letter from the President?

A letter from a friend.

This lovely envelope is from Mike Dyar, a mail artist who creates entirely in the realm of correspondence. I’ve greatly enjoyed exchanging mail with him over the last…wow, eight years.

This piece from Mike was very welcome in a week when work and other parts of life meant I was getting very little studio time, and it buoyed my spirits. His work is always like a little piece of creative medicine.

Inside, I found a newspaper article and a note.

This seems a bit cryptic, but it has to do with that whited-out page.

Many years ago Mike and I met at a solo show I had at a local gallery, A.Muse, where the exhibition featured my Fear Not Library: 18 of the best-selling books of all time, each having its words all whited out except for phrases like “fear not” or “be not afraid.”

Let’s just say I should have bought some stock in Wite-Out that year.

So this gave me a good laugh, and of course I appreciated the compliment too.

Then I managed to squeak out a little bit of time to grab the last of the little wooden people from Pagoda.

Which means next week I can start finalizing a canvas piece or two. Very, very exciting.

I also picked out and worked with a new thread color on the panels: a bright red.

Not sure if it comes through here, but it’s a very nice, vibrant color.

So this week, here’s to those surprise connections, whether in person or by mail, that give you that much-needed boost and keep your engines running.