Posting to the Parks - Parcel Parts

My new obsession project, Post for the Parks, is now officially underway. I have mailed paintings to three National Parks - Yellowstone, Sequoia and Yosemite.



Along with each painting are a few extra bits that make each package more substantial.


(click to see full-size on flickr)

To make this seem a little more official and to add a bit of 'paperwork' for myself (since the National Parks Service is a U.S. government branch), I am mailing out each painting with a business card (with the tumblr URL on the back), a form letter (customized for each park), and a certificate that accompanies the painting. The painting and certificate are packaged in a cello bag (I was going to skip the bag but someone mentioned a cup of coffee + an original watercolor = recipe for disaster on someone's ranger station desk) which goes into the wax paper/glassine bag with the business card. Everything is then stuffed in a chipboard mailer, sprinkled with postage stamps, and off it goes!



I'm enjoying the painting, documentation and the packing processes equally.

If you want to see more photos of my process, I started an album on Flickr and along with the main tumblr, I just started posting the finished pieces to a special instagram account as well.

Thanks for following along!
xo
Sarah

A video posted by Sarah Coyne (@eggagogo) on Jan 14, 2015 at 1:40pm PST

A New Project - Post for the Parks

Whoa. It's been a LONG time, blog friends. Apparently I took the summer and autumn off from posting. Good for me.

ANYWAY. HELLO!

Things have been great, I've been drawing things, painting things, printing things and I'm working on something new that I'm so excited about.

What it is... A personal project involving painting and mail. A project celebrating one of my favorite things about this country - the preservation of wild spaces.

How it came about... I was laying in bed a couple months ago, unable to sleep, trying to think of a new project that had a set number of pieces and a process that would put the pieces out into the world. I would document the process online as is done with things like this these days but I wanted it to go further - and farther.

I thought about an alphabet or something about the seasons but those numbers (26 or 4) seemed too small, I needed something a little more ambitious. The thing with a set number I came up with was the U.S. National Parks.


(Sketches)

Here's what I'm going to do... I am researching our 59 national parks, I am filling a small sketchbook with loose painty sketches for each of the parks, and I am making a little watercolor painting inspired by each of the parks.


(Painting for Yellowstone)

Each week of 2015 I will be mailing out a painting to one national park and also posting the painting online. I am completing the paintings and mailing them in the chronological order in which the parks gained their National Park status. I am using the addresses listed as the official mailing addresses of the parks, some are not located within the actual park but hopefully they'll get close.


(Sketches)

This project is part examination of treasured wilderness protected by our government and part thank you love letter to those who work so tirelessly to preserve special places for the plants and animals that live there as well as human visitors. It's also an exercise in routine and process for me. A way to create art I care deeply about but I don't consider so precious that I won't just send it off into the world.

I'm not expecting any response from the parks, but wouldn't that be fun! I am simply sending my art on ahead of me to the parks I haven’t visited yet and back to the parks I have been to.

And there it is, Post for the Parks.


I might document it here occasionally but mostly it will have its own internet space at: Post for the Parks on tumblr. And I'm sure there will glimpses of it on the ol' instagram as well.

It feels great to have a personal project with deadlines and a set schedule for creation. I hope you'll follow along on the journey.

And you know something is super official when you have a stamp for it. :)


If anyone is reading this, I would love to know about your thoughts/feelings/ideas about the National Parks. Do you have a favorite? Is there one you've visited more than once? I've only been to three of the 59 but I hope to add a few more to my list soon.

Thanks for reading!
xo
Sarah


(A photo from my recent trip to a state park - the White Mountains in my native NH.)

Our mail-centric wedding guestbook

Today marks three months since Curtis and I were married! A quarter of a year. This summer is flying by!

One of my favorite details of our big shindig was our 'guestbook' because it wasn't really a book at all. I wanted to have something that we would look at again and be fun for guests so we devised a plan to have a DIY station at the wedding for folks to draw/write/compose us a postcard!



We entrusted our good friend Marissa to set up the post-making post and to mail the cards to us after the big day.



We supplied postcard stamps and stickers and all manner of marker and crayon. I left an ink pad and a rubber stamp with our address as well as some animal stamps - naturally.

Some cards were blank, some were vintage NH and Boston touristy postcards. Marissa is VERY serious about mail and even made a little sign about how to properly layout a postcard - these instructions were followed and ignored as each guest preferred.





Our wedding was a daytime affair and we wanted folks to have a couple of 'activity' options since we suspected there wouldn't be a lot of drinking/dancing going on. The postcard table was a hit and I was thrilled and really touched to see how hard people worked on their cards! The smallest guests really took to the table and we received more than one greeting from each kid at the wedding!



As we wandered around the reception talking to people, it was really fun to see people hard at work on their correspondence - to us!





Having Marissa play postmistress was key. At the end of the party she collected up the cards and mailed them to us. AND because she staggered the mailings, we were getting postcards in our mailbox for more than a month after our wedding!





I love having these little keepsakes that are totally unique and a lot more engaging than a name on a line in a book.



xo
Sarah

(day-of photos taken by Lindsay Metivier - she's the BEST.)

Good Things

Autumn is shaping up to be beautiful this year.


(Sweet little dreamhouse in my neighborhood.)

The weather has been great. It's been years since we've had a proper fall. Lately we've been going straight from summer into WINTER and skipping my favorite season.



Yesterday was an A+ mail day! Letters from friends and I had ordered this beautiful Bookhou bag for myself as an early happy-birthday-to-me gift. When it arrived that it is more lovely than I imagined and so well-made!



This past weekend we went out to the Fort Point Open Studios (more on that later), strolled in the Arboretum and attended Jamaica Plain's Lantern Parade which is one of our favorite annual Boston events!





Oh, and we got engaged. :)

(Ring made by our friend Kara.)
Exciting!

xo
Sarah

Playing Catch-Up

Today will be the first day this week I will not be going to the post office after work.



The Country Living feature resulted in the making/packing/mailing of a whole lot of mason jar aprons and therefore a LOT of trips to the post office. But it's ok! I actually love the post office. I don't mind waiting in line, I even love the surly clerks you sometimes get.

The process/ritual of packing orders (or any mail) is so special and feels so old fashioned.



And I do love seeing a little army of parcels all stacked up or a bag full of packages waiting patiently to ship off to all over.



So now I am officially caught up. It took a lot longer than I expected but I only have a few more things to send out (including my OWN Christmas presents to friends and family) and then I am off duty until the beginning of 2012. How exciting! I am going to read books and take winter walks and go to bed before midnight.

Hope you're having a good holiday-prep season.
xo
Sarah

It has been raining for three days.

Staying varying levels of cozy and damp during this rainy rainy end of summer.

I had to give up my walk to work and take the train this morning.

Last night, in prep for the Provi Art Festival, I was a silkscreening MACHINE...
40 beard and glasses cards
16 beard and glasses shirts
27 wolves onesies
12 love oneies
Tonight I need to do some serious ironing, sewing and tag printing.

And what an incredible mail day!



Clockwise from the top left...

My number for the 2011 Jimmy Fund Walk... Meta zine by my dear friend Marissa Falco (get yours HERE)... Lovely Fabric swatches from Jenna Rose on Etsy (I hope I can get my act together to make myself something using these squares this winter...I love her treehouses so much).

Stay dry, fellow New Englanders!
xo
Sarah

Almost April.

How it is almost April, I don't rightly know. Crocuses are out in full force and some daffodils I passed on my walk to work today were just about ready to pop. So exciting!

I have had such a heartwarming and exciting response to the Print for Japan I posted a little over a week ago. I'll be sending the second round of donations to the two charities this week.

I spent Saturday printing, tinting, packing and shipping off 20 mailers with one or more of these prints inside. It felt so good to bring them to the post office and send them off to their new homes.







They didn't make it to my first trip to the P.O. in the morning before breakfast but I brought them down to the ALL NIGHT location near South Station - that place is amazing. The ladies who work after 8pm are a HOOT.

Speaking of mail...
I received two wonderful pieces recently!
This funny little postcard that my BFF sent via her phone...


and this lovingly packaged order from Letterpress Delicacies...

I think we are kindred spirits with a love of twine and paper tape. <3

Breaking news! New favorite blog is Studio Sweet Studio. So lovely.

xo,S