Postcrossing

Yesterday I found out about Postcrossing, and the whole idea of it touched a cord in me, I had to join.

Postcrossing is where you are given the random name of someone else in the world, who has registered and you send them a postcard.  Once the Postcard is received and logged on the website you name is sent to someone else and they will send you a postcard.

Not sure why it sparked such a response, but I think it is part of the whole random acts of kindness idea, linked with the old fashioned thrill of getting mail (little presents in the post box) and with the brief touching with another life.  Of course then I had to match it with the idea of drawing pictures for the postcards myself.  I liked the idea of doing small, simple drawings that I could send out randomly into the world.  Postcrossing is related to Bookcrossing .  Bookcrossing has become many things but the part I have always liked is leaving books in public spaces for someone else to find and enjoy, then pass on in a similar way.

The thought of sending my pictures out into world is appealing, the practice of doing many small pictures would be good discipline as I normally do larger works that often become tight and laboured.  To match the pictures to the reciever will also give me impetus for new and different ideas and broaden my usual subject manner.

So I have registered and got my first name, and am about to do my first drawing today.  My intent is to scan each card as I go and hopefully build a body of work around this theme.  Including this into my new blog I hope will give me the discipline to keep going.  I don’t want to do more than one at a time, as I hold the trust of sending the postcard quite seriously and don’t want to break that trust.

I know my weaknesses, I am the occasional artist and I am doing this with a very fragile part of my life.  I have chronic fatigue (or variant of), not very seriously as I hold down a very busy full time job, but this makes my spare time precious, or the part of it that I can use, if I am not careful all my personal time is spent resting with no energy for anything else.  So the little bit I can garner for non-essential me time is very, very limited and precious and I intend to use it as wisely as possible.

So wish me luck and away we go!