Arting on the Journey

I had a business trip in Boston this week. I have an envelop of art in my purse and was reminded to leave art every time I was in my purse. And, boy, did I leave a trail!

I left art in cabs, pockets in the airplane seats, tucked in the metal frame around the buttons on an elevator, in a phone book in the hotel room, on bulletin boards, on tables in restaurants, and even outside people's rooms at
the hotel.

The taxi driver I had on the way to the airport yesterday was very observant. I tucked a very small piece of art in the metal frame that holds up the plexiglass between the front and back seats. It was way in the corner very far from where he was sitting. When we got near the airport, he turned his head to look back at me to ask me
which airline I was flying out on. He caught a glimpse of the back of my piece of art which only had my handwriting on white. He tried reading it for a while and then asked me to hand it to him. I acted like I didn't know what he was talking about, and then said, "Oh this! I thought you had put this here." He held it in his hands for quite a while gazing at it when we were at a stop light.

I think my art made a difference ... at least with him.

Leaving My Creations

I have quite a collection of Found Art I've created over the past few months. I have them in an envelope in my purse and, when I remember, I'm leaving pieces behind.

Last night I went out to eat at Applebee's to escape the heat. It has been unseasonably warm and I'm avoiding putting on the air conditioner since I know it won't last. The server we had was a very nice and friendly woman. I was planning on leaving her a piece of art with her tip, thinking that Applebee's had those wallet-type things that they put your check in. Foiled! They just bring your check to the table with a pen. Our server had clipped the pen on to the receipts. So, when I took my receipts, I replaced them with a piece of art. The receipt I had to leave with my signature was larger than the piece of art, so it completely covered it. She wouldn't have known she was left anything until she picked that up.

I've taken a few coasters from restaurants like Applebee's and Chili's and altered them. I decided to leave one of those behind, too. I didn't want someone clearing the table in a hurry to accidentally put it in the trash, so I left it in the little stand they have for salt, pepper, sugar, etc.

Today I went to Dairy Queen to beat the heat. I dropped one small piece of art in the box they have for comment cards. There were a lot of teens around because they were doing a car wash out front. One of the coasters I made had jeans on it, so I thought the teens might think that was cool. I left the coaster on one of the tables. I left one more piece of art on the stand where they display pictures of the cakes you can buy.

If you happen to have found one of my pieces of art, I hope you enjoy it. I'd love to hear how you found it. Were you surprised to see it sitting there?

Cleaning Up and Cheering Up

Today, while cleaning up my home office, I found some photos I had printed out a few months ago. Some with sayings, some just images of nature. Some of these are photos my brother took. He's an amazing nature photographer! I had meant to add these to tags to make them into Found Art, but never got around to it. Today I decided these images would be wonderful to find all on their own.

Tonight I added sayings to the backs of some. Others I just stuck my Found Art card to and now they are ready to be left here and there. As the weather is becoming more delightful in my area, more people are out and about. I'll leave some of these photos outside, in protected areas (so the inkjet ink won't run if we happen to get rain before someone finds my art). I'll be traveling again in another week, so I'll bring a few with me to leave on planes and in airports.

I usually scan in or photograph my art before leaving it somewhere, but, with my schedule lately, I knew these photos would hang around for another month if I waited to scan them in first. So, this time, maybe someone who finds one of my photo cards will post and tell us what he/she has found and where it was found. That would be cool!