*Guest Artist Corner* #1

(With many thanks to Bad Bad Drawings for this specially commissioned piece.)

#2 Give a Life

A confession:  I don't like mushrooms.  I cannot bring myself to consider them food.

But if, say, I was an Italian plumber living with my brother in a 2-dimensional world of princesses and chompy flowers and those weird ghost things, then I might very well appreciate a mushroom or two to make me 'super', or even give me an extra life!

So this got me thinking about my next way to say hello...  Maybe my nearest and dearest would appreciate being gifted with such a treasure!  Surely we all need a 1-UP* on a Monday afternoon, whether you've spent your day dodging bob-ombs, or simply staring at a screen, trying to be creative.

Here's what I did:

The recipients assure me that they were pleasantly surprised to find these little fellas on their doorstep.

Success!

*To all those Mario pedants reading: yes I know that 1-UP mushrooms are supposed to be green, but I only had red paint.  And it's artistic licence.  Or something.  Sorry.

#1 The Spontaneous Holiday Postcard

Here is my first attempt at saying hello in a more experimental way...

Step 1:  Go on an unplanned 'holiday' for a day / morning / afternoon.  (I found myself quite spontaneously in an English tourist town on a sunny Sunday.)
Step 2:  Procure a postcard to send to someone who's not expecting one (hello mum!).  And a stamp if you don't have one to hand.
Step 3:  Write your message at the point at which you feel most alive with the joy of your holiday.  (I wrote mine whilst sat outside a waterside cafe in the sunshine, sipping black coffee and digesting my Mediterranean platter of bread, cheese and olives.  Pure holiday.)
Step 4:  Don't forget to post it before you leave!  (Searching for a postbox is also a good excuse for further exploration of your holiday destination.)