Weird Existing Animals

Joseph A. Uphoff

2012-02-04T11:38:00.003+01:00

"This is a photograph of a ballet dancer with color adjustment. This is from the winter concert directed by Nicole Berry for Manitou Springs High School. Please consider these files for your mail art show: Weird Animals. Dancers are very unusual."

Thanks a lot, Dr. Baron Joseph A. Uphoff!

Karen Wood

2012-01-03T22:53:00.002+01:00

A beautiful collage of two giraffes, made and sent by Karen Wood from the USA.
'This is definitely my favorite weird animal', Karen wrote.

More art work by Karen Wood you can see (among other websites) here and here.

Thank you very much, Karen!

Bill Copeland

2012-01-03T20:05:00.003+01:00

Received from Bill Copeland aka Bil Kopeland from the USA, this dog and (the dog's?) visual poetry.

Thanks a lot, Bil!

TicTac (2)

2011-12-07T16:09:00.003+01:00

Beautiful stamp sheet from the recently discovered Quindi Islands!

Received from PC/TICTAC.

Herzlichen Dank, grazie mille, Patrizia!

Carla Cryptic

2011-11-02T16:12:00.004+01:00

This special Ice Rabbit was made and sent by Carla Cryptic from the USA. I love the turquoise colours!

Born in the year of the Golden Rabbit, Carla has the Rabbit Year Mail Art Project.

On the back side of this Ice Rabbit I was surprised by a great original Cryptic Post stamp!

Compositions by Carla Cryptic you can find here.
The mentioned (golden) rabbit and (turquoise) dragon you can see here.

Thanks a lot, Carla!

Carlos Botana

2011-09-21T19:50:00.004+02:00

Not intended as a Real Weird Animal, this beautiful mixed media Serea Carlos Botana sent to me as a 'thank you' for my Mermaid for the Send me a Mermaid project.

Serea... I couldn't find the word in the dictionary. Serea must be 'Mermaid' in Gallego, as there also is a Serea in Vigo, Galicia.
And Sereia is Mermaid in Portuguese. Since the moment I opened the envelope and read the word 'Serea', the words 'Minha Sereia é Rainha do Mar' (a famous Brazilian song) go through my mind continuously.

Also beautiful are the fine Mermaid on the original Carlos Botana stamp, and the butterfly which was issued by the Spanish correos, post.

Muchas gracias, Carlos!

Miguel Jimenez (2)

2011-09-10T20:29:00.006+02:00

This curious ¡Indignaos! bull was sent by Miguel Jimenez of El Taller de Zenón.

More bulls you can find on his Bulls in Sevilla mail art website.

Muchas gracias, Miguel!

Nicole Eippers

2011-09-07T10:31:00.004+02:00

Real strange to us (though we humans might look weird towards him/her!?) is this Heteronotus delineatus! I'm not sure if this is a Treehopper or a Thorn bug, but anyhow this odd creature belongs to the Membracidae family.
More of his/her cousins you can see on (for example) this blog.

This great collage was made and sent by Nicole Eippers, mail artist and pigs collector (so if ever you have a pig found or created, send it to her!).

More animals to see are, on the stamp, the Red Kite (Milvus milvus) and, on both front and back side of the envelope, of course the pig (I count even four).

Merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Eni Ilis

2011-09-07T10:03:00.003+02:00

These bats (or would they be vampires?) were created by Eni Ilis from Brazil.

More work by Eni Ilis you can find by e.g. google.
Thank you very much, Eni!

Erin Fae

2011-08-17T21:05:00.003+02:00

Today I was surprised by a Mail Art work from New Zealand (sent from Singapore). This Woodpecker and a very naked human arm were created and sent by Erin Fae.
The card also is part of the Mail Art 365 project.

More about/from Erin you can see on Faerygrrrl.

Thanks a lot, Erin!

Nico van Hoorn

2011-08-06T00:31:00.006+02:00

From the Netherlands this friendly Cow was sent, pictured by Nico van Hoorn.
A puzzled, or an anonymous cow?!
(Suddenly I remember Polaroid pictures / Instant film).

Besides the cow, also an other meadow resident adorns the postcard, on a rubber stamp on the back: the Black-tailed Godwit ('Grutto' in Dutch).

See more mail art by Nico van Hoorn on his Mail Art blog.

Hartelijk dank, Nico!

Eva (2)

2011-08-06T00:20:00.005+02:00

These butterflies once belonged to a note book cover. Thanks to Eva they turned into mail objects and flew from Spain to this Mail Art project!
Funny that the colours and brightness - which in their note book life always were the same - now can change, according to the background.

And the Spanish Correos supplied an apt stamp.

More of Eva's MailAdventures you can see on MailAdventures.blogspot.com.

Thanks a lot, moltes gràcies, Eva!

Miguel Jimenez

2011-07-25T23:47:00.002+02:00

A 'Thank you' card, probably not intended for this Weird Animals project, but sure well-matching, this beautiful work of mail art by El Taller de Zenón from Spain.

(Besides the Bull Human another animal on this nice Butterfly stamp!)

More about El Taller de Zenón you can find on the website.
Past and present mail art projects you can find here.

Muchas gracias, Miguel!

Eva

2011-07-23T00:12:00.003+02:00

This wise looking giraffe I received from Eva from Spain.
Despite the giraffe's opinion I'm convinced giraffes truely are weird animals, having their long neck and spotted skin.
But probably, conversely they will think us humans weird, having short necks and short front legs!?!

Moltes gràcies, Eva, for these sweet and happy giraffes!

Daniel

2011-07-17T15:32:00.009+02:00

I feel very happy and honoured to be the receiver of the very first postcard made by Daniel (sent from the USA)!!
I love coloured pencil drawings, and I love pelicans, who are weird, too, having a large bill with a distendible pouch beneath it.

Daniel made me curious, there is something he knows and I don't: who is hidden in this Brown Pelican's mouth? Definitely this 'Help!' crying creature isn't as lucky as Marlin and Dory in Nigel's pouch.

Together with the beautiful drawing I received this photo postcard with more information about this kind of Pelican. So I learned the Brown Pelican is the Louisiana State Bird (strange enough we don't have a Dutch provincial or even national bird, as far as I know) and that the young pelicans feed by sticking their heads into the pouch. The Brown Pelican has been in danger of extinction, but thanks to extensive conservation efforts this marvellous bird has been making a comeback.

Thank you so much, Daniel!

Zoë

2011-07-17T15:23:00.003+02:00

What a big surprise to find this wonderful Lion - very properly titled 'The Wonderful Lion' - in my mailbox!
Zoë from Louisiana, USA, created this unique coloured (or colored, I never know the difference) pencil drawing and I am happy to receive it!

Lions indeed are weird animals: why only male lions do have manes, and their male cousins, for instance tigers, lynxes and domestic cats, haven't?!

Thank you very much, Zoë!

Isabelle Paris

2011-07-13T15:57:00.005+02:00

This beautiful collage, made by Isabelle Paris, survived a postal journey, sent on the outside of an envelop from France.
I'm not sure whether the animal is a weasel or an ermine in summer fur, but definitely he/she is a mustelid and feels home in this beautiful garden! And did you note the camouflaged frog?
Funny is the stamp, to my surprise it's the very first cat in this project!

Inside the collaged envelop I found another collage treasure: a sweet giraffe calf. While the adult giraffes have small horns on their heads, the newborn ones seem to have a kind of dark hair instead.

More work of art by Isabell Paris you can see on her website, Postalement votre !.

Merci beaucoup, Isabelle!

Tanya / Andy

2011-07-12T19:55:00.003+02:00

Although not a self-made postcard, these Weird Animals I definitely think worth adding to this project.
Postcrosser Tanya sent me these. Not only the pink cows are weird (weird not only because they're pink: regarding well, even a usual cow has a lot of peculiar characteristics, I think), but also the beautiful owl, the humans (musicians!) and the deer/bird/butterfly-pottery on the stamps are great!

спасибі, Tanya!

Claudia Schramm

2011-06-22T20:43:00.007+02:00

This amazing 'animal' has been sent by Claudia Schramm from Germany.
Weird animal... Is it a Rendeer, is it an Elk? And how come that this creature makes us think of the famous Chinese artist Weiwei Ai?
(More about Weiwei here, news about his detention here, and possibilities to start mail art projects here.)

Claudia has an interesting mail art project: "Schickt mir Euer Geweih" = "Send me your horns". More about / from Claudia Schramm you can read on her website: Schrammiroquai.

Vielen Dank, Claudia!

Salina Sagace

2011-06-18T15:10:00.004+02:00

The message is clear!
(And at the same time this card, sent by Salina Sagace, provides us with a one-word answer to the long-lasting question whether Mermaids are Humans or Fish!)

Moltes grácies, Salina!

Nicole Eippers

2011-05-18T17:38:00.004+02:00

As an answer to the wolf and three pigs, Nicole Eippers sent me this amazing lizard: the Basilisk!
Apart from his/her appearance, the Basilisk also is weird and wonderful because of his/her ability to run on the surface of water.

Nicole must be an expert on an other wonderful, weird and clever animal: the Pig. See the great Priority flying Pig label and Piggy stamp!

More pigs - made by other mail artists - you can find on (and add to) her Piggy One Mailart website.
Be sure to check Nicole Eippers' own art work on Piggy Own Mailart.

Merci beaucoup, dankuwel, Nicole!

La Fee Verte

2011-05-09T12:52:00.005+02:00

This beautiful colour pencil drawing of the (tiny and dangerous!) Red and Blue Poison Dart/Arrow Frog has been made and sent from Belgium by La Fee Verte.

Truely a weird animal, by it's obvious colours and poison skin.
Besides that, this frog also has some other - to us humans recognizable - features: unlike many other amphibias these parent frogs care for their offspring. Father frog helps to keep the eggs hydrated, and after the eggs hatch, mother frog transports the tadpoles on her back to some water-filled location like a bromelia axil.

Not to forget the - typical La Fee Verte styled - Humans on the envelop!

More work by La Fee Verte you can see on her website, and more about La Fee Verte you can see and read on her blog.

Hartelijk dank, Fee Verte!

Sofía

2011-05-09T12:24:00.005+02:00

These fantastic & cute Giant Pandas have been made and sent by Sofía from Spain.
It's not strange the younger panda has such a contented look: I think many people (including me) would like to be in a hammock under the sun and bamboo, too!

More weird animals on the envelope! The mariposa - butterfly - should watch out for the spider's web!

Muchas gracias, dankjewel, Sofía!

Eva Albiol

2011-04-20T12:47:00.006+02:00

"Absolutely all animals are weird...
... but some of them even can FLY!"

This beautiful collage was made and sent by Eva Albiol.

Not only the birds and the bee can, in the mountains also the Chamois and the Ibex fly, in a way!

Moltes gràcies, Eva, per aquest bonic collage i segells!

Heinz Lotz

2011-04-20T10:49:00.005+02:00

This intriguing animal was sent from Germany and has been made by Heinz Lotz. I think it must be a Looster or Rion (lion-rooster)!?
And oh, pity: Seems like the tail doesn't agree with the direction this animal is walking into...

Talking about directions: note the address below. A recycled address!

Herzlichen Dank, Heinz!

Lutz Beeke

2011-04-13T19:52:00.004+02:00

This great Weird Available Animal was noted and sent by Lutz Beeke from Germany.

Seems this dog has been lost, and / or is waiting for someone who went by train (the location is the Berlin Alexanderplatz railwaystation). Hope this dog soon will find what he or she's looking for.

More art work by Lutz Beeke you can find here.

Great backside, too! Fortunately the postman wasn't confused by the two addresses nor by the stamp direction. The postcard was delivered in my mailbox!

Herzlichen Dank, Lutz!

Miranda Vissers

2011-04-05T21:17:00.004+02:00

This peculiar 'Paasvlinder' - 'Easter Butterfly' collage was made and sent by Miranda Vissers from the Netherlands.

A funny odd animal. Even more weird is the fact that around Easter, the Easter Bunny is carrying around eggs ('Easter Bunny' in Dutch is 'Paashaas', literally 'Easterhare', no bunny!).
So maybe an Easter Butterfly is less weird. After all, unlike the rabbit, the butterfly is an egg laying animal!

Note the Mail Art flowers and leaves: they have been made from 25 cents and 1 gulden (Dutch florin) postage stamps from the pre-Euro era.

More art work by Miranda Vissers you can find here and here, and her contribution to Your Doctor in Mail Art is this beautiful one.

Many thanks, hartelijk dank, Miranda!

Rachel Freeman

2011-03-30T14:44:00.003+02:00

This sun enjoying duck is a collage from Rachel Freeman.
More collage art you can find on her website.

Thanks a lot, Rachel, also for your flowers and bookmarks!

Elena Gjorgjievska (2)

2011-03-14T13:45:00.004+01:00

Not only beautiful color pencil drawings of Sea horses, also these Birds were made and sent by Elena Gjorgjievska from Macedonia.

What else to say than these birds are beautiful!

Thanks a lot, blagodaram, Elena!

Elena Gjorgjievska (1)

2011-03-14T13:27:00.004+01:00

From Macedonia Elena Gjorgjievska sent beautiful color pencil drawings of real weird animals: the Sea Horse!

In fact the sea horse is a fish, though a vertical swimming one. The sea horse has some similarities with other weird animals: like a chameleon he/she can move the eyes independently; like the marsupials, he (!) has a pouch, in which the young sea horses can grow; and like swans, most male and female sea horses stay together for their entire life.

Blagodaram, Elena!

"E"

2011-03-02T00:31:00.003+01:00

After receiving a cute Tarsier in black-and-white from Belgium, now a colourful Tarsier has come from Utopia, France.

This beautiful Tarsier has been painted/drawn by "E".

"E" has great mail art blogs:
Sleeplessnesses and Mail Art: Insomnies et Art Postal
Gallery of Mona (Lisa, La Joconde): Galerie des Mona
and of course (the Embassy of) Utopia: Utopia.

Merci beaucoup, "E"!

Fleur Helsingor

2011-03-01T23:57:00.005+01:00

This Brown Rockfish and Starfish live in the San Francisco Bay Aquarium in California, USA.

This beautiful designed photograph (with such a special, nice glance of the Rockfish) was made and sent by multi-talent Fleur Helsingor from the USA.
This rockfish doesn't swim around much, she writes: it finds a place on the sea floor ad just hangs out.
In this picture the rockfish is lying on a small ledge, while the starfish has fastened itself to the glass of the tank next to it.

Fleur also made this nice fish 'small graphic' (to which the Oakland post added some rubber stamp print).

At her website there's an interesting list of mail art projects.

Thank you very much, Fleur!

Adamandia Kapsalis

2011-02-16T12:05:00.005+01:00

Turquoise is my favorite color, and this weird creature, sent from the USA and drawn by Adamandia Kapsalis happens to be in this beautiful tint!

I never had heard of this Blue Button Chondrophore (Porpita Porpita) before. Wow, it's weird! The Blue Button seems to be a kind of polyp; a colony of these polyps looks like a Jellyfish but isn't!..

Adamandia has a great Mail art project, please look at (and send entries to) the A Fishy Requisite project.

Thanks a lot, Adamandia!

Yvette Jansen

2011-02-09T12:19:00.003+01:00

Fish! A beautiful piece of recycling art!
This collage I received from Yvette Jansen, whose other beautiful collages you can see on her website, www.yvettejansen-collages.com.

As the fish indeed are swimming, I scanned the collage twice. Note the differences!

Thanks a lot, hartelijk dank, Yvette!

From the Sketchbook series (1)

2011-01-12T21:52:00.008+01:00

Twimc: the Weird Existing Animals also in 2011 is open for entries! So your weirdest animal drawing, collage, painting still is welcomed here!

As it has been silent in my mailbox, I'd think to post an entry here myself. I'm glad to announce that I finished my Sketchbook for the 'Sketchbook Project' today, and sent it to Brooklyn this afternoon.
The theme I choose for this first sketchbook was 'This is not a sketchbook'. And some of the pages are dedicated to, of course, animals. This page is one of them.
Which of these animals would be weirdest?

Update: Good news on July 9th 2011: the people of Art House Coop have digitalized my 'This is not a sketchbook' book. So you can see the complete 'This is not a sketchbook' now online here!

José Manuel Figueiredo

2010-11-03T14:40:00.003+01:00

A Zen Dog! This collage has been made and sent by José Manuel Figueiredo from Portugal. His work is recognizable by the tiny boat rubber stamp.

Both pictured dogs (Rafeiro do Alentejo - Portuguese Watchdogs) are in good company. Or, the other way round: both pictured Humans must be lucky people to have such a loyal four-footer around.

Thank you, obrigado, José Manuel!

Ryosuke Cohen

2010-11-03T14:00:00.008+01:00

This richly coloured Mail Art work Ryosuke Cohen sent from Japan.
On this A3 sized Brain Cell Life Form number 776 various mail artists have contributed. And among the faux postage stamps, rubberstamps and other kinds of art you can find several weird animals: many Mammals (most of them human beings), some Fish and one Bird (click on the picture to enlarge).

More about Ryosuke Cohen you can find on his website, RyuosukeCohen.com.

The contributing artists to this Mail Art work are the following:

Arigato, thank you very much, Ryosuke! And thanks to all who contributed to this marvellous Mail Art 'Teamwork'!

Wilma Duguay

2010-11-02T20:00:00.010+01:00

When I think of Wilma Duguay, I think of the Sea!
Wilma Duguay sent this beautiful drawing from Canada. When I saw the pencil drawn animal, the first thing that came into my mind was: 'that must be a Sea urchin skeleton!'
Fortunately Wilma wrote the name of this animal next to it. Fortunately, because I never had heard of this animal before: the Sand dollar.

And indeed, this Sand dollar (in Spanish speaking countries also called 'Galleta de mar' - 'Sea cookie') is a curious animal. Read more about this echinoderm (stinged-skin) on wikipedia.

This makes me also wonder about the number '5'. Why, like also Starfish and Sea urchins have, Sand dollars always have a fivefold radial symmetry? (And why do we mammals have five fingers/toes each hand, each foot?)

On Wilma's mail artwork there are more weird Sea animals to see and to enjoy!

Thank you very much, Wilma!

Update November 10th, 2010:

Wilma surprised me with a new letter, and put forward to make this apposite Sea magnet part of the Existing Odd Animals. So here you are!
(I added the back side next to the wonderful Sand dollar, Starfish and Shell.)

This fine work of art (only 5 x 4.5 cms) has been made by Linda Kobera, a painting artist who's pasisonate about miniature art.
More about Linda Kobera you can see on her website.

Again thanks a lot, Wilma!

Annalise Lundeen

2010-10-31T12:24:00.004+01:00

A wonderful mixed-media work of mail art Annalise Lundeen sent to me from the USA.

Until now I always thought a 'Turkey' is just a 'Turkey' ('Kalkoen' in Dutch), but by this drawing/painting I learnt there's a difference between the Wild Turkey and the Domestic Turkey.

Annalise's favorrite animal indeed is a weird animal! Note the bald head, the strange red wattles and enjoy the typical sounds (hear the gobbling, for instance at 0:03 and 6:47 on this video).

Thank you very much, Annalise! Also thanks a lot for the nice picture of you and your Turkey in the 90s. Which proofs the - rightly - love for this extraordinary animal is deep.

Serse Luigetti

2010-10-29T08:33:00.005+02:00

A Horse! Such a common animal, loved by many. 'Common', but when looking close, it becomes clear that Horses are a kind of weird, too!
There are only a few animals who allow people to sit on their back for hours and still keep on smiling (in the Horse's case, keep on their ears up).

Serse Luigetti from Italy created this beautiful Paper Horse, and of course - I think - Serse's Mail Art wouldn't be complete without some visual poetry.

On the envelope some more animals.
Below a detail of this very inconvenient truth:

Serse added a few postcards, of which in this one I see a wellknown animal, too (already visualised by many artists): the Human Being.

Here more of Serse Luigetti's visual poetry. I cannot read it, so if anyone can decode the text, please let me know. Or am I so weird not to see - and just enjoy, nothing more - the visual image?!

(I love the envelop between the rounds!).
Thanks a lot, grazie mille, Serse!

Snappy

2010-10-24T01:34:00.007+02:00

As I did before, also now I hesitated to open Snappy's beautifully packed entry, because the glimmering plastic of the envelope, the postage stamp, the par avion sticker and the Snappy Service Stamp are too contributing to the Mail Art work to be removed...

But the instruction sticker told me to do so, so here is the unveiled work:

Lots of weird animals are shown. The Penguin, a funny favourite friend. The Leaf-tailed gecko and, on the Canadian postage stamp, the Golden-eyed lacewing. On the drawing a Wolf teaching Geese (? I think) to read.

And of course Humans.
One of the weirdest (and imho one of the most foolish) things Humans can do is wearing guns and using them. So I prefer the man with the magnifying glass, of course.

Note the - for any animal useful - message (white letters on blue background) on top!

See more work by Snappy on the Snappy Service website.

Thanks a lot, Snappy!

Josh Ronsen

2010-10-14T23:38:00.005+02:00

I am not sure if Josh Ronsen meant this postcard for the Real Weird Animals project, but I found it in my Postbox and it is an Animal, even a weird animal, and it is Art. So I felt free to show his amazing a-n-t ant here.

Ants... What to say more about these busy useful creatures... They are small, meanwhile they are great. Selfish (when it comes to protect their nest) both unselfish (offering themselves in favour of the whole Ant people). Small enough to be tramped, but also strong (ever seen an ant carrying a piece of a leaf more than twice as big as the ant?).

Multi-artist Josh Ronsen had and has various Art projects, among them the recent Mail Art project Tiny Art Exchange. Learn more about his projects on his website.
And.. Enjoy many more Mail Ants on Josh Ronsen's astonishing Mail Ant Project page!

Thanks a lot, Josh, for this visual-poetry-calligraphics-mail-art animal!

TicTac

2010-10-13T17:36:00.004+02:00

This amazing Octopus has been sent from Germany by Ptrzia TicTac.
With a lot of Eye-Fish (or Fish-Eyes?) around!

Some fish were cut out (great work done, Patrizia!), and suddenly the snail from Ptrzia's accompanying letter appeared in the fish' place. Somewhere in one of these pictures you can find this rapid snail!
(Who by this deed made a kind of 'Where is Wally' search image!..)

Patrizia has a great mail art project: Message in a Bottle.

Thank you very much, vielen Dank, for your contribution!

Jos

2010-10-12T20:40:00.006+02:00

Jos from Belgium sent me the Aye-aye, a weird animal I didn't know before I started this blog.
In Dutch we call this lemur 'vingerdier', which means 'finger animal'.
Wikipedia says about this animal: "The Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker."
Weird, isn't it? (and a mouthful of words!)

On the envelope a close-up of this frightning looking creature!..
Though I think we humans don't have to be afraid of the aye-aye, as he/she only eats insect grubs, nuts and nectar.

Thank you, Jos, dankjewel voor dit bijzondere dier!

Nini

2010-10-12T20:28:00.006+02:00

This cute rodent has been made by Nini from Belgium. 'Woestijnspringmuis', I thought when I opened the colorful envelope (see below). Though I am not sure whether this weird animal, in English, is the Dipopid, a Gerbil or a Hopping Mouse.

Thank you, dankjewel, Nini, voor dit schattige beestje!

RashidxMAN

2010-10-12T20:12:00.004+02:00

This great Tapir has been made by Rashid from Belgium.
With a nice envelope - one might notice - apart from the husome weird animal, too: in the Netherlands we call a car 'the holy cow', I am not sure if this is also the name in Flemish?

Thank you, dankjewel, Rashid-x-Man, voor deze mooie bijdrage!

Mart1

2010-10-11T01:06:00.006+02:00

Two animals were sent from Belgium by Mart1.
The Tapir, one of my favorite weird animals, you see below. And above you see the Blobfish!
Even if the fish him/herself wouldn't have been weird, he/she would be weird because of the name! Just have a try: say 'blobfish' to yourself 14 times while looking in the mirror with a serious face and try not to laugh!..

Though - the Blobfish indeed is weird! Living in deep sea (600 to 1200 meters, near Australia) a gas bladder, which fish usually have, wouldn't work. Instead of that, the Blobfish' flesh is a jelly-like mass. He doesn't need much muscles, as he just eats what comes close. Blob!

Blobfish and Tapir are accompanied by an interesting collaged envelop. When you take a close look at the backside, you can notice some butterflies, too!

Thank you, dankjewel, Mart1, voor deze verrassende bijdrage!

Victor

2010-10-11T00:33:00.004+02:00

Victor sent this funny weird animal from Belgium.
My animal encyclopedia remained startling silent when I looked up the Vikbot. Four legs, a funny head, broad mouth, and left and right of the body/head six wings-or-antennas-or-something-like-that. The Vikbot looks like an animal. But which one??

The envelope brings some clues. The Vikbot might come from a different world!

Thank you, dankjewel, Victor, voor dit bijzondere beestje!

Antoine

2010-10-10T01:18:00.005+02:00

Antoine from Belgium drew our attention to this weird little primate: the Tarsier!
The Dutch/Flemish name 'spook-aapje' (or 'spookdiertje') literally means 'small ghost-monkey' (or 'small ghost animal'). Well, while the tarsier is rather cute than horrific, the 'ghost' might refer to the extremely big eyes in such a small animal. Among wikipedia their eyeballs are even as large as their brains!..

Antoine sent the Spook-aapje in this wide landscape on the envelope:

Thanks a lot, dankjewel, Antoine, voor deze mooie bijdrage!

Amuldo (2)

2010-10-05T22:24:00.004+02:00

An other beautiful amazing animal sent by Amuldo from the Netherlands: the Octopus! Or better: Octopus meets the Squirrel.

"'Do you think me weird?!', the octopus asked the squirrel.
The squirrel watched him and hesitated for a while.
'I mean, with all those arms and suction cups,' the octopus said.
His cheeks turned grey and he looked down.
'Not at all', the squirrel said. 'I don't think you weird.'
'I am not weird indeed', the octopus said in a low voice....."

Watch the - again great - stamps, and the messages on the rubber-stamped waves (click on the picture to enlarge)!

The text has been written by the Dutch writer Toon Tellegen. For the people who never heard of Toon Tellegen (pronounce the Dutch name 'Toon' more or less as 'Tone'): to my opinion, I think it's worth reading more work of this author. He writes short stories about all kinds of weird animals (well, after reading this short story I'm afraid they're not that weird anymore!). Apparently about animals, but of course providing us humans a lot of food for thought.

Thanks a lot, hartelijk dank voor deze leuke verrassing, Amuldo!

Carolien van der Gaag

2010-09-29T18:16:00.005+02:00

The Heron!
Such a common bird, I always thought, as the heron always is around in our country. In the park, in the zoo (as a free bird, where he/she likes to snatch the zoo animals' food), on top of the street-lights, houses, schools, etcetera.
But this beautiful painting by Carolien van der Gaag changed my mind. The Heron indeed is a weird - and interesting - animal!

I once saw a documentary about the heron in the big city (titled 'Schoffies', which means 'Rascals'). And I'm sure, if I'll see this documentary ever again, thanks to Carolien's choice this will be with a completely different view.

Beautiful also is the completely painted A4 sized envelope.
With on the backside this goose...

... and in front this parrot.

On the backside of the Heron there are a lot more to think about!

Finally, very happy I also am with this mail art postcard! Which shows a cute interaction between the two pictured birds.

Thanks a lot, hartelijk dank, Carolien!

Guido Vermeulen (2)

2010-09-26T19:53:00.004+02:00

Guitar playing Byrd or saxophonist Bird or a real winged Bird?

Anyhow, this second beautiful painted envelope Guido Vermeulen sent from Belgieque as an answer to my contribution to his Jazz project is a beautiful one!

Hartelijk dank, Guido, ook voor je tekst en gedicht!

Amuldo

2010-09-05T16:22:00.007+02:00

Amuldo sent me this amazing squirrel. 'Amazing', not only amazingly pictured but - to my opinion - also amazing looking into and considering the world as if he or she is wondering about all things which can be seen.

The question the Squirrel (de eekhoorn) asks is 'Do you think me weird?'
Well, agreeing with Dewi's choice, my answer would be, with a respectful smile: 'So what if the answer would be 'yes'? Aren't we humans weird, too?!'

P.S. note the fine artistamps!

Amuldo has a great call for mail art: 'project 55'. See for more details this website.

Thank you, dank je voor deze bijzondere eekhoorn, Amuldo!

Guido Vermeulen

2010-09-02T23:26:00.010+02:00

Again a great example of how Mail Art is Mail Art and not only Art!
This (Friour approved!) beautiful envelope arrived from Belgium and has been made by Guido Vermeulen.
I imagine the flowers on the stamps once were growing in the landscape, even though their colours and contrasts might be a bit too mild...

In the envelope Guido also sent contributions to the Your Doctor in Mail Art project, and left me confused: what to publish where?
So I choose the poem to be there, and the explanation how Guido painted the painting/drawing above here.
The last paragraph reminds me of the movie about the boy who drew black drawings... With a message which gives hope (I think)...

I hope you are o.k. with my choice - hoop dat je het o.k. vindt, zo!
Hartelijk dank, Guido!

Please note the Network site friour.multiply.com and the personal blog of Guido Vermeulen.
And for everyone who loves music, check his call for mail art.

Dewi

2010-08-30T20:59:00.003+02:00

A true statement from Dewi! Not only humans are shopping, but also computering, drawing, traveling, calling by telephone and many things more.

Thanks a lot, Dewi!

P.S. Don't forget to visit the Museum of Ornamental Post (MOOP). More beautiful sketches by Dewi you can find in the Sketch Cafe.

Elefantus

2010-08-17T17:10:00.004+02:00

I'm not sure whether this postcard is meant for the Real Weird Animals project. But sure the Elephant is an interesting and weird animal, so I'm happy to have received this postcard from Elefantus!

Grazie mille, Elefantus!

Lindenhof

2010-08-17T16:51:00.005+02:00

Thanks to the two collage postcards sent by the German artist group Lindenhof a lot of weird animals are added to this project!

Alas some animals are in a real bad position, either stuck to a fly-paper or serving for food...

The great thing about Mail Art, to my opinion, is not only that artists from all over the world meet by sending art to each other, but also that Post itself adds peculiar interesting pieces to the art, for example on this front side of Lindenhof's card:

Vielen Dank, Lindenhof!

Schoko Casana Rosso / Mildbrandt

2010-08-11T19:52:00.008+02:00

A real weird animal! Beautifully drawn by Schoko Casana Rosso from Berlin, Germany.
I think this strange animal has eyes and noses at very strategic points. A clever creature.
Below there's the complete animal (click on the image to enlarge).

Herzlichen Dank, Schoko!

More art work by Schoko Casana Rosso you can see via this search.

Ola Helland

2010-07-31T01:14:00.005+02:00

I feel honoured to have received the very first entries to the RealWeirdAnimals project from Ola!

The Beaver - 'Bever' both in Norsk and Dutch - drawn with just a few lines tells a lot. And opens my eyes: a funny thing is that certain animals of which I always thought they were common (and which I wouldn't expect to be sent for this project), aren't that common at all!

Beavers indeed have peculiar things. The flat broad tail, their ability to build dams and lodges, their webbed hind-feet and orange teeth... Indeed a real weird animal!

Similar weird is the Giraffe, with his/her long and strong neck, noteworthy spots and blue tongue.

Great drawings, I'm happy with them, tusen takk, Ola!

Call for entries: Weird real animals!

2010-07-31T01:06:00.006+02:00

Made for Onemillionrealfunnyweirdanimals!com.

Call for Mail Art: Weird Existing Animals

2010-07-10T16:43:00.005+02:00

Platypus, Tapir, Okapi, Echidna, Kookaburra, Axolotl: some of my favourite animals.
They have in common that they exist in real life and that they are uncommon.

Which animal is odd as well as one of your favourites?

Send your image of an unusual (existing, no fantasy) animal to the following address:

No jury, no fee, no return.
All weird existing animals will be published in this ongoing virtual exhibition.