Carina (4)

Did I ever tell that Platypus mail art steals my heart?
Carina had the Platypus do so, by sending a wonderful piece of mail art from Finland.



Well, at first sight it was not clear. A brown envelope, showing a mushroom stamp.
And a Robot...



... or not a Robot...



But when I opened the envelope, I saw the beautiful Platypus you see on top!

Also inside, an original piece of great art by Carina, titled 'Roots':



When looking further, there suddenly appeared two cousins, two Monotremes... My favourite Australian mammals!
An other Platypus...



... and the Echidna!



Finally a nice piece of mail art, to which I hope to add something soon because it is missing something, so I can return it to Carina:



Thank you very much, Carina!

Tonipoet (8)

Pictures (mail art, stamps, anything) showing Echidna or Platypus make me extremely happy.

This way Tonipoet succeeded to bring a broad smile on my face and a ton full of energy to my body on a tiring day, by adding this original Echidna stamp to her collage.
The art work is #533 and named "Prehistoric Australia". Although Echidna and other monotremes seem - and are! - prehistoric, fortunately they also live in present Australia.

The Echidna arrived, accompanied by two Easter Bunnies and a Cat, who so to see got lost in Paris but soon will find her way again thanks to the map.



Both cards came in a beautiful Wolf envelope,



Of which the back side is a piece of abstract art in itself:



Thank you very much, Toni!

Nicole Eippers (25)

The Lyrebird is an amazing ground-dwelling Australian Bird.
This beautiful collage has been created and sent from Belgium by Nicole Eippers.



Along with the famous Flying Pig.
See more mail art by Nicole her 'piggy own mail art' website.

Hartelijk dank, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Vizma Bruns (5)

This tiny booklet arrived in this envelope - see the great Platypus and Crab stamps!



The mail art, created and sent by Vizma Bruns from Australia, reminded me of a Matruschka: I opened the envelope, and in it was a smaller Fish envelope, and in it was a smaller Panda envelope, and in that there was this bookie!

See here a graphic visual to see the sizes:



Thank you very much, Vizma!

Paloma Paprika

Great mail art envelope...



... containing a kind message, at the backside of this interesting human / ape hand collage:



... and goodies and three great mini zines, among them this one:



... of which this is the inside:



... and this one:



... created and sent from Australia by Paloma Paprika. Thank you very much!

Vizma Bruns (4)

Vizma Bruns made me extremely happy by adding a lot of Platypus to her mail art. As you might know, all animals are my favourite animals, but some animals are a bit more favourite than others. The Platypus is one of them.

On the back of the envelope some beautiful rubber stamp prints. Among them many fish, an Octopus and the famous Bunny:



And inside, among others, a Painter / Artist. Some people consider painters / artists as a weird kind of humans, too, and we all know (but some of the same 'some people' don't like to concede) that also Humans are Animals :-)




Thank you very much, Vizma!

Jack Oudyn

Received from Jack Oudyn from Australia.
On the one hand this fish has no tomorrrow, on the other hand he or she will be eternal. That is, as long as the internet exists.

The fish came along with more beautiful pieces of collage / mixed media art, among them this interesting image of a human being:



And an announcement of an exhibition in the Redland Art Gallery.

More art work by Jack Oudyn you can find on his website and weblog.

Thank you very much, Jack!

From Vizma B.? From Marie W.? From TongJianCheng!

An interesting parcel arrived in the Netherlands, all the way from China.
From an unknown sender!



Containing a present, which made me very Happy!
A beautiful fabric pen case, with a very friendly text, accompanied by two friendly vegetarian animals: the long-eared Rabbit, and the long-necked Giraffe.



Always 'in' for nice surprises. But also always too curious to know where my received mail comes from... Frustrating to not know that...

Wait... Look at my name above the address. How could the unknown sender know that I had a discussion about 'babbelaars' lately?



(About 'roomboterbabbelaars', even!) That could have been some Princess, or Peeee. Or accompanying Person.




Anyway, who-ever the generous sender is (Vizmaaaa!): Thank you very, very much!!

Vizma Bruns (2)

A Platypus from the land of the Platypus: Australia!

Thanks to Vizma Bruns we can learn the story of the Old Man Platypus...



.. and learn how to have a drink while being in a Fish Tank! (My bottle of course contains water, or coffee.)
(What happened to Marie?)



Nice stamps, even a Mailogram and an original Vizma Artistamp!

This Giant Lobster was on the smallest part of the mail:



And this is a piece of fabric which really asks for being added some more stitches to!



And last but not least: a great transparent dotted envelope, with on the stamp... an Echidna, yay!



Thank you very much, Vizma!

Amy Irwen

This beautiful Platypus swam to me thanks to Amy Irwen from the U.S.A.
And he/she is not alone, also a Pink Eared Duck - who has a funny bill, too - and Duckling accompanied this brave mammal.

Look at the fine pen lines! In real, the silver lines of the bill of this platypus are shining as if he/she is swimming in a silvery water. Beautiful! Thank you very much, Amy!

Chris James

This beautiful Elephant, a mixed-media drawing/painting, has been created and sent from Australia by Chris James.

The present digital technologies at my place do not give me the opportunity to share the beautiful change of light which one can see when you hold this mail art in the sunlight.
So I tried to make a video to do this. It turned out to be a completely different movie from the one I had planned to make to show you the wonderful lights on Chris James' painting.

But anyhow, if you look well, you can see some twinkeling lights on Chris James' painting on this improvised video. And hear the beautiful music I decided to add, music I remembered while watching Chris James' mail art from all directions. You can hear and see it here, until the doorbell ('beep') rings for the second time and brings us back to the daily live again...



Be sure to check out Chris' website, Artists for the Environment.

Thank you very much, Chris!

Amy

Not really intended for this RWA mail art project, but received as a 'thank you' mail from my partner-in-LEP Amy from Australia.
In Australia some of my most favourite animals live, who happen to be weird animals: the platypus, echidna and kookaburra (and many others of course :-) .
But when you think about it, also the 'common' animals are weird. And very friendly! Would we give milk to others, apart from our own children? Would we have our hairs shaved, so that others can make yarn and cloths of it?



Thank you very much, Amy, for your kind letter and animals, and the stamps which unintentionally provided me of more food-for-thought (which is always welcomed!).

Vizma Bruns

Big surprise from Australia (great country name: AUS ~ !trA liaM), created and sent by Vizma Bruns.



Showing many great rubber stamps as well.
Although not intended for this Real Weird Animals project, I think the Cow, Sheep, Fish, Fly, Butterflies, Humans and hidden Owl just belong here!
Thank you very much, Vizma!



(And surprising to see we've some similarities regarding the choice of visiting card layout!)