Nicole Eippers (29)

Wonderful envelope from Nicole Eippers, tmo the Queen of Collage mail art!
The mail arrived despite of the location of the postmark :-)



Enclosed this great Mole shown above, and ATC's: of a Tardigrade, Chameleon, Lyrebird and a Sea Slug. And of course Nicole's famous Flying Piggy.

Nicole Eippers (28)

An envelope showing an impressive animal (and a matching - Europe 2017 - sand castle stamp) arrived from Belgium. Created by Nicole Eippers, and fortunately she added some extra information about this animal inside the envelope.
It is the Squille, in English also named a peacock mantis shrimp, harlequin mantis shrimp, painted mantis shrimp, or clown mantis shrimp (in Dutch a 'bidsprinkhaankreeft', which means literally 'praying mantis lobster')



According to the information, this up to 20 cms large sea animal has eyes which make it possible to watch 360 degrees around, thus he or she is able to see a panorama view.

That will not be the case with the short sighted animal which Nicole also has added to the content of the envelope. It is the Mole, this peticular species being a star-nosed mole:



And there is this picture of the Andrewsarchus, a prehistorical, extinct animal:



On the back of the envelope - which in fact also is the front, as my address was written there, too - you can find Nicole's famous Flying Piggy!



Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (27)

Nicole Eippers created an other beautiful collage, showing several special animals: a Sloth, a Mole and of course the Piggy.
They came along with a Butterfly stamp.

And to my surprise this time I could open the paper: it was an envelope.
Inside I found Nicole's wonderful drawing, a contribution to the 'What of whom is she staring at?' mail art project.



And a vintage piece of paper, with lovely drawings and Nicole's famous Flying Piggy stamp:



Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (26)

A koalas mother and child, the famous flying Pig and a butterfly stamp. If you look close, you can see also a Human being in the background.

Collage, created and sent by Nicole Eippers from Belgium.

Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

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!

Nicole Eippers (24)

Each time I'm receiving mail art from Nicole Eippers I'm happily surprised. Not only her collages are perfect, to my opinion, but also she knows how to surprise me again and again with her animal findings.

This time I received a music making (and flying) Chameleon, with two lizards in the audience.



On the back Nicole's famous Flying Pig.

Thank you very much, Nicole!

Eva (23)

Usually I don't post regular postcards here, but this time the received card shows a little history, and the postage stamp on the back is interesting enough to be posted here, too.

Sent from Spain by Eva, this postcard came from the Belgian museum Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. This card shows the permanent exhibition 'Gallery of Humankind'.

The stamp shows the Myotis capaccinii, in English known as long-fingered bat, in Spanish the long-legged (patudo) bat (murciélago), in German the long-foot (Langfuß) bat (Fledermaus) and in Dutch just Capaccini's bat (Capaccinni's vleermuis).



It is the first shaped Spanish stamp I've ever seen.
Thank you very much, Eva!

Nicole Eippers (23)

Nicole Eippers created this wonderful Caterpillars collage. The largest one is the Saddleback Caterpillar, also known as Acharia stimulea. He/she lives in the USA, but sometimes they travel on ornamental plants to Europe. Which does not make us, Europeans, happy, because this Caterpillar has hairs and horns which secrete an irritating and painful venom.

Nicole added an article on the back, about a Belgian family who discovered this weird animal on their recently bought ornamental plant. So be aware!



And see, also Nicole's famous Flying Pig accompanied this great piece of mail art. Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (22)

The Tarsier has been here before, and I've drawn one once, but every time each picture proofs it is an amazing animal. Those eyes...

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole, for again a great collage!

Nicole Eippers (21)

This amazing Fish is named 'Labre' in French. I looked it up, and there appeared to be more types of Labres. Finally I ofund out that this Fish' full name is the Labre à tête de mouton in French, or Asian sheepshead wrasse in English, or simply Semicossyphus reticulatus.

The great collage has been created and sent by Nicole Eippers from Belgium.
Dankuwel, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Frips (2)

I had to look twice before I realised that this intriguing drawing by Frips shows a Human and a Cat. (They are, aren't they?)



On the envelope the famous Butterfly stamp. And inside, besides the great artwork showed above, some artistamps.




Dankjewel, Frips!

Nicole Eippers (20)

The Okapi has been one of my favourite animals in my childhood already. So I am happy that Nicole Eippers found one and has sent me this Okapi from Belgium! By the way, the very first time that I saw an Okapi in real, was not so long ago, when I was grown-up for a long time already, in the Zoo of the Belgian city of Antwerp.

Merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (19)

Already as a child I was fascinated by the Axolotl. In the seventies I had a book from the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, in which there was a black and white picture showing this amazing weird deep water amphibian.
Nicole Eippers sent me a coloured version of axolotls from Belgium, along with two of my other favourites: a Snail and a Mole. And of course her famous Piggy mail art pig.

Hartelijk dank, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (18)

An other couple of real weird animals, collage created and sent by Nicole Eippers.
I was wondering how these two are named - apart from the well-known Pig silhouet and Butterfly stamp. Fortunately Nicole added some information: the one on the left is a Douroucouli, or Night Monkey, the only monkey who has a totally active night life.
And the - here big, but in real smaller than 1.5 mm - fellow on the right is a Tardigrade (literally 'Slow Walker'), also known as Waterbear, both names have been chosen for the way they walk.

Visual food for thought! Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Troebel Neyntje

I've written about Troebel Neyntje on my 'sent' blog. I wished I'd live next to them!
In short, Troebel Neyntje is a gallery in Antwerp, Belgium, and a kind of home to several artists.
One of them is Bert Lezy, who drew this fantastic Dolphin for me.
Maybe he also created the Horse you see below, though I'm 84%, not 100% sure, because there are several other artists connected to this gallery, as you can see on their website.



The envelope also included a small card with a friendly piglet on the front side:



And the word 'achterkant' = 'back side' written on the back side:



Troebel Neyntje really spoiled me, by not only sending mail art but also two stickers. Among them this one. It's from the Bond tegen Veiligheid, which says that 'safety/security ruins more than what is dear to you'.



At the moment the Troebel Neyntje gallery is exhibiting painted bags. You can visit this exhibition until the 24th of May 2015, on Thursdays till Sundays afternoons. So if you happen to be in Belgium, be sure to take a visit and enjoy the flauwekul (intranslatable Dutch/Flemish word) and other artistic expressions by this great group of artists.



Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, Troebel Neyntje!

Nicole Eippers (17)

Nicole Eippers always succeeds in surprising me again and again by her beautiful collage mail art.

This time she found curious leaves who turn out to be butterflies.

She sent an other great piece of mail art, which I'll blog one of the coming days (first have to find out which weird animals are shown there, or at least how they are named in English :-) ).

Check out Nicole's website to see more beautiful collages.
And of course you can send her your piggy mail art.

Dankjewel, Nicole!

Frips

Yay, mail!



Beautiful rubber stamp print of the Tapir, and Cat drawings by Frips, sent from Belgium.



Apart from these animals, there is a great stamped envelope, there are artistamps, papers, and a collaboration art collage.








Thank you very much, duizendmaal dank, Frips!

Miche-Art-Universalis

Interesting collage of Cat and Human, created by Miche-Art-Universalis from Belgium.
I attended her mail art project, 'Hommage to the world of Hokusai' , which deadline has been extended to the 15th of February 2015, so you can still join!

Miche added two calls for mail art, to which you can participate also:

This one is a call for entries on Horses and/or Unicorns:



And this one on the theme 'Cheetahs':



Great Mail Pigeon rubber stamp print on the envelope, too.
Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, Miche-Art-Universalis!