Keith S. Chambers (4)

A Bee, a Butterfly and a Boodschap (= message in Dutch).



'Renounce acedia' (had to look up the word in the dictionary)... So true. However I think mail artists don't need to do so, they suffer from acedia :-)

Thank you very much, Keith!

Eva (21)

Eva drew great beetles and other useful tiny creatures and thus made this a wonderful envelope.

Inside a postcard from the 'There's nuffin like a Puffin' book illustration postcards serie. The Water Flea and his friend Water Mite show up on the cover of a book issued in 1964, named 'Pond life'. The illustration was made by Paxton Chadwick.



Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

Kerosene (8)

Seldom I've seen such a filled and beautiful my-first-letter!



Created and sent by Kerosene from Canada, along with more 'H's'.



Kerosene also sent a call for mail art: Vanitas.



And an add-and-pass, first sent by Fleur Helsingor to Kerosene, then added to and passed to me by Kerosene. See the front and back side here below.



I will add something to it. Let me know in the comments if I shall forward it to you!?!



Thank you very much, Kerosene!

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!

GX Jupitter-Larsen (3)

I wish I had a lot of guitar- and noise making stamps to reply to GX Jupitter-Larsen. He again made my day by sending so many animals on an envelope. Animals on stamps, even!



Grazie mille, muchisimas gracias, muito obrigado, tack så mycket, tusen takk, þakka þér kærlega fyrir, mange tak, dankon tre multa, thank you very, very much, GX!

Nicole Eippers (16)

There are some wonderful collage mail artists, and I think Nicole Eippers definitely is one of them.

Speaking for myself, I've tried to make collages but I think it very hard to create them well. Even though many people think and say 'it's easy'. Well, I think it's not! (That's why I prefer drawing :-) )
And every time Nicole creates a Real Weird Animal to send from Belgium to me, I make a jump of joy when I find her creation in my mailbox. This time I'm lucky to have received a Mole, one of my all time favourite animals. In a very peculiar place, seen from the Mole's point of view!

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Miranda Vissers (2)

The Chameleon always is an amazing lizard, by it's ability to change colours.
Miranda Vissers created an even more amazing Chameleon. Or would it be a 'Butterflies Animal'?

Thank you very much, dankjewel, Miranda!

Nicole Eippers (15)

Nicole Eippers always makes beautiful collages. This time it's a desert lizard, the Thorny dragon (Moloch horridus), who ran into my mailbox. With of course Nicole's famous Pig, and the beautiful Belgian Butterfly stamp.

Nicole is an official Pig collector, so check her incoming mail art and have yourself inspired: I think she'll always appreciate new Piggy mail art!

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Kim JungYoun

Beautiful Bird and beautiful message. Created and sent by Kim JungYoun from Korea.



She also added beautiful stationery, and this suitable postage stamp from Japan - I love vegetables on stamps, and I'm sure the Dove has enjoyed the corn during the trip, too.



More animals on the envelope, and/at amazing beautiful postage stamps!



Thank you very much, Kim!

Stripygoose (3)

'Beetle ventures outdoors' - indeed a weird, and nice, animal. Put on paper and sent by Stripygoose from the United Kingdom. And see that also nice little Bird on the address side!



Thank you very much, Stripygoose!

Borderline Grafix

Borderline Grafix took part in some add-and-pass mail art and forwarded collage sheets.
I am the lucky receiver of some to-add-and-pass-on sheets. But first show some here. See those stamps, showing an Eagle and a minxus Mink! And of course there are a lot of human beings around.





And the great envelopes (which I don't have to pass on): I like the rubber stamp print of the weird unidentified insect and the butterfly artistamp (the latter has been created by Amy Irwen, so to see?)!



Thank you very much, BG!

Richard Baudet (2)

Richard Baudet sent this mail art for the IUOMA group 'Orange Lovers'. However, the beautiful butterfly is an amazing creature and deserves room in this blog, of course, too.

On the back Richard wrote colourful words in his great handwriting, words which we, mail artists and post lovers, fully agree with: thank you, postmen/postwomen!
And thank you, merci beaucoup, Richard!

Richard Baudet

This picture makes me wonder if this Hippy Fly will fly into the Hippo's mouth. Great collage created by Richard Baudet from France, merci beaucoup, Richard!

I love the postage stamp, too, because it shows where (whom) cow's milk in fact has been made for. And of course Richard's beautiful handwriting (I received this calligrapic collage before).

On the back side kind words for the Postmen.
I showed it to the man who looks after the p.o.boxes, and he was pleasantly surprised. Thank you, merci beaucoup, Richard!

Svetlana Volosiuk

An amazing animal, created by Svetlana Volosiuk from Belarus.

On the back so much more to see. I love languages, so I'm happy that Svetlana added these ephemera in a language which I still have to explore.



And see the beautiful artistamp on the envelope, which matches to the right arm of the weird collaged animal!



More art you can find here, and more mail art by Svetlana you can find on her website.

Thank you very much, Svetlana!

Alison

Alison from South Africa created this beautiful envelope. See the Ladybird on the postage stamp! And a Caracal, and of course the Air Mail Bird.

Inside this envelope she sent a nice letter, accompanied by the postcard you see below. Speaking about South-African animals, usually the 'Big Five' come into mind. And the Giraffe, and Zebra.
However, there are of course many more animals. Among them these 'Ugly Five'.



I think these 'Ugly Five' at least as interesting as the more well-known African animals. They usually have a bad image, not only for their appearance, but also their behaviour is thought to be bad. Which is exaggerated by negative propaganda by movies like the Lion King (o.k. the Warthog has got a more sympathetic imago by this movie).

The 'Ugly Five' are very important animals in the whole circle of life. What would we do without them? How would the landscape look like, without these weird useful creatures? The Hyena and Crocodile allow herbivores to not starve from hunger, by eating some of them. And the Hyena, Marabou Stork and Vulture are the cleaners of the savannah.
And the Warthog, well, it's just a cute animal, holding the tail as an antenna when he/she runs around.

Dórian Ribas Marinho (2)

Another surprise from Dórian Ribas Marinho from Brazil!





More amazing works by Dórian Ribas Marinho you can find on the world wide web.



And always nice to see the envelope filled with beautiful postage stamps.

Thank you very much, muito obrigado, Dórian!

Humberto Miguel Jiménez

A nice surprise from Mexico! This picture of the Damselfly has been created by Humberto Miguel Jiménez.
The Spanish name 'caballito del diablo' literally means 'devil's pony'. In Dutch we call this amazing creature 'Waterjuffer', which means 'Young lady of the water', or 'Señorita del agua' in Spanish.



Also the Mexican Post added a nice Bird sticker to the envelope.

Thank you very much, muchas gracias, Humberto!

Erni Bär (3)

Mail Art from the great collage mail artist Erni Bär from Germany.
When I got the envelope in hands, I first thought he had sent me a Hippopotamus. But it appeared to be a Single Ant.
As I like all animals, this cute - very, very tiny in this mail art, in fact almost invisible - animal is most welcome, too!



Around the Single Ant we can see lots of humans, and also fish, so no-one needs to be single nor lonely.



And even a Cow! We know Paula-the-yellow-with-brown-spots-cow in the Netherlands, too.
Weird that this cow seems to eat from pudding made by her own milk, but I'm not the first witness of adult cows eating dairy products made from selfproduced milk.



And three strong men are supporting the Mail Artist himself.
The other artist is Kurt Schwitters (whose first name contains the two letters of his sonate), his portrait is pictured as a great rubber stamp print, which doesn't need any support (?).



Thank you very much, vielen Dank, Erni!