Eva (36) Reading bird

Where would we be without books? This great bird totally agrees with the importance of reading books (and her book has a cover of my favourite colour :-) .
So I am happy to receive a picture of the reading bird, created by Eva. Thank you very much!

Eva (34)

The headline says 'Eva (34)' but it could have been (50) or more, because I've received a lot more beautiful mail art envelopes! Great cool chameleon / calmeleon was made and sent by Eva. And see the matching stamp! Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

Eva (33)

After the Turtle, cousin Crocodile arrived! (Via water or via air?!) Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

John Edwards (5)

How pleased one can be when a Bird is named after her: the Devaana Heleena (Linnaeus), known in English as the Jolly Green Nutcracker. I was happy that John has made this detailed illustration of this colourful bird, because I was too late to catch my camera to take a photo of the bird when I spotted this bird on the 31st of July.



On the back side John drew this nice Bird of Pray. And inside this envelope a postcard with a kind message.

Thank you very much, John, I am happy to have received some birds from your personal Bird Encyclopedia!

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!

Eva (27)

Where there are Smurfs (see previous post), there is Eva and there is me. Where there is Eva and me, there is Mail. Where there is Mail... there is the Mail Monster!

A cute animal, I think when seeing this lovely portrait by Eva. But maybe appearances are deceptive.
Anyway, more about the Mail Monster and his/her life and mail habits, we will learn in future, thanks to Eva's Mail Monster project.



Thank you very much, Eva!
I'll reply as soon as I know more about this nn MM !

Eva (26)

What would there be in this semi-transparent envelope?

This wonderful fish, of course!
Made and sent by Eva from Spain.



Take a look at the stamps, above, too! An awesome origami elephant is joining, as are Don Quixote, his helper and horse.



Eva added coffee to the outside of the envelope (yummy!), and inside a postcard by German artist Harald Geisler:



Thank you very much, Eva, moltes gracies!

Hana Ehagaki (3)

The Moray Eel I always thought a dangerous fish for its sharp teeth and strong jaws. Fortunately both the fish and the lady, but also the postcard and the postmen survived the journey from Japan to the Netherlands.

The addition to the 'What or whom is she staring at?'-lady has been created by Hana Ehagaki. Thank you very much, arigato, Hana!

Minneapolis Gnome

Wow, such wonderful drawings!
Created by Minneapolis Gnome from Minneapolis (well, the Rhinoceros and Tortoise originally are from Tucson, Arizona).



Along these animals and gnome the staring lady returned, with an inspiring new surrounding: the Gnome's studio.



All arrived in this great envelope:



Thank you very much, Minneapolis Gnome!

José Zinermann Nogueira

From Brazil this wonderful Bird arrived. Created by José Zinermann Nogueira. He also drew these weird, but maybe not existing/real, awesome (and a bit scary) animals:





And a Human(oid) wearing sunglasses:



Thank you very much, muito obrigado, José!

Ti Ar Raden (2)

My favourite colours: turquoise and bright yellow/green!
The Snail, of course, doesn't need an introduction. But who is the other fellow? So to see this lovely yellow creature is a Leafy Seadragon, a family member of the Sea horse.

This great work of art has been created by Ti Ar Raden.

On the address side a beautifully written 'Thank you' (Mersi bras in Breton) with the famous Ermine, watched by the stamp Cat.



Mersi, trugarez bras, Ti Ar!

Frank (from Nijmegen)

I was wondering whether I would post a regular postcard here or not. In fact, the drawing itself concerns a regular (printed, bought) postcard, made by Johanna Basford, issued in 2014 by Thoth Publishers. But the colouring has been handmade by a good friend, so I decided: Yes!

Frank and I played guitar in Below the Mole in the late eighties. Below the Mole was an important band in the Nijmegen music scene (although almost no-one knows that :-) ). We started with two guitars and drums. A bass player joined only after years. We existed for 4 years, until our drummer Rob left to Amsterdam, and in those years we had 10 public concerts in total.
Below the Mole was an underground band, not only musically seen but also literally: we rehearsed below the (former) Post Office near Nijmegen Central Station. Alas this post office and the cellar rehearsal rooms don't exist anymore.
However, to my surprise the concert hall Doornroosje has been moving last year to this location. As many others do, I'll miss the old, cosy Doornroosje and its former location. In those days I've put a lot of footsteps there, volunteering at concerts and by drawing concert flyers (and did the typography, in a pre-computer era!). And I gained some hearing loss by the noise (be warned if you enjoy music, too!).
Post Office, rehearsal rooms, concert hall.. Maybe the circle should be full this way.

So this postcard not only reminds me of the good times we shared - Frank, Rob, Arnold (and temporary Miesjel) were more than family to me - but also gives me the opportunity to share a tiny little postal and pop history of one of my favourite cities, Nijmegen.



Frank sent me this card last week for my bithday (good day to not send it on my birthday itself, because that is not a public day :-) and he added that this alas isn't a Mole. Never mind, I think it great (and will share a coloured version of our logo below). Thanks a lot, dankjewel, Frank!



Nijmegen Central Station in 1977. The (now disappeared) large building on the right was the former Post Office.



Some BtM songs:
Blue Hour
Turquoise Cloud
An evening at night (featuring Miesjel)

Amy Irwen (2)

Every time I see a platypus, my heart beats faster and I feel a happy feeling deep inside.
This time it is Amy Irwen who has created this wonderful version of this amazing weird animal.

The back side of the card is wonderful as well. The artistamp you see down right is in honour of Guido Vermeulen, a great Belgian mail artist who we sadly have to miss in life, but who will live on in mail art and in our hearts.
There is more to see, so I stop writing, and you can start watching :-)



Thank you very much, Amy!

Eva (11)

As a child I was fascinated by the Dodo, since I saw a picture in the Animal Encyclopedia my grandparents gave me when I was about ten years old. Later in childhood I had a board game about threatened wild life all-over the world, and every time we played it, I hoped to travel to Mauritius, where this interesting bird was living and I could pick up the Dodo fiche. Well, this weird bird alas had been extinct in those days already. But in our hearts he/she lives on.
And in the movie 'The Pirates'.
And thanks to Eva I got even a new, colourful picture of the Dodo!

She added a postcard of twittering budgerigars / parakeets. Thank you very much, Eva, for these cheerful pictures!