Adamandia Kapsalis

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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.