Nico van Hoorn (7)

A joyful 'Happy Christmas and New Year' wish was sent by Nico van Hoorn to me. The photo shows the gentle friendly Jaap-Aap and friends.



Happy Holidays to all of you! Hartelijk dank, Nico!

Caroline

On instagram there are many mail lovers who share postcards, stamps and do enjoyable 'chaincard' projects.
Via instagram I met Caroline from Hong Kong. She not only shares nice stamps and postcards by her instagram account, but she also appears to be a wonderful stamp carver.
Caroline was so kind to send me some of her stamp prints, and I love to share these here with you. They are amazing!

Part of the 'making of' of the Gryffindor Lion you can see here, and you can see also the Owl, and the young woman.



Thank you very much, Caroline!

Dean, Artist in Seine (5)

Received from Dean, Artist in Seine, this great collage. I first thought the animal to be a Donkey, because of the tail and maybe long ears, but then I thought it a Zebra who was losing his or her stripes, thus becoming a Horse. Is my theory correct? I will never know, unless Dean gives a clue :-)

On the back side a Lizard or Varanus, and a ticket-giving-Human, along with some more Human beings.



Thank you very much, Dean!

Ruth Giles

Ruth Giles created a variety of animals in a variety of ways. The Comb Jelly she drew on black paper, which has an effect as amazing as the real illuminating animal must have (this scanned picture shows less than half of the bright light her drawing has).

Meanwhile this Right Whale has been drawn in a different way, and he or she swims in an interesting environment.



And look at this rubberstamp printed Crow!



And the wonderful Cavias (Guinea Pigs), of which I'm wondering how she stamped these.



The envelope shows more interesting and well-known animals, on both rubberstamps and postage stamps.



Thank you very much, Ruth!

Margit

The Sloth is an amazing animal. Fortunately I am not the only one who is fascinated by this slowly moving animal. Margit created a great rubberstamp, and she was so kind to send me a print of it. Alas the card never arrived, and seems to have been lost in the mail. But she printed an other one, and I was so happy to receive it!

Update: this card appears to be the first and only one! Amazing how the Sloth has traveled as slow as no human is able to do.
Margit told me yesterday that the card has been sent on 29th of February. The Sloth must have thought it a big journey, as he first rested in the Post Office or Briefzentrum before he finally had the energy to cross the border to the neighbouring country (mine). After getting not a 29 February postmark but a 21st of October one!

Thank you very much, herzlichen Dank, Margit!

Eva (24)

In the time of the year that birds tend to fly from north to south (that is, in the northern hemisphere), this cool Crane came all the way from Morocco to the Netherlands. Maybe fueled by the Fish stamp (poor Fish..), but the Crane did arrive!

Created and sent by Eva, who added a matching postcard inside of the envelope.



Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

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!

Ruud Janssen (6), Cavellini

I was pleasantly surprised and felt very much honoured when I opened Ruud Janssen's wonderful painted envelope.
Among nice sheets and ephemera he also sent me this sticker, showing a Cow. A special one: this one had been created by Cavellini, who gave this sticker to Ruud in 1991.

On the envelope Ruud added a matching postage stamp:



I can't remember having seen Cavellini's Cow before, but I must have been unconsciously inspired by the shape of this cow when I created my own Cow recently. Later I learned of Rocola's Bull stamp, but that is a different one.

Thank you very much, Ruud, hartelijk dank voor deze bijzondere verrassing!

Katerina Nikoltsou (22)

Always a pleasure to receive Katerina Nikoltsou's original works of art and to add it to this 'real weird animals' mail art collectiom. The Snail Mail Snail I recognized immediately, but for my records I'm happy that she wrote the names of the unidentified animals: 'Strange Critters'.

On the back artistamps, among them the Fish dada artistamp by Keith S. Chambers, and Katerina's selfie by "E":



The postage stamp on the envelope is issued in honour of the 'Greece in Russia' year:



And on the back Katerina's (and Athena's) famous wise Owl on a stamp print:



Thank you very much, ευχαριστώ, Katerina!

Pufflingspaintings

"Sqoxes are surprisingly good at snorkeling. They hide their best nuts in ziplock bags under rocks as no one ever finds them there (often this includes themselves as they are terribly forgetful)."

I am a big fan of Pufflingspaintings' paintings. I learned to know the painter via Instagram. You can find her also on Twitter and Etsy. Every time her illustrations of the adventures of Sqox and Unicorn succeed to cause a big smile on my face.


"Just having a little lunch."

Some time ago, after a conversation we had on instagram about nuts, I decided to send her my version of Sqox, accompanied by some delicious chestnuts.
And some time later she surprised me with these great illustrations.



Some summer views of Unicorn.



Thank you very much, Pufflingspaintings!

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!

Katerina Nikoltsou (21)

This wonderful envelope arrived from Greece. It has been created by Katerina Nikoltsou, and is one of the typical 'reversed envelopes' design.
Inside this envelope Katerina has put Banana mail art, a Minion, a Boekie (to be added to and returned) and so-called trashpo.

the Minion:


Greek Dada Trashpo Owl:






It's clear that I have to add to and return this boekie to sender:


On the back side of the envelope these Cats on washi tape:


Thank you very much, Katerina!

Cuan Miles

Awesome Bird drawings/collages by Cuan Miles from South Africa.
Both the Hadeda Ibis and the Trumpeter Hornbill are quite big, noisy birds.
The Ibis lives in the big wild fig and coral trees and loves to eat bugs and worms.
The Trumpeter Hornbill eats berries, geckos, frogs, bird eggs, and makes a sound comparable to someone learning to play the trumpet.



On the back sides Cuan added beautiful stamp prints and labels:





And another Bird on the great envelope, the Tristan Albatross:



and don't forget to check Cuan's Curious Collage website!



Thank you very much, Cuan!

Mihaela

This piece of mail art I received via Postcrossing.
Many postcrossers do not want to receive handmade cards and don't send out mail art at all.
But sometimes a postcrosser does, and I always think it a both a pleasure and a treasure, to receive mail created by hand, thus with extra attention.

Recently I received this lovely Owl, which has been made by Mihaela from Bulgaria. She has made it with some help of her elder sister Desi.

To the accompanying letter Mihaela added some more nice (sticker) animals:



And to the envelope a Butterfly stamp.



Thank you very much, Mihaela, Благодаря!

Willemien Visser

This great collage, including a scary looking but in fact tiny cute animal was send to me by Willemien Visser from Germany. If you look close, you can see more animals on the front side.

On the back side a pretty Peacock and a rubberstamp showing Fishes. Even German Post has helped to complete this Animal mail art, by adding a postmark showing the Town Musicians of Bremen: a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster.



Check Willemien's website, she has a call for mail art, themed 'Fishes'.

Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, Willemien!