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!

Katerina Nikoltsou (18)

This entry for the 'What or whom is she staring at?' project came from Katerina Nikoltsou from Greece. Katerina's creation suddenly made me wonder if the animals' name, Dolphin, has to do something with the famous ancient Greek oracle place Delphi. I looked it up, and yes, there is a connection (or not?)!



On the back side nice mail art things, among them artistamps from other mail artists, and matching Greek stamp prints.
And inside the envelope some other materials, among them a colouring plate, showing the wise Owls and - probably - the wise goddess Athena:



Katerina also added a ruler, showing nice Owls, too. A big surprise, an excellent gift which I can use to draw straight lines in my own mail art.



Thank you very much, Katerina!

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!

Antonia Mayol Castelló (2)

Received from Antonia Mayol Castelló, this beautiful collage. It shows the picture of the announcement of the mail art exhibition 'Caminos de Agua' - 'Paths of Water', and some of the contributions. You can see how many animals (including humans) are dependent of water!

And you can find the catalog of the exhibition in a pdf here.



This picture proofs that fish are better off in water than above fire.



Great bird rubber stamps.
Thank you very much, muchas gracias, Antonia!

Katerina Nikoltsou (4)

Hurray, another Platypus!!!

Another beautiful creation, a sweet one, of this real weird and interesting creature, also known as Ornithorhynchus anatinus. Who succeeds in amazing me for more than 35 years already.

Made thanks to Onions, and above all thanks to (and by) Katerina Nikoltsou from Greece.

She also created these happily jumping Dolphins!



And here's the famous rubber stamp Blue Cat.



Amazing that all the animals in this post belong to the same 'class': Mammals.

Thank you very much, Katerina!

Katerina Nikoltsou

A Cat, and a Greek Post Pigeon...




... and Seagulls above a calm sea while the sun (coin) sets...



Created and sent from Greece by Katerina Nikoltsou.
Thank you very much, ευχαριστώ, Κατερίνα!



And don't these Onions look like Dolphins jumping above a misty water?

Anna Banana

The Aye-Aye is a fascinating mammal (as is mankind)!
In Dutch we call this animal 'Vingerdier', 'Finger animal', because of his long middle finger.
This time the Aye-Aye appeared on an envelope, created and sent by Anna Banana from Canada, as a thank you for colour test prints I had sent to Anna.



And in the envelope more great surprises: beautiful artistamps, a printed card, and a recent issue of the Zine 'Bananarag'.




Thank you very much, Anna!