Tonipoet (8)

Pictures (mail art, stamps, anything) showing Echidna or Platypus make me extremely happy.

This way Tonipoet succeeded to bring a broad smile on my face and a ton full of energy to my body on a tiring day, by adding this original Echidna stamp to her collage.
The art work is #533 and named "Prehistoric Australia". Although Echidna and other monotremes seem - and are! - prehistoric, fortunately they also live in present Australia.

The Echidna arrived, accompanied by two Easter Bunnies and a Cat, who so to see got lost in Paris but soon will find her way again thanks to the map.



Both cards came in a beautiful Wolf envelope,



Of which the back side is a piece of abstract art in itself:



Thank you very much, Toni!

Nico van Hoorn (6)

This atmospheric picture arrived in time for Halloween, but I just was a little late in posting. As I have not been growing up with this celebration I didn't know exactly what day it would be (now I know). 'Halloween' is introduced in our low lands since a few years, and it seems to become common. Although many (elder) Dutch, me included, consider this a commercial and americanization thing.
But I have received more pieces of Halloween mail art, also from countries where it is commonly celebrated. From Thom Courcelle I learned that 'All Hallow's Eve' is more than 'trick or treat' (see for instance this blog post and this one - I received this mail from Thom, too), and that it has a long history, also according to wikipedia, and there are even Gaelic and Welsh (so: European) roots.
And little by little I am starting to see the good, interesting things in it. For example this picture!

You might ask 'Why is this posted on an Animals blog?', but I can reassure you. There is a Human person flying on a broomstick, and perhaps you cannot see it, but there is a black cat on this broomstick, too.
In the woods you can (or cannot) see Bats fluttering, and behind the Pumpkin there's a Spider. Among the trees there are even more Spiders, with itchy spiderwebs. And in the trees the Owl howls, so do the (Were)Wolves in the back. Can you see and hear them now?!



Nico added some of his famous abstract / constructivism art.



Thank you very much, Nico!

Eva (17)

These three beautiful envelopes came together, to show one great fish and apt sea animal stamps.
Created and sent by Eva from Spain.



Inside the envelopes not really mail art, but regular cards, however, belonging to the theme - weird real (sea) animals - so I like to share them here with you, too.
Sea animals on the book cover you see above, and on the note card below.



And of course Wallie (where is he??) is surrounded by several sea creatures.



Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

Ion Isaila

Great drawing made by Ion Isaila.

When someone sends mail art for this Real Weird Animals project, one of the first questions which come into mind is: Which animal this would be?
On the right I see a (wo)man, and on the left an, er...?
First thought this might be a Minotaur, the ancient Greek mythologic animal-man. But probably I'm wrong.
Well, in Art - so also Mail Art - it's never necessary to specify what the beholders (should) see. Look and think your own unique thoughts! Anyway, I like ballpoint drawings, so I'm delighted to have received this work of art from Düsseldorf.



I don't know how Ion knows that I like Smurfs, and I realize that this is the first time that someone addressed a Smurf directly to Real Weird Animals. Which brings a new question in mind: what type of animal would a Smurf be?!?



Thank you very much, Ion!

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!

Erni Bär

Received from Erni Bär from Germany, as a reply to my Bär (Bear) to him. Many animals on this beautiful piece of mail art. And who has ever seen a werewolf in real?

Herzlichen Dank, Erni!

Snappy

As I did before, also now I hesitated to open Snappy's beautifully packed entry, because the glimmering plastic of the envelope, the postage stamp, the par avion sticker and the Snappy Service Stamp are too contributing to the Mail Art work to be removed...

But the instruction sticker told me to do so, so here is the unveiled work:



Lots of weird animals are shown. The Penguin, a funny favourite friend. The Leaf-tailed gecko and, on the Canadian postage stamp, the Golden-eyed lacewing. On the drawing a Wolf teaching Geese (? I think) to read.



And of course Humans.
One of the weirdest (and imho one of the most foolish) things Humans can do is wearing guns and using them. So I prefer the man with the magnifying glass, of course.

Note the - for any animal useful - message (white letters on blue background) on top!

See more work by Snappy on the Snappy Service website.

Thanks a lot, Snappy!