Nicole Eippers (27)

Nicole Eippers created an other beautiful collage, showing several special animals: a Sloth, a Mole and of course the Piggy.
They came along with a Butterfly stamp.

And to my surprise this time I could open the paper: it was an envelope.
Inside I found Nicole's wonderful drawing, a contribution to the 'What of whom is she staring at?' mail art project.



And a vintage piece of paper, with lovely drawings and Nicole's famous Flying Piggy stamp:



Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, Nicole!

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 (25)

This pretty illustrated envelope I received from Eva. A cute Cow, and see what this Mail Bird holds in the beak!

On the front side Eva created a wonderful typography.



Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

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!

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!

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!

Stripygoose (9)

Stripygoose did an amazing job: drawing 365 Birds, and then sending all of them out into the world!
I was so lucky to receive number 28: the Bald Headed Ibis.

Of course Stripgoose has created more birds, among them these Map Birds.

Thank you very much, Stripygoose!

Linda French

These friendly Cats were created and sent by Linda French from the USA.

They arrived, accompanied by circles:



And flowers (do I see Snail homes in these?):



In a beautifully coloured envelope:



Thank you very much, Linda!

Ti Ar Raden (3)

This wonderful Goldfish, designed by Ti Ar Raden, was sent on a special day: 29th of February, also known as Leap Day ('Schrikkeldag' in Dutch). You can see this special date on the postmark, thanks to Ti Ar who went to the post office especially for this!

I am posting this Goldfish on an other special day. Today is the very first day of Spring in the northern hemisphere: the sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day. This astronomical vernal or northward equinox marks the beginning of spring in our northern hemisphere.
For the ones who wonder what a Goldfish has to do with this: in exact the same time (this year on 20th of March, 4.30 am UTC or 5.30 am European time) Now Ruz starts, the Persian New Year!
Part of the celebrations is keeping or buying a goldfish (see for instance the Iranian movie 'The White Balloon'). The bowl of water with goldfish (Pisces) represents life within life.

Both in front and on the back Ti Ar added great clock stamps. Which makes the circle round: clocks also were exchanged by Ti Ar, me and a few more mail art colleagues: to celebrate New Year's Eve on 31th of December, so for the European New Year!



Thank you very much, trugarez bras, Ti Ar!

Zhu Enyan

Thanks to postcrossing this awesome painting arrived in my mailbox. This beautiful Bird has been created by Zhu Enyan from China.

On the back side she added a cute Panda and bamboo, and beautiful stamps as well.



Thank you very much, 谢谢你。Zhu Enyan!

Eva (20)

Eva sent me great mail: not a letter on an A4 piece of paper, but a letter bound as a booklet. A real pageturner, thank you, Eva!!
Inside the book she drew me this Polar Bear, so I had a good excuse to post at least this part of her wonderful mail here.
And on the outside of the envelope there was this amazing Umbrella Man. And Fish stamps!



Moltes gràcies, Eva!

Stripygoose (8)

The Islas Canarias (Canary Islands) I used to know rather well. As a child we went there for summer holidays several times, and presently there is a mail art exhibition themed 'the Camel' on the island Tenerife (which you can see on one of my contributions).

So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw - see above - that Stripygoose has found the birds in the islands! And in the strelitzia, a flower which thrives in the Canaries.

On the front side the Big Bird is watching us waiting patiently.



Thank you very much for this great mail art, Stripygoose!

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!

Sonia Egorova

I love children's drawings so I became very happy when this great drawing from a young Mail Artist arrived at my place.
The Tortoise and the Cat, created by Sonia Egorova from Russia.

She chose a suitable stamp, too, showing an other well-known animal.

Thank you very much, Sonia, большое спасибо Соня!

Frips (2)

I had to look twice before I realised that this intriguing drawing by Frips shows a Human and a Cat. (They are, aren't they?)



On the envelope the famous Butterfly stamp. And inside, besides the great artwork showed above, some artistamps.




Dankjewel, Frips!