Witchelm

Beautiful songbirds, in this unique piece of mail art created by Witchelm, named 'Sing sing'.



Thank you very much, Witchelm!

Barbara Fanta

This poetic Bird - who tells about one of my favourite subjects: letters - has been created by Barbara Fanta from the USA.
It is part of an awesome envelope.



And inside a lovely surprise: a soft tissue heart.



Thank you very much, Barbara!

Micu (5)

Great mixed media mail art from Micu from Hungary!
The Fox shouldn't be hunt by people, Micu writes on the back of this card.
And I agree with her. (Although all rabbits and hares would be very pleased if people would hunt foxes - but I think people should not hunt rabbits and hares either, even though these long-eared animals eat all vegetables from our local garden before I get the opportunity to harvest them.)

This Fox fortunately is friendly, he or she even allows a Sheep to sit on his/her back, to make it a real Easter card!



Thank you very much, nagyon szépen köszönöm, Micu!

Nancy Spanauf

This beautiful bird is very dear to me, and it has been created by someone who is very dear to me, too. Nancy is a talented woman, and I am very happy and feel honoured that she created this very first Bird to send to me.

To my opinion, history proofs that many talents in women have remained under-exposed, simply because taking care of all other tasks in life prevents them from developing their skills. Nancy started just now, after decades of taking care for many other people. I am happy with this original pen drawing, and I hope Nancy will create more, looking forward to it!



Love her great handwriting, too.
Thank you very much, dankjewel, Nancy!

Zahra

I am very pleased to have received this beautiful and original pen drawing by Zahra from the Netherlands. There are a lot of hidden treasures in this picture. The Butterfly and the heart are clear. But did you notice a snail (intended or not - I love it!)? And words, in different alphabets?

Zahra wrote that this is her first work of art, but I'm sure she has made many more art work in previous years, so this might be the first official one. I'm happy and feel honoured to have received this one, and am looking forward to seeing more of her drawings!

Thank you very much, hartstikke bedankt, Zahra, ben er heel blij mee!

Frank (from Nijmegen)

I was wondering whether I would post a regular postcard here or not. In fact, the drawing itself concerns a regular (printed, bought) postcard, made by Johanna Basford, issued in 2014 by Thoth Publishers. But the colouring has been handmade by a good friend, so I decided: Yes!

Frank and I played guitar in Below the Mole in the late eighties. Below the Mole was an important band in the Nijmegen music scene (although almost no-one knows that :-) ). We started with two guitars and drums. A bass player joined only after years. We existed for 4 years, until our drummer Rob left to Amsterdam, and in those years we had 10 public concerts in total.
Below the Mole was an underground band, not only musically seen but also literally: we rehearsed below the (former) Post Office near Nijmegen Central Station. Alas this post office and the cellar rehearsal rooms don't exist anymore.
However, to my surprise the concert hall Doornroosje has been moving last year to this location. As many others do, I'll miss the old, cosy Doornroosje and its former location. In those days I've put a lot of footsteps there, volunteering at concerts and by drawing concert flyers (and did the typography, in a pre-computer era!). And I gained some hearing loss by the noise (be warned if you enjoy music, too!).
Post Office, rehearsal rooms, concert hall.. Maybe the circle should be full this way.

So this postcard not only reminds me of the good times we shared - Frank, Rob, Arnold (and temporary Miesjel) were more than family to me - but also gives me the opportunity to share a tiny little postal and pop history of one of my favourite cities, Nijmegen.



Frank sent me this card last week for my bithday (good day to not send it on my birthday itself, because that is not a public day :-) and he added that this alas isn't a Mole. Never mind, I think it great (and will share a coloured version of our logo below). Thanks a lot, dankjewel, Frank!



Nijmegen Central Station in 1977. The (now disappeared) large building on the right was the former Post Office.



Some BtM songs:
Blue Hour
Turquoise Cloud
An evening at night (featuring Miesjel)

FinnBadger

Having been born in the Year of the Dragon, I always love to see Dragon mail. Receiving such mail makes my day complete!
FinnBadger created this beautiful one. In real it's even more beautiful, because the lines are shining silver and gold, and of course I love this cobalt blue background.

Gold is also on the postage stamps, issued by the USA post for the Lunar / Chinese New Years.
The scanned images don't show it that clear, but if you look close to the left upper corners of these stamps, maybe you see them: the Rat, the Snake and the Goat.



FinnBadger has some interesting and awesome websites, be sure to take a look at:
- his poems:
Poems found in Morrow
- mail art:
Envelope 100
- alphabets / letters:
A Letter a Week 2014
A Letter a Week 2013

Thank you very much, FinnBadger!