Merel - Blackbird - Pássaro Preto (1)

Voor het Braziliaanse 'Blackbird project'- For the Brazilian 'Blackbird - Pássaro preto - project'.
Uit zijn snavel komt het mooie Braziliaanse lied 'O cio da terra'. The song he sings is the beautiful Brazilian song 'O cio da terra'.

Bij het horen van het woord 'Blackbird' denken we natuurlijk meteen aan de Merel.
Maar.. De Braziliaanse 'zwarte vogel' is geen merel (melro-preto in 't Portugees), maar een andere, letterlijk de pássaro preto. Vandaar déze zwarte vogel erbij getekend.

Hearing the name 'Blackbird' I instantly think of our common blackbird.
However.. The Brazilian 'black bird' (literally 'pássaro preto') is not the same bird as the common blackbird (turdus merula). The also nice singing Brazilian Blackbird is quite distinct, for this reason I added o pássaro preto to this mail.

Footsteps in the snow

De eerste artistamps gaan vandaag op de brievenbus: naar Japan!
Uiteindelijk met de hand geperforeerd, de randjes van de benodigde 150 postzegels.
Hierboven de begeleidende ansichtkaart, hieronder de bij deze kaart behorende postzegel.

And the first artistamps are ready to be sent to Japan!
After all hand perforating seemed to be the quickest way to make the needed 150 seals.
Above you see the accompanying postcard, below the corresponding faux postage stamp.

Artistamps (1)

Mijn allereerste arti-postzegelvel! Wel nog even bedenken hoe ik alle randen 't gemakkelijkst perforeren kan (anders wordt 't met de hand)...
Een eerbetoon aan de Braziliaanse zanger/componist/muzikant Milton Nascimento.
De originele afbeelding maakte ik alweer járen geleden met aquarel en pen. Grappig om te zien hoe de herhaling, in zo'n postzegelvel, een beeld weer heel anders maakt.

My very first artistamps sheet! Now solving the 'problem' of how to perforate the stamp edges in a an easy way (alternatively I could do it by hand)...
A tribute to the Brazilian singer/composer/musician Milton Nascimento.
The original image (mixed media: watercolour and pen) I made many years ago. Funny to see that repetition, inherent in stamp sheets, does change such a single image a lot!

From the Sad Fish series (1)

Gemaakt voor / made for A Fishy Requisite.

Received from Okadascat

A rather unusual mail art object came into my postbox: Knitting Art!
Made by Okadascat as an answer to my contributions to Okadascat's I Like Purple mail art project.

About Knitting Art there is a lot to say. Thanks to Okadascat and to other mail artists I learned that knitting can be used for all kinds of art purposes, like Kniffity, and even you can replace nature by Knitted Flora.

And this beautiful envelope covered the cool brooch...



... a brick wall envelope which for some reason made me think of an other zealous mail artist: Andy, of course, the founder of the Real Wall.

How nice to see the circle is round (or: the world is small): on Andy and Elena's Real Wall there is a lot of Knitting Art from Okadascat!

Thanks a lot, Okadascat, for your brooch, stamps and your kind message!

Received from Tic Tac

I have been drawing postage stamps since I started sending mail, because drawing/painting is my life and such a piece of faux postage makes mail more personal.

Several months ago Tic Tac sent me this artistamps sheet.
And it was the very first time I got a Real Artistamps Sheet in my hands. Not knowing that artistamps are a phenomenon already for ages and many mail artists are creating them.



There is a lot to see in these 24 winks stamps. When I received them, I only saw the flowers (as I was distracted and touched by the beautifully rubber-stamped envelop, too). But looking more closely now I see: there is also beauty-in-the-eye!
Great work of art, Patrizia! Thanks again a lot!

And also the trees

Deze envelop gaat niet naar een mede-postkunstenaar. Maar ik kon 't niet laten: de postzegel vróég gewoon om uitbreiding, een postzegel die ook nog eens zorgvuldig was uitgezocht vanwege de geadresseerde.
In onze buurt gaat de gemeente helaas een aantal bomen kappen. Volgens mij onterecht. Gelukkig hebben enkele buurtbewoners een onafhankelijke boomdeskundige ingeschakeld om te kijken of de bomen echt zo afgetakeld zijn als de gemeente ons wil doen geloven.
Voor mij meteen een goede aanleiding om de Bomenstichting te gaan steunen.
Per slot van rekening verdienen bomen het niet alleen om beschermd te worden vanwege hun mooi-zijn en hun 'longfunctie', maar dankzij bomen kunnen we ook papieren postkunst blijven sturen.

This envelop won't be sent to a mail artist. Though the stamp was appealing to be expanded, and fact is that the receiver is a NGO which supports the protection of trees.
In our area the local authority decided to cut down several trees. I'm afraid their decision is based on an incorrect motivation. Thank goodness some neighbours already asked a tree expert to check if the trees are really as bad as the authorities pretend them to be.
For me a good reason to start supporting this NGO.
After all, trees deserve to be taken care of, not only for their beauty and their ability to produce oxygen, but also thanks to trees we can continue sending snail mail art...

Gele trein / Yellow train

Ter voorbereiding voor mijn bijdrage aan het project 'Gele trein'.
Frappant dat de meeste Nederlandse treinen al van zichzelf geel zijn.

To prepare for my contribution to the Yellow Train mail art project. Funny that most Dutch trains already are yellow!

New rubber stamp & postage

Enige tijd geleden ontdekte ik een firma die zwart-wit tekeningen kan omzetten in stempels. Handig voor ontwerpen die te priegelig zijn om uit een gummetje te snijden. Ik ben dan ook blij met deze tweede 'snail mail' stempel.

De gefrankeerde postzegel is trouwens een pleidooi om de postbode te behouden. Door de concurrentie, niet alleen van andere postbedrijven maar ongetwijfeld ook van e-mail en internet, lopen veel postbodes het gevaar ontslagen te worden, sommigen na tientallen jaren trouwe dienst..
Een extra reden om snail mail - en mail art - te koesteren!

Some time ago I discovered a company by which you can have your black-and-white drawings turn into rubber stamps.
Very handy when your design is too tiny to carve out of an eraser. So I'm happy with my second 'snail mail' rubber stamp!

The postage stamp shows a plea to keep the postmen. Not only by competition of other mail companies but without doubt also by the introduction of e-mail and the internet many postmen will be dismissed, some after decades of dedicated work.
An extra reason to cherish snail mail and mail art!

Sent to Salina

De contacten die je per post opdoet hebben soms vreemde gevolgen.
Opeens zag ik mijzelf een portret maken van een zeemeermin, en die opsturen naar, eh, tja, een zeemeermin?!

The contacts you make by mail sometimes have strange consequences.
Suddenly I found myself portraying a mermaid and sending the result to, er, a mermaid?!

Salina, espero que te gustará!

Received from Ryosuke Cohen: Brain Cell ~777

Een van de vele mooie dingen die Mail Art brengt, is de verbinding, tussen creatieve mensen van waar ook ter wereld.
Een van de grootste 'verbinders' is in mijn ogen wel Ryosuke Cohen uit Japan.
Zijn project Brain Cell startte zo'n 25 jaar geleden. Op deze website kun je er meer over lezen, ook over hoe het in z'n werk gaat.

In juli overviel hij mij met Brain Cell nr 761.
Vandaag was ik tot mijn grote verrassing de gelukkige ontvanger van maar liefst 2 Brain Cell 'life forms'.
Nummer 776 was geadresseerd aan het 'Bestaande Vreemde Dieren' project en plaats ik binnenkort op de RWA-website.
En hierboven zie je Brain Cell nr 777 (klik erop om 'm groter te zien). Met - naast uiteenlopende stempels, postzegels, fluxus-uitingen - verschillende zoogdieren. Waaronder nr 39 (uit 150) van mijn gestempelde giraffen!
Ik ben er erg blij mee, er is veel op te zien en te ontdekken. En zo'n 45 mail artists zijn dankzij Ryosuke's noeste arbeid bij deze letterlijk bij elkaar gebracht!

One of the many enchanting things Mail Art brings, is the connection, between creative people from everywhere.
One of the greatest 'connectors', to my opinion, is Ryosuke Cohen from Japan.
His Brain Cell mail art project started more than 25 years ago. On this website you can read more about this continuing project and about how it works.

In July he surprised me with Brain Cell nr 761.
Today I was surprised a lot by even two Brain Cell 'life forms'.
Number 776 was addressed to the Weird Existing Animals project and I will publish this soon on the RWA-website.
And on top you see Brain Cell nr 777 (click on the picture to enlarge). With - besides all kind of stamps, faux postage and fluxus expressions - several mammals. Among them nr 39 (out of 150) of my rubber stamped giraffes!
I am very happy with this, there is a lot to see and to discover. And by this hard work Ryosuke Cohen literally brought together about 45 mail artists!

Thank you - Arigato, Ryosuke! And of course thanks to all who contributed to this work of Mail Art!

IUOMA

Over 'Mail Art' is van alles gepubliceerd. Om meer te weten te komen over de achtergronden van de IUOMA (de International Union Of Mail-Artists) en over Mail Art, geeft dit - zwart-wit geïllustreerde - 165 pagina's tellende boek een aardig overzicht.

There has been written a lot about Mail Art. To know more about the IUOMA (the International Union Of Mail-Artists) and about Mail Art, this 165 pages long b&w booklet gives a nice overview.



Na lezing kon ik niet anders dan fan worden!
En met ingang van vandaag ben ik ook aangesteld als creatief adviseur van de IUOMA.

After reading this I couldn't do anything else than becoming a Fan!
And since today my new title is Creative Advisor of the IUOMA.



Meer informatie over de IUOMA op deze site, en het IUOMA netwerk vind je hier.

More information about the IUOMA you can find on this site. The IUOMA network you can find here.

Air Mail gave wings to Snail Mail

Gemaakt voor / made for the Air Mail 100 project.




Toevallig had ik nog een laatste postzegelvel '100 jaar luchtvaart' in huis, met - links - het vliegtuig wat de eerste gemotoriseerde vlucht vanuit Nederland verzorgde, op 27 juni 1909. Zo'n kleine anderhalf jaar vóór de eerste Luchtpostvlucht, februari 1911, vanuit Modesto, de bestemming van deze kaart!
Rechts zie je een van de hedendaagse vliegtuigen uit het land van de afzender.

- I happened to have a last '100 years of aviation' Dutch stamp sheet, issued last year. On the left you see the airplane who did the first motorised flight, June 27th 1909, from the Netherlands. This was about one-and-half year before the start of the Airmail flights, Februari 1911, from Modesto, this mail art card's destination.
On the right you see one of the present-day airplanes from the sender's country.

Tiny art (part 3 - a Happy End/Ant)

Yes! The tiny art piece I sent to the USA for Josh Ronsen's Tiny Art Exchange has arrived!

It first seemed to have been lost in the post, and a newspaper message was issued (see below).



But - after weeks and months of despair and confusion - unexpected and to my big surprise I found this original amazing mail ant postcard in my mailbox, with an accompanying relieving message:



The editor of the newspaper today has published this new breaking news:



Thanks a lot, Josh, for your kind postcard and for the pictures on the Tiny Art Exchange website!

Purple cat

Gestuurd naar / sent to Okadascat's i-like-purple project.

Postzegels / Postage Stamps

Bij de Nederlandse post bestaat de mogelijkheid om, tegen betaling, eigen postzegels met frankeerwaarde te laten maken.
Zo gezegd, zo gedaan. Omdat ik nog altijd niet weet hoe je faux postage postzegelvellen maakt (vooral met die perfecte gaatjes... met een radeerwieltje lukt míj dat in ieder geval niet, en voor een prikpen ontbreekt tijd en geduld. Tips dan ook welkom!).

Op deze postzegel de brievenbus vlakbij, die inmiddels al enkele tientallen mail art poststukken heeft 'opgeslokt'!



The Dutch postal service offers the possibility to design your own prepayed stamps, which you can use for postage.
And I did it! Because I still don't know how to make faux postage stamp sheets myself (especially stamps with those perfect holes-borders, something which I still didn't succeed to make - you are welcome to write your tips about how to construct these real postage stamp holes).

On this postage stamp you see the letterbox nearby. This one has 'eaten' some tens of mail art work so far.

Words (1)

Yes, I became member of the famous IUOMA, and yes, it indeed is a great network: due to the IUOMA I got mails from colleagues I possibly otherwise wouldn't ever have met.

And I received a e-mail from a friendly person from overseas, who told he didn't pass the stringent criteria to become a IUOMA member. Of course this caused many feelings of compassion, and as I gathered that this kind person likes to talk, likes words, this work came out of my pen to be send to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Tiny art (2 - Breaking News: Lost in Post?)

After more than two months of patience I'm afraid the conclusion is that my tiny piece of mail art for Josh Ronsen's Tiny Art Exchange has been lost in mail. Or at the border. To send a tiny unidentified object packed in two bottle caps with strange tiny creatures stamped on the envelope might cause suspicion. Or at least a frown.
And I imagine the authorities, who unpacked this object to investigate it, aren't able to wrap it up that way again. So possibly the tiny to-exchange-art-object ended it's life in a dustbin!?...

Fortunately I had few pictures left, and one of these I could use for a new attempt of a tiny 'art' exchange.
Packed in a more nondescript way this time.



(To be revealed as soon as it arrives it's destination!)(And it did!)

55

55 'dingen' waar ik blij mee ben / 55 'things' which make me happy!

Gemaakt voor / made for Amuldo's Project 55.

From the Owl series (5)

Sent last month to Italy, for the Owl project.

Received from Okadascat

This beautiful turquoise Cat was made and sent by Okadascat, as an answer to my contribution to the I-like-purple project.

Thank you so much, Okadascat, I really appreciate your fine my-favourite-color drawing!

What is Kalamazoo: I

Wat je allemaal niet met taal kunt doen!
Languages: there are many possibilities with it, and it's a challenge to find a translation to unknown new words.
Gemaakt voor / made for the Kalamazoo Project.

(De foutieve versie ging naar het / the incorrect version went to the onemilliongiraffes project)

From the Owl series (3&4)

Gemaakt voor / made for The Owl / Il Gufo.

Music in the air

Gemaakt voor / made for Music is in the Air.

Received from Josh Ronsen

Tiny pieces of Art received due to the Tiny Art Exchange (which is in continuation of the Tiny Box Project):



Thanks a lot, Josh! Tiny pieces in return are on its way to Austin!

Memorable Movie Quote

Gemaakt voor / made for Memorable Movie Moments.

Piranha Betty

'Betty met Beugel' - 'Betty with orthodontic Brace'
Gemaakt voor / made for Draw Betty. (P.S. the website has closed, the works are exhibited here.)

From the Owl series (2), From the Giraffe series (3984)

Owl 2: Ceci n'est pas un hibou.

Gemaakt voor / Made for onemilliongiraffes.com

en voor / and for The Owl / Il Gufo mail art project.

From the Fish series

Fish 4 - 'Fish meets bottle'.
Gemaakt voor / made for Message in a Bottle.

From the Owl series

Uil 1: ongedefinieerde uil, slapend. Owl 1: undefined sleeping species.
To be sent to Italy.

From the Giraffe series

De geranium water geven - Watering the geranium

Mamamelk drinken - Drinking mamamilk

Received from Wilma Duguay

Thank you very much, Wilma!

Received from Elefantus

Grazie mille, Ennio!

From the Giraffe series

Tien mozaiek giraffes - Ten mosaic giraffes

Schaakstukken - Chess pieces

Uit: Waarschuwingsborden - From: Warning signs