There's the King

The Loper was standing before the window, longing.
Until the King noticed him.


Send to Eduard Egorov in Russia for his 'Windows to the World' mail art project.
And meanwhile it has arrived. See his blog post in case you are curious to know who's behind these window shutters.

Las Meninas - donde están?

Las Meninas (1656) is a famous painting by Diego Velázquez.
And a mail art project (2015-2016) organized by Carlos Botana.

So far I always thought 'Las Meninas' was referring to the child in front, but when I searched for more information to create this mail art I learned that 'Meninas' means 'Maids-of-honour' (the junior attendants) and the child in the center is no 'menina' but the young Margarita Teresa.

Nevertheless, in my interpretation alas the Meninas have disappeared. The child and the painter himself (also pictured in the original painting!) remained.
As our present crown princess wears a pink dress on this stamp, I thought in those days Margarita might have liked a more prominent pink dress, too.




For the envelope I used some paper which showed an other painting by Velázquez, and a stamp showing the lighthouse of Terschelling, because it reminds me in some way of the lighthouse in the place of destination, A Coruña. And warm socks, it is winter now.
Finally, I could't resist to draw an artistamp on the back (here shown next to the front images) showing a Brazilian/Portuguese children's song: 'Vamos Menina' (aka 'Vamos Maninha'). I am curious to know if someone would have sung lullabies for la infanta Margarita in those days?

Owl, in violet and turquoise

Sent to Frances in the USA, of whom I think she'll like these colours.

Fish Inc.

Fish Incognito (nr 1 out of 4). Sent to Moan Lisa for the Fish project.

Here are the four of them, still together, before swimming into the wide world:

Rest in peace, turkeys...

Two poor turkeys ATC's out of nine poor turkeys ATC's, created for a 'turkey ATC swap'.

The Loneliness of the Long Haired Guitarplayer

The Loneliness of the Long.... No, not the famous book on the distance runner, but just a 10x15 cms illustration I drew to send to José in Brazil.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

On instagram I found Torafish's account.
He makes beautiful photos, and besides that, he collects a certain sentence in all languages: 'Why did the chicken cross the road?'.
Not the answer to this question, but the question itself. He collects these to add to his 17 cm x 10.8 cm sketchbook.

So far he didn't have the Dutch version, so I drew and wrote him this.



(Fortunately there was extra room on the envelope, as I couldn't resist to have the chicken think of the answer..)

Poem from the seventies

I must have been 12 years old when I wrote this poem and drew the black and white drawing. It became part of a printed class booklet, made by our class as a kind of 'goodbye' to the class and as a souvenir to our primary school time, which at that time soon would come to an end.
There's a lot more to say about this booklet, about the people I shared most of those 6 to 8 school years with, to things that happened and not happened in those days... But today I just share with you this 'early work'.

I copied it and added colours to it anno 2015. To send this page to Nicole in Belgium. I always love to send pigs and piglets pictures to her (and she loves to send wonderful animal collages to me in reply - thank you, Nicole!).

Ho.owl

Some time ago I received a friendly Owlet, thanks to the kind HO,OWL whom I learned to know via instagram.

And the little Owl inspired me to draw these owls in return:



Thanks to a photographer's webshop I found a suitable postage stamp.



If you want to learn more about the little ho,owl and read the story, please check his website!


By the way, the mail journeys between Spain and Netherlands were a little special. While the Spanish postal service sent the owl to me via Canada, the Dutch postal service didn't recognize the Dutch 'international postage' stamp as an international postage stamp, which it really is, and asked me politely but strictly to add some more stamps :-)

'Treat all animals respectful. They know more than you think they do.'

Started to draw this Sea Gull more than a week ago at a cube competition. Finished yesterday, 4th of October, World Animal Day.

While our two guinea pigs got extra endive and other vegetables (by the way, they always and each day get extra endive and other vegetables) I was contemplating about some weird, paradox happening during World Animal Day.
People tend to treat their pets with some extras on this day. But: many pets are cats and dogs, and their treats usually exist of, right, animals... Cows, pigs, chicken, of whom most, at least in our country, don't enjoy the good things of life, hidden in stables without sunlight, with too little space and a hard floor without any plants...
Paradoxical, isn't it?

Sent to Ryosuke Cohen for the Brain Cell project.

Yes! to the Yes Men (and please stop TTIP*)

I am happy to receive and share this Brain Cell form, which Ryosuke Cohen sent to me.
In case you don't know this project: in June 1985 Ryosuke Cohen started this networked art project, to which individual artists from all over the world contribute stamps, stickers, drawings etcetera. These contributions are sent through the mail to him. He assembles and prints them using a small silkscreen system, the so-called Cyclostyle. He prints 150 copies (30 x 42 cm) and each participant is mailed a Brain Cell print along with a documentation list of contributors world wide. And this process is repeated every 8 to 10 days.
So the print you see above is Brain Cell number 924 already!

See for more information wikipedia and the IUOMA 'Brain Cell Compilation' group.

On this Brain Cell no 924, center right, you can find my contribution, a tribute to the Yes Men. Here's the (scanned) original one:



Made out of enthusiasm after seeing a documentary on this duo and movement. I admire their non-violent, intriguing, sometimes even funny way to make the earth a better place instead of the polluted, overconsuming, injust, unfair and even more threatened place our world is nowadays...
See for more info on the Yes Men wikipedia and their website.

* Meanwhile big industry is keeping on threatening our vulnerable world in order to fill their own pockets. By for instance the TTIP and CETA: sinister trade deals. 'Helped' by the also obscure ISDS we will sell our democracy, and loose our earth, to investors who have no other purpose than profit. 'Europe' and 'the USA' will soon sign a trade agreement which makes me very much worried about all fore-mentioned threats to our world.
Please help the political leaders' conscience, help them to make a healthy and wise decision instead of sell their souls and our world for unfair and dangerous commercial purposes. You can do so by getting informed, sign petitions and spread the word. Please take a look at the Stop TTIP site (and many would be grateful if you sign the petition, thank you!).

The Camel

Camel, or in fact a dromedary, drawn for the 'The Camel' mail art project, therefore sent to the Spanish island Tenerife.

C'est une pipe

Sent to a postcrosser who loves pipes and who - in contrary to many postcrossers - suggested to use an envelope and draw something on it.

Ode to snail (paper) mail

The mail art network often is called 'the eternal network'.
Sometimes, when I am reading that post offices are closing worldwide, when hearing that the number of delivering days a week are decreasing, as well as home delivering in some places,
sometimes, when we see that postage rates increase, while working conditions for postal workers are deteriorating, and things like that, I am wondering for how long the analogue, paper network will keep on going.

Meanwhile all my received paper mail art survived so far. While in contrary much digital art may not survive eternally, for example because of change of email addresses, computer crashes, or change of website owners etcetera.

These thoughts, and the Mail Pigeon, I am sending to Ryosuke Cohen in Japan. Thanks to his connecting Brain Cell project, to my opinion he is one of the masters of the Eternal universe Network.

Ode to a shoe

In contrary to many other women, I hate to go shopping for clothes and shoes and so.
As some others do, I prefer to walk into an art supply store, a book shop, and in former days, to places where they sell (sold) LP's and CD's. And musical instruments. Oh, and forgot to tell that toyshops also belong to my favourite stores :-)

Every now and then I have to buy new clothes or shoes. For me less than once a year. While the kids, who are growing, more often need new clothes. Fortunately they can look for clothes themselves while I am waiting in the cloths shop, humming and in the end paying. Meanwhile you can see me sitting, drawing, on a stool or bench if available, while the kids are trying their new-cloths-to-be in the fitting rooms. I have drawn a few pieces then, among them this shoe. I drew it after a black one, but as I wanted to send it to someone in the city of Nijmegen, suddenly I painted it green, red and black. These are the colours of the Nimwegian soccer club NEC.

The fish I carved at home, and I added it when I re-discovered a green-red inking pad which I had bought some time ago, when happily shopping for art supplies :-)

3 gekkos

I am much behind in replying to my received mail art!.. So each time that I'm sending out mail I feel happy (and relieved / less guilty). These three geckos took several weeks to a month to create. That is, the geckos themselves (or: 'no geckos', the outside lines :-) ) I drew within some minutes. However, to make the rest I had to find and use every spare minute available. In the waiting room at the dentist, while waiting at appointments, while driving in or waiting for the bus, metro, train, etcetera.
So, finally these are on their way. Coincidentally I've sent the three of them to the USA: to Keith, Phillip and Jack respectively.

Seas and tides

'Zee en getijden, zeemeeuw en flessenpost'. Gemaakt voor het 'Seas and tides' mail art project van Daniela Amaral Quadros op de Azoren, Portugal.
Zie voor meer mail art over 'Zeeën en getijden' Daniela's facebookpagina.

'Seas and tides, seagull and a message in bottle'. Created for the 'Seas and tides' mail art project of Daniela Amaral Quadros from the Azores, Portugal.
See for more mail art on 'Seas and tides' Daniela's facebook page on the subject.

Hermelijn

Deze hermelijn is geïnspireerd door Ti Ar Raden, die me een faux postage postzegel stuurde waar een hermelijn op stond ('erminig' in het Bretons, weer wat geleerd!).

This hermelijn (or Stoat in English) I created for Ti Ar Raden. Ti Ar inspired me to do so by sending me an artistamp showing an erminig.

Air and earth mail

I drew a few pieces like this two-and-half years ago. I know the date because I scanned these in 2012, in October and November respectively. But to be honest, I don't remember to whom I've sent them!..
At least I know I've sent one to Ryosuke Cohen in Japan and he used it for his Brain Cell project. But the others? Lost in the post, or lost in the house, somewhere between my files and piles of paper?...



Time will tell :-)

Two crows in a row

Kraaien en hun familieleden behoren tot mijn favoriete vogels (tezamen met nog verschillende vogels meer), en toevallig waren er twee mensen die ik wel een kraai wilde sturen.

Crows (and their relatives) are among my favourite birds. This week there happened to be two people to whom I wanted to send mail art and who unconsciously 'invited' me to draw a crow for them.

Mail voor Troebel Neyntje

[Please scroll down for English text]

Troebel Neyntje is een gallerie in Antwerpen die een thuis biedt aan kunstenaars die, eh, nou gewoon bij Troebel Neyntje thuishoren.
Onlangs vond ik een Troebel Nijntje op de stoep, die ik naar Troebel Neyntje stuurde. Waarop Troebel Neyntje mij een envelop stuurde vol moois (binnenkort zet ik die op mijn dieren-mail art blog).
Er zaten ook drie kaartjes bij, alle drie met aan één kant een artistamp en het adres. En aan de andere kant bij twee een wit gelaten oppervlak, en op de derde het groen van een schuursponsje.
Natuurlijk nodigden die uit om aan toe te voegen en terug te sturen.
Hierbij enkele resultaten.



Troebel Neyntje is a gallery in the Belgian city of Antwerpen, which offers home to artists who, er, well, to artists who feel home at Troebel Neyntje.
Recently I found a Troebel Nijntje on the street, which I sent to Troebel Neyntje. Consequently Troebel Neyntje sent me an envelope, containing nice pieces of mail art (soon to be posted on my animals mail art weblog).
The envelope also contained three postcards, two of them left blank on one side, and one had a green sponge part sticked to it. All had an artistamp and Troebel Neyntje's address on the other side. Which of course invited me to add to and return.
Here you can see some of the results.

Baardagame

An other Australian animal is the Bearded Dragon (Baard agame in Dutch). This one didn't need to travel that far, he only had to cross the North Sea (and some areas over land) to arrive at John's place in the United Kingdom.

Chess queen zentangled

Meanwhile the 'zentangling' kept on, and suddenly some chess figures appeared on my paper.

This one I created to send for the Connection 15 exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, May 2015.

No mountain without a valley...

... and also in valleys flowers bloom.



Created for Micu's mail art project 'Mail a Smile', sent to Henni in Finland (by the way, she creates beautiful water colour paintings).

Every month there is a new theme for mail art, to be sent to a new person who can use some smiles. So if interested to join this kind mail art project, see for more info the 'Mail a Smile' website.

Puffins

I am not sure if these Puffins have arrived already. I've send them in December 2014, the Tufted Puffin (on top) to Hana in Japan, and the Atlantic Puffin to Denise in Canada. They might have got lost during their long flight, or, better, maybe they've met their family on their way, and just decided to stay there.
I see it before me, two drawn puffins standing on a rock above the see, surrounded by real puffins!..