Do we really see a Gecko?

Drawn in 2015, finally sent September 2017.

Superb Fairy Wren revisited

I've drawn a superb fairy wren before. Drawings never will be as good as the real bird, but anyway I love to continue to draw them.

This time the tiny bird flew to Antonia Mayol in Spain, covered by a far larger bird, a razorbill, as an envelope.

Frog mail

Frog, drawn and coloured and sent as a reply to frog mail I received from France.

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..)

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 :-)

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.

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.

An other Australian

As many of you will know, I love Australian animals.
Of these, the Kookaburra and the Australian Cassowary have some turquoise in common. The Kookaburra shows this beautiful colour in its wings, while turquoise colours the Cassowary's head and neck.

Mixed media (pen and colour pencil), created for Jack Oudyn and sent to, of course, Australia.

Juweelkardinaalbaars

De juweelkardinaalbaars woont in wateren rond de eilandenarchipel Banggai, waar hij/zij ook de Engelse naam aan dankt. En ze wonen in Artis. Een foto uit het tijdschrift van deze Amsterdamse dierentuin inspireerde me tot deze tekening. Verstuurd naar Keith in Amerika, tezamen met onderstaand waarschuwingsteken: 'Postactiviteiten zijn zeer verslavend'.

The 'jewelcardinalbass' (Dutch name translated into English) lives in the waters around the Banggai islands, which gave them their English name. There are also Banggai cardinalfish in the Amsterdam Zoo Artis. I saw a photo of this fish in the Artis magazine, and became inspired to draw this fish.
Sent to Keith in the USA, together with the warning sign you see below: 'Mail activities are highly addictive'.