New Bijou tape transfer from guess who!

Jon Foster's heavy card postcard tape transfer is the adorable size of 12 x 8cm and it is a gem, a little beauty.  His colours erupt and the alliteration: fire, fields, liFe and the missing 'f' in .irst are gorgeous! You can hear Jon's ear for language in his vispo. 

I've just been to John's blog and he says he is, ' hesitant to call my creations art, because that term always feels reserved for things other people make.' John, this works for me IT IS ART and the stamp is great too, did you make it? Visit John's blog if you don't already: http://thejonfoster.blogspot.co.uk  

Tied Back For Easter, Carina Granlund

When I think of Louise Bourgeois, I think of stitches and line drawings on white with red.  That's why I put the back of Carina's Easter mail art first.  It evokes Louise Bourgeois, who Carina later mentions. Carina and I both 'sew' our hair back.  The little orange patch (that relates to nothing on the reverse side), is a tangle of hair in my imagination, Carina's, as a girl. Mine is, of course white now, although it is grey and apparently it is still quite very-dark-brown in places at the back. I have a white braid most of the time and that makes me feel whole. 

Figgy took me to a Louise Bourgeois exhibition in Edinburgh last year.  It was very poignant.

an image from an exhibition of LB in Belgium 2007.
To see more visit: http://www.xavierhufkens.com/exhibitions/2007-04-louise-bourgeois

I grew up in a family that mostly celebrated Easter with a bunnies and eggs.  Sometimes we went to a grandmother in Florida and knelt in a church and made palm crosses; in New York it was all about Passover. But then I moved to England and went to a church service on a Good Friday, because I lived in a little village and that was what people did,  I was asked  to hold a nail, to feel the pain and see the blood, I experienced another side of Easter. 

These little minnow stitches dance around in a raucous fashion and make me smile, but I also feel the wholeness that the stitches are determined to create and the red pin pricks of blood.

Huge thanks Carina. Hope my silly stuff arrived in Finland, finally!  PS, yours arrived before Easter.  I just didn't have time to open it, let alone blog it… !

The Cardboard Club is making its mark

Robert Ridley-Shackleton sends cardboard club mixed media collages in groups and I think that is perfect because they seem to speak to one another, deepening meaning and demonstrating how marks can communicate so much.

I'd love to understand Robert's process. Have I asked that before?

This pair of collages is colourful by comparison to other collages of Robert's I've seen and the way they dance on the page is remarkable. I have a pinterest folder all about mark making and these images belong there!

The interestingly shaped wrapped collage is about the size of my thumb if it were run over and flattened.  Can you see the plaster (bandaid for Americans)? Many thanks Robert!

Office of blame: perpetrator and victim J Block

Apologies for not stripping the address barcode from the image... but to be honest it may have been  holding Jay's flimilsy glued masterpiece together.   

I love the simplicity of this mail art and in it I see the topical issue of freedom vs security being referenced. This passport shaped card with its mix of imagery, words and stamps, becomes a identity document, or a police record, confirming our worst nightmare - blame can be apportioned by he who shouts loudest, no matter how spurious the claims are!

The address side of Jay's postcard reminds me of the first postcard he ever sent me. Tha one delighted me and this one does too! Keep sending naked collages, Jay, but beware of light gluing… I wonder how many pieces of Jays work lives in the dead letter centre? Boo Hoo. 

Postmistress sends non machinable mail

This envelope may be smaller than an ATC and it arrived in England after being posted from Cranberry Isles by the island postmistress. It took a little while but I just love that she hand stamped it with appropriate instructions: 

Non Machinable. 

Amy's deep reflections

Amy's mixed media, sewn piece conjures up childhood. Her Christopher Robin figure makes me long for simpler times. We are outdoors, by the water's edge, maybe listening to the croaking frogs. Amy manages to capture wonder, and the stimulation that comes from first experience. She's left some prickly pins in the piece and the butterfly/moth is large and dark, perhaps hinting at her title on the flip side:                               

                                     "When did growing up become so difficult?"

Amy has also included an ATC for me, as well as a finished doodle page! The ATC "Stock Market", with its stocking weave, punctuated by numbers, may be another social comment.

The vibrant envelope is festooned with John Foster's stickers and some Dkult buses.  Stay on the BUS.  Many thanks, Amy, what treasure!

Tropical painting from Alzira Liliana Renata Zelinda - Brasil

Am overjoyed to receive this original painting from Brasil!  It conjures up a tropical place, reminiscent of a trip to the the botanic gardens.  It will inspire me to make soomething warm and lush even though it's 4º and drizzling here.  The stamps are great too!  Make sure to visit  http://postalprojetocasa3.blogspot.co.uk and https://www.facebook.com/casa3projetopostal/?fref=ts