Wear your hat of sadness, Keith Chambers

I recognised the ' Portrait of a Woman by Filippo Lippi' as the starting point for one of these images. I wonder if 'Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta by Piero della Francesca' is the starting point for the image above.  

I don't know how Keith does what he does but I admire it! Beautiful fishy work and words that are like riddles that take us back to the dark ages. 

Look at the stamps and the pink puffer fish!

Beautiful work and sorry I am slow to blog.

Thank you!

stamps!

Heavenly wonders of Herman Kamphuis

It's a trip around the world of antiquities, history, news from times gone by from Herman this time.  I read the visuals and see social commentary through the stories, the juxtaposition and all together I delight in the beaut and meaning. I see the wonders through Herman's eyes. 

Profiles. I love them! One has to wonder if this beauty's 'Daemon' is a bird...

If you don't know Arvo Part, you can listen here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z76I0gwKmu0 
My studio radio station (BBC 3) plays his music fairly regularly and when they do I have to stop and listen.  How did Herman know? Look at the way Herman uses paper here!  It helps me to see this woman as a feline creature, a beauty.

And here, the cut paper feels like a kaleidoscope, taking me back in time. One has to think about the stories this young man knows now… did he serve in the war and whose grand father is he now?

Herman tells me:  'it's all about memory and told stories…' 

 As ever, I love the gorgeous expressive faces from Herman… I can feel some new stamps coming on!

This envelope feels a bit like a bandage, stitched together to hold Herman's time capsule… We find the contents of Voyageur, an American Flag, some people from the past and objects we recognise from years gone by.  The stamps are an observatory, an airplane - technological advances of our lifetime.

To learn more about the beautiful Mistinguette: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistinguett

Thank you, Herman, and sorry it's taken me a while to pen your letter.  It was certainly worth the wait, though!

That Awful Greasy Dishwasher...

Just before the ogre savaged the beautiful, if cold, lounging robot, the fairy reminded the pair that even though it was about to be the end of the affair, they were required to FIND THE SILVER LINING. So, when the police officers arrived and found the bodies, they also found the written note with the good news: 'Then we won't have that awful greasy dishwasher.' Phew, it was almost worth it. 

Thank you David you have encouraged me to write three silver linings a week. I'm sure I'll feel better soon.

Dein Kampf - Your Fight

Dein Kampf

Always wonderful to receive mail from a new correspondent.  Jan Theuninck from Belgium sent me this beautiful printed postcard.  I am in fighting mode.  Even when cornered and injured, I suspect I would continue to fight for the things that matter: honesty, integrity and equality, to begin with!

You can see more of Jan's work here:

http://theuninck.blogspot.com

Celebrate the end of daylight savings with your copy of Coffee Clutch!

The Coffee Clutch has it's finger on the pulse and is highly relevant to all things mail art, obviously. Here I am in England, just a few hundred miles from York, and who knew there was Hannah Hoch birthday box? It took Cascadia artpost to send me my November edition and some BEAUTIFUL PINK artistamps featuring Hannah Hoch for me to discover my own 'local' news.

And what's the Toast for Post? Is it whole wheat, white or rye or is it in a glass? I love the horoscopes, but I'm a capricorn and not sure what my motif means. 

Also, can I send my news in?  The only thing I can think of at the moment is the pumpkin glut in mid suffolk.

Another brilliant mailing! 

Sticker Dude's road trip to see Cascadia!

collaboration between Cascadia Artpost and Sticker Dude!

Cascadia Artpost's process

Read this… it explains the trip Sticker Dude took to visit Jack Latteman to see Cascadia!

Sticker dude lives in NYC. Jack lives in Washington.  Sticker dude went to the other side of America to see the miniature world of Cascadia with his own eyes.  I loved reading Joel's description of what he found!  Like Joel, I have see the booklets and looked intently at the buildings and figures but Joel helped me to appreciate Cascadia more to see it more fully by hearing about it through Joel. Amazing.

Sticker Dude's envelope!

The key to unlocking this envelope, for me, is 'exploring civilization' which appropriately is in the postmark. All these flawed characters with lots of power and politics and some others who have left their mark on our culture in creative ways.  They have all left their mark historically and culturally and not all in good ways!

Add caption

I read somewhere about how there isn't a political movement within the arts.  Sticker Dude proves that wrong. We need you! 

THANK YOU

The Serial Asemicst Makes his Mark!

Although I know the beautiful marks are asemics I concentrate on the yellow… the colour and the way it is haptic even though it is a gloss print makes me want to climb into the yellow.  The marks, the asemics, make me a little uncomfortable.  I can't help 'reading' them as a math(s) equation.  They make me jittery and I begin to feel inadequate. But then again the way the line isn't ruled and the thrust of the characters is somehow friendly.  If it were math(s) I suspect the serial asemicst would whisper the result in my ear. A Lovely mailing!

Not sure who you are but will try to find out! Thank you.

Found in tax filing!

It's perfect that today while doing the really heinous annual task of reconstructing my year by sorting and recording all my expenses against my invoices (dumped in a box) and carefully registering them into an excel spreadsheet in order to discover how little I made and what my taxes will be… that I found David's mail . The fact that it's also Halloween proves that my karma must be good and that David Stafford and I have a secret mail art language that persists even when the mail never makes it to appreciation because it's been accidentally sequestered in the tax filing. FIVE MONTHS LATE. Yippee.  I loved David's brilliant mail!

Now if I feed the day into David's handy-dandy time machine (top image), my own starfish hands will begin clapping. It could be the world series (I had no favourite but it seems exciting)… it could be that I'm up on my highhorse because I haven't eaten a bag of candy corn or it could be todays bat…*** crazy news.  

And David liked my Barr drawings too!

Ghost Mail from an Archipelago in Petsmo

In my experience, one builds friendships and collaborative relationships that are deep and lasting through mail art. Having moved around quite a bit, making friends and trying to sustain the friendship across many miles, it is familiar to me to know that I have a friend in a place but not to see that person, or hear from that person for longer than intended… For the most part, I have found that those relationships may lapse but that they carry on seamlessly once together again. My correspondents are more than simply addresses on envelopes.  To me they are friends.  When an envelope arrives I can usually identify the sender and get excited, delighted to 'pick up' again. 

Carina and I must have sent our mail to each other on about the same day after a long lapse, probably my fault, so getting Carina's envelope was extra specially exciting! 

I love Carina's prints.  She shares them occasionally on Instagram and I begin to imagine a story with the first glimpse.  I have never ACTUALLY met Carina but her charismatic characters make me wish I had and hope I will. I am delighted to have 16/22 ! It's  a beaut.

There a few things about Carina that are part of her signature: orange, boekies, and bizarre silliness. This mailing was chockblock with what I love. 

 Historical ephemera is always inspiring too! Delighted!

And what an envelope! BOO! I have more than enough pumkins for halloween and will practice my ghosty handwaving every day until the 31st infront of the mirror!  Thank you, Carina.  I did get my hopes up and they were certainly matched!  Thank you.

Fluxus Bucks and Coffee Clutch

Cascadia Artpost has his finger on the pulse of the mail art network. I've been trading in fluxus bucks for the past ten years but I was obviously a latecomer! Nevertheless, Cascadia included me in this wonderful tribute. 

Mail art hides in unusual place.  Take last week… while at Frieze Art Fair (Figgy gave me some comp tickets) I saw an original ANNA BANANA and discovered Keith A Smith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_A._Smith who I think sends mail art but also makes these fabulous books and sews on his collages! I wish he'd trade with me, but that would be greedy! The Latin Americans had some great fluxus exhibits too. Who knew!

Meanwhile, Cascadia not only makes dioramas, sends me beautiful seeds that make plants that go on and on… (last year's seeds bloomed again all summer and now I have some sweet williamas waiting to bloom again early spring!)… he sends amazing postcards, updates on mail art meetups and he also has a newsletter. Not only do I get gardening tips, I can also bend my mind with trivia.  Don't forget to opt in for coffee clutch refill.  I'll need it.  the mornings are already dark and the news is so nuts I find it difficult to sleep well.

Thank YOU Cascadia!