Hanner Postcard Swap: Amy

Amy Irwen and I exchange occasionally.  (when I say occasionally, I mean I am occasional!  Amy is prolific).  Her beautiful work tends to be placed somewhere in my studio as inspirationas soon as it arrives. This 'Window into Ritual Knowledge' is already propped up and gets inspected.  I love the  rich mix of tactile fabrics and PLASTIC. You might have noticed that I like to use plastic in my mail art. The use of stitch and the exciting composition of this piece speak to me.  Thank you Amy. 

Hanner Postcard Swap: Nancy

Nancy's postcard arrived as a 3D postcard, with the fin bent forward.  You may be able to see the remnants of the fold.  This fish has a had a rough journey but the card is a beauty nonetheless! The water is gorgeous and I can't quite imagine how Nancy created it. The words make me smile. We've all thought that, in fact, today i was caught in a downpour but what about the poor fish?

The back of the postcard is equally enchanting and I love the way the colours rhyme, front-to-back. Great stamps too.  So glad to exchange with you and I hope you've enjoyed the swap.  It's my first Hanner postcard swap too and 

with 'bounty' like this, I'll be back!  Thank you.

Panic Attack and Guarding the Nest

My brother in law has had vertigo and David's panic attack makes me dizzy. I love the way the PO stamped this to.  the lines seem to add to the energy and strong linear mood. I know what he means.  We are all off balance.  when has this ever happened before… that no matter where you live you are touched by Covid 19.

Here at Nayland farm we are at the sharp end of wildlife.  We have barn owls, a buzzard, ducks, chickens, magpies, moorhens.  To date I have not seen any barbed wire but when the squirrels threaten the owl eggs I know a trigger happy hunter who would pick off any intruderds. 

Thank you David.  Brilliant!

Hanner Postcard Swap: Kathy

Kathy McIntire's zentangle & watercolour lost a tiny bit of its washi tape in transit from South Carolina, but that hasn't marred its beauty one little bit.  I am a zentangle neophyte; my sister is an official zentangle teacher, but I can't identify the tangles Kathy has used, whatever they are claled they are wonderful. I think this dream is the kind you have when you are deeply asleep. It's intoxicating.  Thank you Kathy.

Hanner Postcard Swap: Sally

Sally lives in Scotland. We live in Suffolk. In both places we are still in a kind of lockdown (although Nicola has a more research -based approach, for sure)! Even so, I suspect in Banchory, Kincardinshire, Scotland, they are on their bikes too. The roads have been so much quieter and during the height of the lockdown I think, around here, there were more bikes than cars! This card will evoke this peculiar time and the timelessness of it all.  And as a postscript, who knew I'd swap with someone whose dd happened to work at RAF Wattisham - a stone's throw from Naland Farm! Thank you!

The Unleashed TheARTre - Berlin

Not sure if this is mail art  'damaged' in transit or a collage. As far as I'm concerned, red is the perfect colour to arrive from Berlin! I believe this is my first mail art from E. Janke and I look forward to thinking something up for this mail art project by October 2020, if I can! Many thanks.

From typewriter to mail art a journey with letters - from Robin

It's always a delight to receive mail, but getting something from someone you don't know for the first time is a special kind of exciting. Robin from somewhere in the UK (no return address, just an email) sent me some beautiful curious pieces. 

I would say she (or he) 's  a writer in the first instance - clues: poetry, a type writer, a note that suggests a 'retired' mail artist, knows DVS, stories. Also a visual poet: type,  poems that tell their stories moving down and across the page, integrating other graphic marks - it's concrete poetry. Communicator  I feel I know a little bit about Robin having received this mailing. Sense of humour.  What a gift!  Thank you.

2020 Mail Art Network

Mikel Untzilla's mail art is arte correo to me… As I looked at his address, I realised I didn't know where Euskadi was.  I had thought Mikel sent from Spain, his work has a latino vibe which I like.  I google and discover it is Basque country. 

I spent a few magical weeks in Basque country when I was in my early twenties. I will visualise Mikel ( a member of my mail art network - he's devoted and I am the disappointing correspondent, most of the time) cutting stamps, collating his graphic vision, making beautiful asemic poetry in a beautiful corner of the world.

Hanner Postcard swap: Christine Mann

Christine has chosen the colours of my peonies, zinnias and petunias in her postcard swap creation.  Who could help but be overjoyed (in the time of coronavirus) by these riotous hues and this ravishing beauty? I love the texture, the different kinds of text, the fact that I can't quite read her words but that I can read some and they resonate.  Many thanks for an uplifting swap!

Hanner Postcard Swap: Angie

I haven't partaken of any formal mail art swaps in a long time but the Hanner postcard swap caught my eye so I said YES! 

The first postcard to arrive was from Angie Bobangie in Wisconsin. I love the colour, the frentic energy and the way the random pieces fit together to speak to me about life in lockdown.  This is a no theme swap so I am sure I am reading into the piece, but it was certainly the perfect way to start the swap, feel connected to American mail art friends who are also navigating in this strange time! Angie and I did mailart 365 at the same time, woah, that was a long time ago!

Thank you Angie and I love your stamp!

Stamping Fields of Brown

Tofu likes to cut and assemble.  I make trash quilts out of plastic.  Tofu makes fields of colour, pattern and shape in a similar way to those gorgeous black american vernacular quilts. Tofu's pieces go all directions and may feel random at first look but as you look, you can tell they are actually crafted in a way that they are still, balanced symphonies, not easy to accomplish.

Tofu tells me he has used up old postage stamps. Lucky me.

Thanks you, Tofu.  This is a beautiful mailing!

 

Stamps and Seeds and news from Cascadia

Cascadia Artpost has sent me some more gorgeous stamps … he is making a new series! His remarks in his note to me that these tickets and ephemera 'strike me as little bits reminding of a previous worlds now lost.'  When I opened this mail (a few weeks after I received it… I AM SLOW at the moment), I rushed over to my box of stuff and sifted through it culling those momentos from pre-covid life.  Yes, I will be sending you some stuff, Cascadia. 

I am still enjoying the seeds I planted two years ago from Cascadia. I have six large pots along the side of the house and they are chocka with blooms. My job tomorrow is to find a way to do these exciting seeds justice. In England some of the flowers have even gone through the winter! As I walk past the house the smell of the sweet william is intoxicating. the way to this woman's hearty is through wonderful mail art, pastels, pigments, and plants.

It was interesting to hear about how life in Olympia was getting on in lockdown and as it eases up and Cascadia's attitude towards the virus. We seem pretty much in sync. Th UK reached 50,000 deaths today. The news, of course, has shifted to other political issues and like most, I have spent the day with a heavy heart... so spending time looking carefully at Cascadia's stamps and his beautiful, energetic envelope is the perfect way to forget. to those of you who have been out making your voice heard.  Thank you. 

Huge thanks to Cascadia for all this great stuff. 

How did you spend your time in lockdown?

I have an adorable mother, an adorable 86 year old mother.  Normally, when we aren't in lockdown, she spends her Florida days visiting charity shops, taking clothes apart and repurposing them into exquisite colourful clothing. She does lots of other creative things too… but it turns out my mother couldn't do most of the things that she normally does when the world went 'inside out and sauerkraut' with Covid 19. Instead she painted, abutting colour, making marks and delighting herself and her viewers in the process!

I attach a few of the eighteen watercolours/palettes so you can get the flavour of  a little book of COLOR AMUSEMENTS IN THE TIME OF A PANDEMIC Each one is a little color story of its own! WOW.

a bespoke card which I also received with SEEDS for my garden!

Mail art from mom! whoopee!