Tigers, the Explorer and an Extractor Fan

If you were Ponce de Leon where would you look for the fountain of youth?  Perhaps David thinks the moon holds the secret to eternal life or maybe that's a syrup of agar, waiting to produce the next variant? Beware, and eat your fruit and vegetables.  

As I write I have a cold. I know where I got it. Our son, who is a doctor, gave it to me. My husband got it at exactly the same time and our son visited some days before and was sneezing. It's a beast of a cold. 

The Tiger is known as the king of all beasts in China. The zodiac sign Tiger is a symbol of strength, exorcising evils, and braveness. Do tigers get Covid (or the common cold)? Something else tigers are known for is the fear they inspire in us. 'Tiger, Tiger burning bright…' Don't forget to set the timer when you are making pancakes or porridge. Fires are scary, hot and orange.   

Thank you Patti for your fearsome tiger and David for your inspiring shenanighans. May the Year of Tiger be a good one.

 

What can you do with your Celine Handbag?

Great to see that Dave and Patti have been able to take a well-deserved holiday to the precipice of Niagara Falls and that they got back in one piece, to send the postcard! 😉 Belated holiday greetings back at you!

I hope Dave forgives me for copying his personal note.  I just loved that play on words and thought I should give him all the credit for it! The carved Celine purse is fabulous, genius! I can see David's creations in the Sainsbury Centre with all the other ethnographic works of art! when you come back to the UK, we should visit. 

BTW, this is two mailings from Dave!

And as for Kate Moss, as I have been painting (in my green phase) all day, surely Gumby should be green. I see KM as more totemic than plastic child's toy anyway.

Thank you, David!

 

backlog blog

 I am posting this image so those of you who sent me mail will know I have received it and am waiting to open it, to spend some quality time with it and hopefully be inspired to reply fulsomely! The thing is, my mum is visiting from America from Saturday and I have some work to do to get this place ship-shape before she arrives so even though I WANT to open your mailart I am holding off until I can do it justice.  My mum hasn't been to England in two Covid years.

Stay tuned.  Once she arrives I should have some more time. AND thank you. Cascadia Artpost, David Stafford, Mailart Martha, Amalgamated Confusion, Mikel Untzilla, Herman Kamphuis, Sticker Dude, Tofu, (I'm wearing a mask) and The Sticker Dude!

Families and Rainwater

                                         

At about this time of year, as the temperature drops and the leaves fall from the tree. The people don their camouflage and it's creepy to walk the field edge at dusk or dawn in case you meet someone with a gun.  

Personally, I like a fleece and a deep bright blue gets my choice. It's a quandry, though.  I wash them often because I am messy and I worry that they leave their plastic fingerprints behind and what of our environment? And as for Scentlock is, it sounds like a guerilla odour.

This is the second of envelopes that  arrived from David lately. I am not an engineer and even if I were I doubt I'd be as smiley as the woman in the jump suit. Yesterday I had to help guide a bit of the landrover body over the gear shift and I was scowling. Our car rebuild is a family affair and I love David's family frolicking. 

I can't really believe that 1. David forgot his mask 2, that puddle-stain drawing was organic but who cares!  It's all brilliant.

 Thanks David.  II adore mailart from you!

The Safety Spot

Do you put an anti-slip mat in your shower? Have you done your ladder training? Mind you carry your scissors so you won't impale yourself on them and refrain from climbing on grocery store shelves to reach objects too high for you. 

Dave is our safety monitor and he's in charge of some important new features at our favourite mail art community. I don't dust, so there is no fear that i might climb a chair to clear the cobwebs from the ceiling!

I'm terribly behind with my blogging and there is little hope that I will catch up this weekend, so am putting two seperate mailings from Dave in one blog.  Shameful! What's even worse is I don't even have any mailart on the go to promise.  I will.  July is around the corner and I'm not going anywhere except Pitlochry!

 

Elixers, Ox and Mazola

In this lucky dip from David Stafford, I am provided with all that is needed for a happy year of the ox (thank you Patti). the bottle of Professor Edmund's Elixir of Life is a haptic wonder and relates to the Mazola bottle. I love a ridged bottle!

I also love a salad and a saute and the colour yellow!

Another key ingredient to a smorgasbord mailart, for me, is political commentary. 

Finally, celebratory mail art is always great.  Delighted to receive this (annual) hand-silkscreened Chinese New Year from David's partner, Patti! Fabulous!

Thanks David!

Funky Nasa Chicken with Spaghetti

As new space pictures are revealed that show the touchdown on Mars, I open David Stafford's latest correspondence. OK, that is one very funky chicken and I wonder if everything they are doing to its 'body' tickles.  That chicken also seems indifferent to the pasta and that just seems wrong. My chickens make a lot of noise and would be beaks in if I gave them a bowl of noodles. 

And to reiterate  this it is a correspondence. On the flip side of the Funky Nasa chicken postcard, David fills me in on all things Santa Fe. It's all good to know.  

David also said some nice things about the mail art I FINALLY sent him.  He asked an interesting question. How can something bespoke and idiosyncratic be part of an edition? Hmm. I guess I see what I sent David as part of an edition of an idea. there are 30 other different explorations of the idea going out to other mail artists.

 Thanks David!

After you eat cranberries don't forget to whiten your teeth

MIrror mirror on the wall who has the pearliest whites of all? That must be bleached flour. 

I can tell David made this mail art on a full stomach during the holiday period. Being a woman in the midst of  frenzied cooking is a tightrope walk, a jungle gym climb, a tussle with a spider.

I love the way Dave has played with his food! Thank you!
 

Locked down in Sicily!

It's so exciting to be on David's Christmas list! I am terribly sorry to hear that he has been 'trapped' in Sicily since lockdown. But this armchair sleuth notices a few inconsistencies. When we lived  in Rome we discovered that you can only buy hiking boots in season and there are no footpaths. I find it difficult to imagine they could scale that balancing rock without appropriate footwear.

But I am happy to hear that they have found gainful employment… the thing is you need a work visa to work in Italy and there is an enormous bureacracy to get the papers.  I wonder how they got around all of that? In two years I never could.

Happy New Year, Patti and David! Wherever you are, I hope you are plugged into the news.  This world is insane! This is a great card , hearkening back to the grand tour and burlesque beach.

 

Thrift Store Replica

David's Thrift Store Replica has been peering at me from the top of my blogging pile for a little longer than I like… I have been otherwise obsessed with matters political and it's good to be back in the blogging saddle, even if for some (not me) it's not over yet!  

In England thrift stores (charity shops) are shut.  We are in lockdown and are meant to stay home as much as we can. Even after we opened up in May, I found it difficult to cross the threshhold of charity shops for a while. This replica encapsulates my longing to return to the joy of looking through junk.

And as for glamour, that too is eclipsed in these times, for me. Recovering from a tripping-while-running injury in March, I make excuses for why it's OK to wear my running clothes all day. I am reminded of my gymnastics years and how a magenta tracksuit was all I wanted for Christmas. 

I also love the chasm of stamping that makes the unique composition of this postcard and the coronavirus flower stamps. Thanks David!

 

2020 Election Guide- all the facts you need to make an informed decision

In the last gasp of the election season, it is wonderful to share the quintessential guide to the 2020 election, by David Stafford. This book is pocket sized, so I can carry it around with me.  

What I love, particularly, is the way David represents the absurdity of these days, with his hints at the way language is slippery: stakes, he shows how the competition is taking place with incomprehensible  rules: running to your race car? And we are all in this crazy situation of navigating the pandemic - panic buying,; dealing with climate change and fires. Argh. I can't wait for Tuesday to be over… but then again that will only be the beginning.   

Thanks David!  It is hugely appreciated.