New Friour Edition 2013

The characters on this envelope suggest Guido's bold and imagistic line so when I opened it and found Beautiful new work from Guido in this A6 booklet, I was delighted, but not surprised.  I recognise the captivating faces from Birthday mania, Guido's herculean new endeavour! Thank you Guido, another treasure!

Another convert? Dadpo?

He has dabbled before, contributing two pieces to the renowned Island Mailart show, but three pieces in one afternoon, six pieces in two weeks... I wonder, do we have another mail art convert in the making? Is this mail art trashpo advice a new kind of dadpo?

Marvelous mail art from Lithuania!

This piece is absolutely enchanting.  It is so different, and so unexpected and as I see it here, scanned, I think  perhaps I should have photographed it differently to create a context, but then it would be my context and I have the sense that this piece comes from a place I don't yet understand.

Vaida's envelope, with it's chiselled envelope flap, felt both utilitarian and beautiful at once.  The silver leaf, an oak - modern and old simultaneously, the simple silver dot on the front, both minimalist and organic.

Inside (perhaps because the news here is all Richard the 3rd) reminds me of the Tudors, certainly medeival.  I travel to Siena in my mind with the checkerboard, the faces and the string. 

This piece took a lot of time and I am delighted to be the recipient. I have never had mail from Lithuania before.  I believe my father's family came from Lithuania, so it's quite exciting! 
THANK YOU Vaida!

Birthday Mania from Katerina, featuring Viginia Woolf

Well, obviously Virginia Woolf is a favourite of mine, so am doubly pleased having received this red mail art from Kat.  I wish I could read Greek, but I suspect the '25' is one of those numbers you get at the butchers (or elsewhere) when you are queueing. Brilliant! I still feel about 25 and would love to walk up town with a copy of To the Lighthouse in my pocket and have a coffee and a pastry at the Hungarian Pastry shop...

Still Christmas at Nayland Farm!

Many thanks for these nostalgic, arty christmas slides from Sue Hobbs! I mentioned before that 16 years ago, or so, Figgy was obsessed with Disney and a Christmas pop-up book in particular. I think I am going to save these for next  Christmas, drill holes in them and transform them into a mini pop-up book.

Almost (Nearly) black and white mail art day

Received this scene that takes me back to Bussum or Soestdijk, or Laren or Baarn from Suus. We used to go to the train tracks and wait for the train.  Our son (who was not yet 1 would feed the ducks, go to the kinderborderie and learned 'car', 'train' and 'duck' as his first words. Love the memories.  Love the card. I'm with Suus.  always draw on the train! We used to read aloud lots of books but we also looked out the window plenty and this is Holland all over! (Sorry if I spelled any Dutch words incorrectly...)

Dean's card is nearly black and white, except for his logo and the gold thread that makes a snowflake pattern at the window.  Oh the snow. It turned our world white for a whole week and I LOVED IT.  I know Dean has been in the snow, skiing for his birthday.  Is he nearly middle age?  Nearly and adult.  Nearly a professional skier? Are we nearly there yet?
what I also notice about Dean's work is that scale. This was nearly too big to fit on my scanner.

Not Hi's stamp of approval

When our kids were young we went to those booths and took silly pictures and they gave us funny names that sounded like something but were spelled like names.  I can't believe I didn't realise that Not Hi Ng was nothing!  It took receiving my first parcel to put two and two together! I love Not Hi's idea of an institute of agnosticism and the concept of insignificance and accept my award graciously! 

What I sent Not Hi was some trash I found here on the farm, fashioned in a Picasso tribute.  What Carl Andre would call ‘imitation’. I listened Andre on the Today programme (BBC)  where he explained that he feels that art ‘isn't the number of people who like your work, it's whether the work is any good or not."  Luckily Not Hi has commended my nothingness.