The Mother Of All Mail Art Roundups

Yes. Truly my fault. I've left this posting for so long that I have much mail to blog about today. Not that I'm complaining. I love receiving it and sending it as it makes life that much more interesting (and I think my Postal Person finds it amusing.), but I should stop messing around and get on with it...

"Wha'??" from Thom Courcelle

Actually, "Wha??" seems to be my all around catchphrase most of the time for most things. I doubt that Thom actually knows this, which is why it was rather funny to me when I opened his mailart. The inside message actually had me in stitches; "Wake up kisses from Prince Charming are fine, but I'd rather have "GOTIJ"." "Gotij" meaning "YES!!! I have received FAB Mail Art!". And, it includes stickers. I love stickers! This mailart was "Gotij" indeed!

  Braincel #821 from Ryosuke Cohen

Every time I receive one of these "Brain Cels", I feel like I've won a lottery. I can look at them for hours. And, when I go back to look at them, I always see something new in them. Brilliant.

 Two Boekies from Moan Lisa (Formally, "I'm A Superhero, I Fly And Shit")

Moan Lisa is really quite the Mailart Superhero, if you ask me. I am always amazed with some of the things he comes up with. Most people (such as myself), keep their mailart, collect it, so to speak. Not Moan Lisa. He recycles it into something new and sends it along. I love these "boekies". They are a treasure trove of fun.

"Blue Greek Tall Grass And Fabric Cutting" from Katerina Nikoltsou

There are 2 really interesting things about this mailart; one is that the piece of fabric was sent by Amy Irwen to Katerina, who included it in the piece, so it is traveling "along the mailart highway!" But, the other interesting thing is that there is this really cool subtle "grass-like" texture, which unfortunately doesn't show up in this photo. Trust me, it's there and makes this a really splendid piece.

Recycled Birthday Card #1 from Sarah Churchill

I have tons of Birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day cards etc. squirreled away in all varieties of furniture in all corners of my house as I have some sentimental attachment to them (fool that I am); I keep vowing that I'm going to go through them and do a clean up. Then, I get this lovely mailart from Sarah and I am floored by the clever re-use of the simple birthday card. So, not only did I get a great piece of mailart, I go a reason to start tidying them up and recycling them and sending them back out into the world. Thanks for the inspiring mail art, Sarah!

Fan #37 by Lilian Mariutti

I have to admit, I'm a real fan of works with markers. I love working with markers; maybe, aside from crayons, they make me feel like a kid again. But, that's for another blog post. Anyway, I love the pop arty feel of this piece by Lilian Mariutti. Lilian, by the way, is one of our amazing Zombie Kitty Kawaii! Travels The World Correspondents and her photos/commentary can be seen starting here.

At The North Sea Where Ensor Lived

Masks Were As Common As Fish On The Market Place
By Guido Vermeulen
I love trading mail with Guido. His works make me think as the titles of them are always thought provoking. And, when I get it, it usually makes me smile. Thanks, Guido.

text meraje'z saved
by bil copeland
Please read. Carefully.

A Series Of Mini Graffiti 5:7
by Carina Granlund
Every time I look at this piece, I see something new. I love that. I also love the "Banksy" styled animal woodcut, which does give it that graffiti touch. Nice.

Front

Back

Mystery Message From Dean Marks
I've figured it out finally, have you?

Back

Front

A Mystery (History) of The Greytones
also from Dean Marks

Two more great pieces from Dean. Both works gave me a great laugh and top one really had me thinking and looking hard at it for a quite a while; a message without a bottle. Clever. The big mystery to me is how it gets through the Canadian Postal Service in one piece, but I am glad that it does. I think it also amuses my Postal person to no end, which is why I always get my mail at a reasonable hour of the day. Thanks again, Dean.

So, the round up has come to an end for now. But, as I started writing this a few weeks ago, I am behind again. Uggghhhhh!

Millions Of Comic Books...

...or how I enjoyed my first visit to  the Toronto Comics Art Festival (TCAF)...

The Haul

I have to admit there is nothing more exciting then spending an hour  (or 3) lurking in a library or bookstore, but when the library becomes a bookstore (or comic book store), well, even better. This was my first visit to TCAF and there was so much to see and do, I  could only experience a small part of it, which makes me eager to visit again next year.

As I went with my husband and son, the first thing was to get the boychild settled and doing something. TCAF had a great kid's area, "The Owl Area", where they could sit and relax and browse through the Library's Graphic Novel Collection or they could do drawings/crafts or learn about making comics with some excellent workshops that were running.  Luckily, we arrived just in time so he could participate in "Turn your life into comics" workshop run by Raina Telgemier (creator of the Graphic Novel "Smile"). She was engaging and she encouraged the kid's to take something that could be potentially "horrible" (such as injuring your front teeth) and turn it into something funny. The kid's were engaged and worked hard on their comic pages. Brilliant!

The Boychild listening to Raina Telgemeier...

...which inspired this comic page.

So, maybe I exaggerate when I say there were "millions of comic books"; but there certainly was thousands of comic book and graphic novel fans about and artists, of course.

There was certainly a lot to see and do (check out the programming guide and you will see what I mean.). But, I have to say that one of my favorite things is having the opportunity to chat with the artists/publishers about what they do, as well as discovering new and interesting reading all under one roof.

Letterpress demo at Porcupine's Quill booth

The friendly folks from "The Devastator"

And, running into some long time artist/animator friends, such as Dan Turner (Dragon Lake Inc.) and Natalie Garceau-Turner (Flipart Studio) and being able to share your latest comic book discoveries. A very nice way to end the day, indeed.

Lou, Dan, and Nat.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have some comic books to read.

Of Bananas, Guinea Fowl And Birds On Wires...

...Mailart: The Animal Kingdom Edition...
Yep. I'm really behind again on blogging my most recently acquired mailart. But, at least I've mostly caught up on sending it back out...so everything is good on that end...

Bananas from Dean Marks

Yes. I know bananas are not an animal, but monkeys eat bananas and, therefore, fit the bill as far as I'm concerned. Dean, has a group on the International Union Of Mail Artists called "Bananas" and when not torturing my "Kat", Zombie Kitty Kawaii!, must have created this "banana" inspired mailart.  Dean, I owe you some "banana" mailart and will get it to you soon. Thank you for the tip about putting bananas in the refrigerator. I do, however, have one in my freezer. You could knock someone out with it.

Guinea Fowl from Sue Hobbs

Guinea Fowl are native to Africa, where this piece of mailart was sent from. They remind me a lot of the wild turkeys that wander my father-in-laws property, but smaller. This is a lovely and delicate piece of work. I really admire it's mixture of quilting and paper work. There is even a small feather from a guinea fowl within the piece. It's really rather neat. 

Like A Bird On A Wire From Guido Vermeulen

"Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free."

Songwriter: Leonard Cohen

Love the song. Love the piece. Thanks, Guido! 

A "Steampunk" Poem And Zombie Kat Fairwell from Vizma Bruns 

Of Zombie Kats and Cows

Vizma was one of our "Zombie Kat hosts" and official correspondent from Down Under. She finally sent away her charge, "Zombie Mini Kawaii!" after many hilarious misadventures. Something tells me she is missing "Mini Kawaii!" already. 

Air Kraken Over The Aegean Sea from Katerina 

What exactly are "Air Kraken"? Why their flying octopus, of course. After, sending Katerina an Air Kraken Day card (March 17th, in case you are wondering.), she sent me this one in return. How lucky she was to have spotted these Kraken above the Aegean Sea. It must have been quite the sight to behold!

A few weeks later, I received from Kat the "Greek Green Spring", which cheered me immensely. I heard the other day on a radio show that if you wanted to get in the mood to do something creative, one should look at the colour "green". I can't remember why or the rest of what they said on this radio program as I was in the dentists chair and got a bit too distracted by what was going on at the time. It's a lovely card in any case, Kat, so thank you.

I Love Zombies And I Love Toys...

...how can you not love that?....

A very nice article has been written about my other project, "Zombie Kitty Kawaii! Travels The World", so I am going to implore you to drop everything you are doing at this very moment and have a look:

 http://zombiesandtoys.blogspot.com/2012/03/thhppt-zombie-kitty-kawaii-goes-on.html

So? What are you waiting for?! Go on!

 

 

Yes. I Do Get Great Mail...Steampunk Edition.

My other blog, Zombie Kitty Kawaii! Travels The World, has been keeping me happily very busy, but I've been sadly neglecting my duties on this one. So, without any further ado:

Two From Angie:

A few weeks ago, I made a comment that if there was a television program made of my life, it would probably be called "Hipster Mom Stuck In The Suburbs And Constantly Waiting For Her Son's Bus". Truth is usually stranger then fiction. Anyway, dear Angie (and Snooky) sent me these two lovely cards. The first is a a very Steampunk Snooky helping me wait for my own bus (probably a steam powered one.). The card cheered me immensely needless to say.
Almost a week later, I received a 2nd card! This amazing "Joseph Cornell" card! He is one of my "Art Hero's", Angie, and I thank you again for such awesome cards!

A "Steamy" Card From Deb By Golly:

From By Golly Engineering comes the "Steam Machine", a vehicle after my own heart! Drive one of these and nobody will ever steal your parking spot ever again. Looking forward to seeing more of your "Steamy" creations, Deb!

From Cheryl Penn:

 Not really Steampunk, but it is brown and brown, after all, is the new black. But, kidding aside, this is some kind of wonderful piece and because it's done on a film-type material it looks different every time I look at it from all angles, back and front, held up to the light, etc.which is why I'm posting 3 different photos of it. In fact, this is so lovely that the photographs cannot really do it justice. Really "Gotij", Cheryl! Thank you.

The Thrilling Adventures Of Captain Balloon Glasses...

Now, if you think the "Lucky Card" was a stroke of mail art genius, Dean M. has outdone himself again. Enter "Captain Balloon Glasses says; Up, Up and Away!" which I received a few days ago. Part Jules Vern, part Terry Gilliam, with a bit of kitsch thrown in for good measure, is the only way words could ever describe it, so I shall let the photos speak for themselves:

Needless to say, "Captain Balloon Glasses" now holds a place of honor with all my favorite things, at my work station where I can bask in it's glory.

But, just in case you really, really need to know what "Balloon Glasses" are (and I know you do), they were a mail art project that I sent to Dean a few months back. Here is one of the photos Dean took of "Balloon Glasses" and his commentary:

"

"Balloon Glasses says; You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

How do they expect the horse to turn the handle?"

"Balloon Glasses" are fun indeed.

The Fantastical Envelope...

... as received from Debbie C. By Golly of Victoria, B.C.

Lucky Card! Lucky Me!

Look! I received a Lucky Card (001) last week from my mail art pal, Dean! And, it actually works because not even 2 days later, while thumbing through one of my favorite Mixed Media magazines, I actually discovered that they used a piece I had submitted to them. As they sent the work back with just a "thanks for submitting" letter, I would have had no idea otherwise . How lucky is that?
Oh, and of course, I'm really lucky to be receiving such awesome and always humorous mail art from Dean. I count myself very lucky for that.

Catching up...

 Well, I've finally have a chance to sit down and play "catch up"on blogging about last weeks incoming mailart. And, a very quality haul it was:

 Beware of Copies Which Can Be Found On Coffee Mugs from Dean Marks (France)

Wow, a lot of juicy reading on this card! Now I know the NATO Phonetic alphabet (very useful), when the clocks go forward and back (always trying to figure that one out), British History Rulers (in order), how to figure out my BMI (that may be embarrassing), Dean's Birthday (hope it's a great one!), and many bits of information that I'm always wondering about at one time or another. Thanks, Dean. Who needs Google when I've got this with it's wealth of info!

 Next: this lovely card from Sue in South Africa. It's so delicate. Thank you for your greetings, Sue. I hope your holidays were fantastic as well.

 Toronto has been very mild, weather wise, but also very grey. So, "Mellow Yellow" from Emmy of The Netherlands was the best thing to receive (next to a shot of vitamin D), to chase the winter blues and greys away! Receiving it immediately warmed me from head to toe. Thanks for the boost, Emmy!

 And then, there are always the surprise packages I receive from Superhero Lobster Johnson, which can keep me busy to no end. I haven't even gotten around to last weeks "challenges" (But, I will. Really.). Anyway, if any of you are on Google+, you need to check out the "Lost Art" project, he has going and all the magnificent "Lost Art" that has been coming in to this project. A very busy man, our Superhero is. I can't keep up.

So, there's the mailart round up for last week. May your week be filled with interesting mail and not junk nor bills.

This Weeks Incoming Mail

January, as expected, is one of those go slow months as everyone is coming off holiday mode and trying to "get back to normal" mode (whatever "normal" is for you.).
So, here is this weeks latest:

"Lumenes" by Sabela Bana of Spain

A package full of surprises from Superhero Lobster Johnson

A splendid poem from bil copeland