Waiter, there's a fly in my mail art

In from Amalgamated Confusion aka Keith C

J is for John Lennon

An unusual subject for a stamp, given that John Lennon was not a US citizen, putting him up there with the likes of William Shakespeare. Unlike Shakespeare, he did have permanent residence at the time of his death, although there were times in the past that he was denied entry into the US due to his anti-Vietnam war stance.

The stamps are issued in the usual pane of 16 designed to look like a record sleeve for the Music Icons series. Unique to the series (so far) is that there are four different versions of the stamp due to the change in color.

I received one of them on this excellent piece of mail art from Keith C.

And the other side... which reminds me that Halloween is not far off.

For more joyous Js, head over to explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

The skulls

Keith sent me this stunning print.

And in the same mailing were these incredible artistamps. I'll have to remember I have them for next year's Halloween.

S is also for Series

This is the second S post after yesterday's Solar System. 

As promised, here is the follow up from letter N for naked mail art. Most of my mail art goes inside one of my homemade envelopes. And usually they are individual pieces. 

Although I rarely collage, I recently sent out a series of 6 collaged postcards with a vehicular theme.

To Adrienne, Thomas and William

To C. Mehrl Bennett, Keith and J.A.D. Media

Do you like to create collages? Would you make one from random stuff you find in your car/your purse/that messy drawer at home full of 'important' junk?

For bonus points, can you identify where all the pieces come from?

IUOMA

The International Union of Mail Artists is the grand daddy of them all. The website can feel a bit intimidating at first, but if you're into mail art, it is a great place to find like-minded people. And everyone is extremely friendly and welcoming.

MomKat in Greece is one of the first IUOMA members I exchanged mail art with, and we are still sending back and forth between Columbus and Thessaloniki in Greece.

Here's her latest collaged piece.

Through my connection with MomKat, I started exchanging mail art with stripygoose on a regular basis, as they know each other very well, and hang out together whenever MomKat is in London (UK).

The latest from stripygoose, including an artistamp from Positively Postal, another IUOMA artist I connect with:

Another favorite from IUOMA is Mail Art Martha, also in the UK near London. Here's her latest:

Here's a piece of mail art from Keith (in California). We've been exchanging for a few years now.

And here's my first piece from Mim (on the east coast), sent unsolicited, and much prettier in person - the scanner didn't seem to want to pick up all the details.

Have you ever mailed someone you didn't know?

Did they respond?

An unexpected ostrich

Great juxtaposition from Keith

Ides of Postcards

A print of an acrylic, with added wash tape, from Honi C.

A great card from Eric with the weather in London on a recent trip.

More words from Amalgamated confusion.

Summer (Harvest) Solstice

I sent these two out to Keith and Honi a month ago on the solstice (you remember, the one with the full moon - something that won't happen again until 2062).

Ides of postcards

Another postcard from Keith.

And one from Honi, thanking me for sending chicken-related MMSA postcards.

The statement on the back made me smile.

A cigar box graphic on a postcard from Kathie, with vintage postage stamps added.

And another postcard from Keith - happy Dada.

Chevrons to Amalgamated Confusion

Another chevron envelope that needed a bit of a cover up, sent to Keith. 

The collaboration continues...

The collaboration with Keith doesn't have that much space left.

I feel like it has a definite ocean theme, and a lot more brown on it than I would have expected at the start.

Sent in a nautical envelope.

Ides of postcards

Another message from Keith.

And this is what Jackie did with her left over easter egg coloring supplies.

And a postcard from LWA.

Kathie sent this wonderful art piece.

Flies from Mail Art Martha.

Envelope 591

To Keith

Ides of postcards

Another minimalist card from keith C.

Wells Cathedral from John.

The collaboration returns

The collaboration with Keith continues inside this fantastic envelope.

The page is getting quite full. Will it be hard to know when to stop?

Ides of Postcards

One of the bonus postcards Missive Maven kindly sent me was this one I mailed to John E.

A postcard sent to me by Doris, host of the MMSA stencil swap. This is a painting by Hugh Barnden called Yellow Light.

Minimalist card from Keith C.

John sent me the Cathedral at Wells.

Eva sent a postcard showing the beautiful castle at Peníscola.

And it came with a special bonus - a stamp which also shows the same place! Along with a few more bonus stamps.