Ramirez from Mim

A very nice card from Mim showing a piece of Ramirez' art.

His work was featured on stamps in 2015. I don't have any left, however you can see some I used on this envelope.

The card arrived in this envelope. Love the wide-eyed cat stamp. And this is my first sighting of the 200th anniversary of Illinois becoming the 21st state stamp.

A collage from Mim

Fun stamp head collage.

Arm Off I & II

Sent to Brooke and Mim in envelopes 669 and 890.

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?

Envelopes 430 & 697 - bicycle series part 2

A delayed series, but a series nonetheless.

To review: in September 2013 I sent this one to Jean. She blogged its arrival here.

Last month I sent the next two in the series to Mim, who has a mail art call on bicycles because the UCI Road World Championships is coming to her home town September 19-27.

She's hoping for a lot of mail to display in two locations where spectators can see her exhibit. Apparently over 400 000 visitors are expected during this time.

Here's what I sent her.

Envelope 430

And envelope 697

There's one stamp left, stay tuned in 2017 for that one.

Banana Mail received

Today is one month since International Banana Bread day (Feb 23).

Here are the Banana Mailings I received.

From Angie & Snooky. 

Love all the non-banana elements, in particular the piglet.

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From Linda F.

She included a cool banana stamp. And the kid making a snow angel on the Winter Fun stamp kinda looks like she/he may have slipped on a banana peel if you squint a bit, and don't look too close.

I like the color she used to stamp a banana shape on the back.

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From Carina.

A close up of the definitive(?) stamps - I love these, they are so unassuming, yet amazing.

And the fantastic Banana news letter! Watch out for banana mangles!! Not to mention bananas with pointy teeth.

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A banana postcard from Rose with bananas... and a blue mail snail.

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Great blue and yellow envelope from Katerina.

With instructions.

And the big reveal on the 21st. Love the banana artistamps.

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The next two arrived with exquisite timing on the day itself.

From Lynn R

And the rotting banana itself.

From Dan M. Check out the great faux postage.

I like the banana inset in this orientation. It reminds me of dolphins.

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Mim wasn't even on the official list, and she sent a very nicely stamped envelope. Jean & Smash - maybe bananas on heads is the new birds on heads?

And a small banana streetscape.

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And last but not least, nuts or bananas from Dean, the Artist in Seine. I think he's a bit of both. This is a packet of nuts he ate, then somehow resealed perfectly. The zoo stamp from France is amazingly long, a nice addition.

The back of the packet, with its banana add-ons.

And the contents... two pieces front...

...and back.

Thanks to all the banana mail artists - this was a blast receiving hilarious banana-themed mail over a two week period. Here's the group shot: