Marie Wintzer's Blog (353)

The Windmills collaborative book has lost Angie and the Snooks for a little while, but I am really happy that they were able to make it back, this chapter is a great addition to the project. Neat and delicate with wonderful green tones on a black background, and a very original window where the circles of your mind are spinning silently in space.

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Another great surprise in my mail box when I came back to Tokyo. Cheryl is sending me a large piece of violeen vylene (thank you Lesley), which has a texture that lies somewhere in-between paper and fabric, very interesting. I've already tested a small piece of it on something I have sent out, but the possibilities are endless I think. It can "sustain" stitches, and that's probably the next thing I will try.

Also in the package,…

Fellow countryman JF Chapelle is sending me a nice message of support, printed on a page from a stamp catalogue. I know JF's work mostly from De Villo's blog and I always found it cool (I signed up for IUOMA about the time of the Fix My Shoe mail exchange, and that was probably my first of many IUOMA laughs). Hmm, I wonder which part of the vacuum cleaner I'm in right now. I would say quite deep down where the dust bag is located :-))

Merci beaucoup JF!

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Chapters from the Windmills of Your Mind are rolling in. This is Lesley's part, her drawings and paintings on beautiful thick paper. The tones are earthy and soft with great texture. Her drawings and text layered on painted windmills are an intimate journey into a peaceful mind. Eyes open, eyes closed, nothing can stop our windmills from turning.

Thank you Lesley, this is another amazing chapter of what is going to be a great book!

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Beautiful ATCs from the boss of them all, Karen. And, breaking news, asemic writing is now also available in... portable stick. Love it :-)) and I am sure our fellows asemists will be highly interested in this new turn. Karen, you really ARE the boss, thank you so much for this special package.

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A beautiful plastic envelope from Stephanie. I think it contains several layers of goodies, but I won't open it, the stitches are too nice. I'll enjoy the fabric and paper and drawings from "outside", like the window of a shop I can't afford to enter. This is really beautiful, Stephanie, thank you for sending!

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A message of hope from Elizabeth. Here too, spring is any day now. The much awaited cherry blossom season is kicking off, but it doesn't feel the same this year. Bitter sweet....

Her artistamp collection is pretty cool too. Rhoda knows... Thank you Elizabeth!

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An elegant minimalist collage from Mim, with very sweet words of support. Thank you Mim, it was really nice to find this in my mail box when I came back!

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This blog post has no immediate effect on your health. 

If I hear or read " X or Y has no immediate effect on your health" one more time my head will explode. Seriously. With immediate and irrevocable effects on health. 

OK, enough ranting :-))

This is the last card I got before the earthquake and didn't have time to blog. Bifidus's cards are always a perfect blend of humor and aesthetics, I haven't seen a work by him that wasn't special. This one is no exception…

Hello my friends. I am desperately trying to get back to some kind of normality (utopia, I know)... I will soon go back to Tokyo, brace myself and cross all the fingers I can cross.

I miss blogging and visiting your pages, and although I still don't have the energy to be there full time, I would like to slowly get back on tracks.

There are a couple of cards I got before pandemonium struck, and Val's is one of them. A communism potpourri postcard, with special comrade salute…

It's a beautiful morning here in Wakoshi (that's 6am from my window), everything looks as normal as possible, and I feel so lucky, being able to leave this message to you. I want to thank all of you for your kind words and thoughts, I feel like you were very close. Yesterday I thought I was going to die. Got badly shaken and shocked, but luckily there is nearly no…

The Windmills Of Your Mind is a collaborative art book with various interpretations of the eponymous song. The idea originated with Katerina mailing this booklet to Cheryl, and it all started rolling.

The windmills of Katerina's mind are colorful and sparkling and I imagine them twirling incessantly. But then she includes those quiet and slow old windmills in beautiful USA stamps, and I now know that those are equally important. Oh yes they are... Lyrics are printed on the fragile…

I had big plans for this booklet but the paper turned out to crumble when folded, which is fine for the vintage effect, but still, so damn difficult to handle. It still want to use it though...

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Carla and I are both born a year of the rabbit, we have been around the clock more than twice and she has enjoyed two more rides than I have (you do the math if you want to ). She is collecting everything rabbit and is sending me an envelope of goodies. Accompanying some of her great signature stamps there is also a very nice letter that I know I will like to re-read even several years from now. A heartwarming mail, thank you so much Carla!…

As I have an official seat at the Ministry of Fun (location uncertain) it is my duty to report a fresh Sandpo delivery to the small city of Wakoshi :-))

For those (and I don't think there are many) who don't know what Sandpo is, I refer you to De Villo's blog where you will find all the necessary documentation and mountains of Sandpo, including a fantastic manifesto. Katerina is the mother of all Sandpo and her creativity hasn't shown any limits yet. I don't think it will. Thank you…

RCBz is always aware of what is happening in Japan, I don't know how many people know that there is an ongoing sumo scandal. I am not breaking any news when I say that sumo is an institution in this island. It has already had its fair share of scandals, but this one, with sumo fighters publicly admitting to fixing matches, has left the country profoundly shocked and embarrassed. It has also left RCBz very disappointed :-) (see the back of the card).

This is once again a very complex…

Today I give you four very special ladies. They might seem a little bit different at first, but they are one of us. And we are one of them.

Cheryl is a heck of a painter, and no less of a story teller. She is working on another volume of The Chronicles of Lyrehc, and those are some of the characters of the book. I think I would read such a book in one go and start all over again. And again. Looking at those paintings and reading Cheryl's words, I find a lot of that magic that I…