Lesley Magwood Fraser's Blog (89)

It was a dark and rainy night, the lab technician was bored and gazing out of the window at the rainwashed streets. Absentmindedly she scratched symbols and letters into the glass pane. "Does he still play the accordian?" she wondered, "or does he even remember me?"…

I have been eyeing these works of Mim on IUOMA thinking how much I like them and now I have one all to myself, my first offering from Mim. The fat graphic line jags across the quiet little collage giving it a nice drawn asemic feel.... Thankyou Mim!

This card from Marni has a delicate tracery of bright acid green, with an image of a colonial looking building and drawing of flowers, it looks very tropically Malaysian! The words are from Marni's favourite author Haruki Murakami - "It's hard to tell the difference between sea and sky, between voyager and sea. Between the reality and the workings of the heart." Heart matters! Earlier this week I received another acid green work from Guido so it's been a very GREEN week...…

What can I say??? I am slowly gathering a great collection of Karen's beautiful little ATC cards, all beautifully made. This one's rich red colour is a delight! I need to display them somehow as they deserve to be seen all together..... Thankyou…

My first mail art from Nancy and what a treasure! A little booklet FULL TO BURSTING with stamps,painting, and medical documents all held together with safety pins...and covered with Nancy's spidery scrawly handwriting. "Fragile" is stamped all over the Maine medical centre documents - hope that doesnt refer to our Nancy! I am very chuffed to be the owner of this great little book.... Thanks Nancy!…

How nice to receive an actual handwritten letter on blue lined paper from Thom, my first mail from him. Thom writes so well, describing his life camping on the Olympic Peninsula near Seattle, salmon goings on, some Algonquin sayings and the symbiosis between fish and trees - great reading! I could just picture it all. Included is his little booklet about his camping trip with his niece and nephew, and their drawing project. What a clever way of folding a large piece of paper into a little…

This really great card arrived yesterday from Karin. One of her ethereal angels has taken to the skies and is being greeted (or attacked???) by Karin's mythological birds. The people down below in the square seem oblivious to the action way up above them, they had better look out! The birds have even managed to escape to the envelope...... Thanks for a superduper work Karin!…

David always makes me laugh when I see his mail, this is a beauty! David asks me to keep this in a safe place in case the art police ever come to check that I have proof of David's artisticness.... I shall surely keep this safe, I love it! Love your Artists Proof print of the Bad Teeth Demons, there are lots of those around here. And no I dont think your blobs are asemic (maybe OTHERS will)…

Another exciting envelope on Friday, from Carl with a sheet of his Triangle Spiders.... lucky I am not arachnophobic! Thanks Carl, I shall use these stamps when I send you something soon..

This bulging packet arrived on Friday. Inside are lots of papers, stencils, pages and stickers.....methinks I have to make some mail for Sherri using her exciting pages and papers. Thankyou Sherri! What a treat.…

The first painted  envelope with "Sweet Dream Buddie" arrived with a note saying that a larger one was on its way. Guido also has a very distinctive style, African yet South Oceanic symbolic work.

The second large envelope was rained on so a bit tattered at the edges with the paint smeared, but as Guido said it was a great collaboration with the Rain God..... Thanks for these Guido!…

Karen's distinctive characters with their naive quality never cease to please me. All her cards are painstakingly handdrawn, painted, or printed using so many different techniques, they are wonderful and I am always glad when her envelopes arrive in my postbox. Thanks my friend.…

Another little Vintage gem arrived from Karen, beautifully made. Thankyou Karen, I love your work.

I had a gentle reminder from She Who Must Be Obeyed that I had not blogged her beautiful book yet. As it is not strictly Mail Art I had not thought to show it to you all in IUOMA, but as we have had some other Bones of Contention works here it is. I am so so honoured that the book was made specially for me, using some images from a collaborative book that Cheryl and I had done in 2009. The pages are made from another of Cheryl's books that she took apart and remade the paper. Using her…

This work from Marie is so delicate and beautiful, it is French but with a Japanese feel to it as well. The old music score papers and antique images combined with stitches and flower photo make this a precious gem. Thankyou so much Marie, I absolutely love it.…

Clean simple lines and a watercolour wash make this a very pleasing image! I like it a lot.

And the wildlife in David's garden is far more interesting than the monkeys in our KwaZulu gardens... his water buffalo lives near the birdbath.

Thankyou…

Have a look at Matt Louwrens sand art - each picture is made of sand glued onto board, no paint, or drawing. Not really to my liking but the pieces are quite extraordinary, in real life they shimmer.

http://www.matlouwrens.co.za/sandpaintings_undyedgemsandart.php

I received these 2 fabulous boekies on Tuesday, Laurie's contribution to Windmills of your Mind project. They are excellent - the colours in the blue photographic fairground one are so crystal clear - AWESOME! And the red one feels like leather, the paper is so textured and heavy, with a Stonehenge image inside. So different to the other but both beuatiful. Thankyou Laurie, it was worth the wait!…

I have been remiss in not blogging this..... it arrived on Friday and I have been catching up on other mail whilst this DK was hiding on my studio desk, it should have been 1st in the queue! Sorry Diane! I like the tonal quality of the crossword and old document collage, and the application of what we call modgepodge (sealer) unifies the surface.The card looks like it…

Yesterday I received this painting from Sue, oil on canvas.... love the colours Sue, orange and turquoise always make each other sing! And the squiggly black line, a drunken fly going for a walk?? Thanks Sue!