E Coles's Blog (18)

Left a cool lady from Mariska van den Heuvel in the Netherlands, centre top: some love from Katerina in Greece, centre bottom: an accordion fold book with an innovative linen thread and button closure from Carina in Finland and on the right a poem and mail art call from Moan Lisa.

Thank you all! Mail art will be on its way to you from me…

If you have sent me something in the last few weeks a response should be on its way to you this afternoon.

Today's trip to the post office brings my total pieces sent in 2014 up to 151. I have sent mail art to 12 different countries including the UK.

I hope you all have a creative, mail art making…

I received a great package from Shellie Lewis in Chicago this week made up of a handmade envelope, advertising postcard, Canada paper, a letter and an artist book made from repurposed book and magazine pages with beautiful photographs.

Thanks Shellie!…

Here is a selection of mail art I have received recently. Thank you to everyone who has sent me something.

These two are both from Dimitra in Greece - I love those mini envelopes.…

I received this beautiful, little artist book from Claudia in Buenos Aires. The cover is made out of patterned paper and the pages feature sumi-e drawings and tranquil words of poetry. The internal pages are coffee-dyed and even after traversing the skies of the Atlantic still smell strongly.…

I received a fabulous mini boekie of Traditional Moroccan Proverbs from Rachel Carter in the US. 

Each page carries a traditional saying and the book is filled with stamps from all over the world and brightly coloured backgrounds.

Thank you Rachel!…

Another classic from Carina arrived a couple of days ago. I find it quite difficult to photograph books, but hopefully you can get an idea of how great this piece is from the picture.

In addition to bright colours, amusing pictures from old cartoons/magazines and fun stamps the book also features different coloured thread sewn through the pages. 

Thanks Carina!…

Yesterday the smallest mail art that I have ever received dropped through the letter box.

Inside the small envelope was an even smaller boekie, beautifully decorated in shades of blue and filled with stamps (postage and rubber stamps). 

Stamps are fun and cool, indeed!…

I moved to a new city 2 weeks ago - moving meant a forced hiatus from mail art making and no internet connection (boo hoo).

Last week I was welcomed to my new home by the arrival of 3 pieces of mail art (2 from France and 1 from Greece). Thank you Val, Annick and Dimitra for helping me to settle in so quickly.…

I received a beautiful piece of mail art from Carmela Rizzuto yesterday.…

I had the opportunity to visit Land's End yesterday (the most westerly point in mainland Britain). 

While I was there I posted some mail art in the first/last postbox. I asked at the nearest post office and unfortunately there is not a special postmark applied to post sent from there. If you receive something from me postmarked Penzance then it was sent from Land's…

I don't know what is wrong with my postman at the moment, but he seems to turn up later and later everyday. Yesterday he arrived at 5 o'clock in the afternoon! Perhaps he had been sitting under a tree investigating my mail, as yesterday I received two fabulous pieces of mail art.

The "beauty" came from Dimitra Papatheodorou in Greece. Her envelope was decorated and sealed so well that I wasn't sure if that was the art work or whether I needed to open it. I managed to slit the envelope…

I received a lovely piece of art from Leena Blom in The Netherlands today.

The slap of the letter box as the postman passes on his daily round is filled with such expectation and excitement these days!

Forgot to add the photo to the previous post - whoops!

I received a lovely post card from Gin today.

Today I received mail art from Cernjul Viviana in Argentina. I don't know whether the photo I took is close enough, but my favourite element is the 20 pesos from the Banco Central de los Niños - que guay!

I received a great piece of mail art from Carina in Finland today.

I received my first pieces of mail art today - how thrilling! As soon as they arrived I went out into the garden and turned the wall into a gallery. The piece on the left is called Minimal: 3 colors, from Mim and the card on the right is from Val.