Lesley Magwood Fraser's Blog (89)

Many months ago I sent David a small watercolour drawing of a girl's face, which inspired him to draw over my drawing, enlarge it to a HUGE image, roll it up and send it to me in a cardboard tube..... 

What a look of surprise on her face! But on turning over the image i found a wonderful scrawly message from David, which I read almost every day as it makes me smile, I…

Another of Kat's blues, this time collaged grasses, must be the grass on the dunes near her beach shack where Kat is currently parked off, lucky girl. Lovely!

This Kloof scene arrived from Carl, along with a transparent sheet of symbols..... hmmm not sure that Carl knows what Kloof is like but I do love his sense of humour! Mind you it could be Kloof, we are a very leafy suburb up the hill from Durban, which is by the sea. Thankyou Carl, from cloudy Kloof.…

The pic says it all.... what fun!

Another little envelope of tiny goodies, this time from Samuel Montalvetti.... little ATC boekies and a print on an old cigarette box. I feel like Gulliver when I open these envelopes. Thanks Samuel!

I was chuffed to receive this from Karin Greenwood this week, one of her delightful little monoprint faces. I had seen it at our drawing class earlier in the week and was admiring it, it is one of several that Karin has done. This person has 2 minds about things, or her hairstyle at any rate, but Karin's tiny drawings are a delight. Thankyou! …

This is definitely the biggest mailart ever I have ever received! Guido sent me this amazing painting on handmade paper, a feat in itself as this paper is notorious for being hard to work on. A large triangular box awaited me in the PO mailbox, it just fitted, the work is 60 x 75 cm, all rolled up neatly. Accompanying it was a record of several of Guido's dreams, wow Guido your mind works overtime in your sleep - well done for remembering it all, even the tiny details! The strange bird…

Sue Hobbs and Karin Greenwood both live in my neck of the woods and I often bump into them at the local supermarket, but it is always a treat to receive mail from them.

Karin's quirky people so cleverly painted using all kinds of media, and Sue's lovely fabric work are their latest offerings. Thanks gals, I love them.…

Not sure what bei means, but Svenja's work is always quiet and contemplative... thanks Svenja! I love the vintage photos that people include in their work, these kids seem to be doing something in the bushes!  I think they are picking grapes. What are they doing Svenja?…

One of a few pieces from Diane over the past couple of months - Name, Language, Population, with a nice spidery drawing on the left side... Thanks Diane, your work always pleases me! Something winging its way to you at the moment.

Months ago Thom Courcelle sent me this crocheted lime juice bottle (who needs Absolut bottle art when Thom has his crochet hook out?) I had been greedily eyeing other IUOMA members who had received Thom's woolly wonders, so was delighted when this arrived for me! Life got in the way but I knew that I just had to share this lemony piece with you all one day. Thom says it's neither lemon nor lime, either way, I am CHUFFED.…

This is another of Marie's incredible pieces - images, words and beautiful paper making up a wonderful statement about A Line. I think Paul Klee wrote "a line is a dot that has gone for a walk".... Marie's lines are all over the place... a real or imaginary mark demarcating a specified section, the battle area closest to the enemy, a series of person, especially from one family, a cable, a rope, a clothesline and on and on and on - Paul Klee's line wasn't as adventurous as Marie's. The…

 Marie hasn't forgotten me either lately, sending me 3 wonderful pieces over the past 2 months. As always they are amazing works, the first being a Marie-layered image surrounded by her higgledypiggledy stitching (I think Marie may have got an F in Needlework class....) (sorry Marie! my stitching did too) and attached with her FAB floaty Japanese paper on a swatch of denim fabric. The enclosed note said it was to cheer me up which it sure did! Wishes from Japan... and the envelope is a…

Over the past few months Nancy has faithfully been sending me these wonderful pieces, even though I have not had time to reciprocate, so here's a massblog of them in all their glory.... each shows Nancy's inimitable style which is becoming more and more professional with each piece, so recognisable now, as are her envelopes. Nancy even sent me a piece of "toast" and a watercolour of apples, methinks Nancy thinks I need nourishment... her work nourishes my soul for sure! I even received an…

David is most insistent that this is not art, I know it is just the backing board for his lovely watercolour of a startled looking woman who has just had a rocketship fly past her ear, although it is her hairstyle that concerns him the most. And as David has put so much work into the backing board I have to say it has become part of the art work... OK so it is Larry who has reservations about the hairstyle, not David. Larry thinks her sideburns could cut like a scimitar, with curves like a…

Idon't know why but Marie says she was unsure about this work, whether it was finished or not. I love it as it is..... Her loose white threads, the half stuck on words, the raw edges, the flimsy piece of muslin held on with a smudge of white paint and the Japanese asemic characters in the photo all give it a wonderful sense of frailty and delicacy that always seems to come through in her work. The Japanese girl playing what looks like mah Jong seems to be from a magazine cover called The…

Karin has such a distinctive style of drawing, her little people have an almost naive quality, but the work is certainly not naive - Karin has a knack of finding awesome papers to work on, often making the backgrounds herself. These 2 ladies decided to experiment with Karin's Red Eyeshadow and lipstick.... The simple addition of red to these images and the tiny bit of collaged flowers in the corners make a wonderful little piece that I have added to my book of Karin's mailart.

Thanks…

A long time ago I made a spanakopita shaped mailart for Kat, well the Autumn leaves fell in Greece and Kat decided to make Spanakopita with them - DELICIOUS!! It arrived here in a fat wodge of an envelope so I couldn't wait to RIP it open... not only autumn leaves but a 9B tree on which the leaves are stapled (don't tell me the Greeks actually staple their leaves on???), and on the reverse side asemic 9B swirls of autumn wind - yes - the answer my friend is blowin in the wind...…

I am one very happy chicken receiving this envelope stuffed with goodies from dear Nancy.... a gorgeous vintage style trash book, handmade nancypaper, a postcard to Nancy's mum informing her about the skylight in the kitchen nook, a front page of the Portland Press Herald, and some pages from Shakespeare's King Richard for me to use sometime! WHEW! What treasures!

The trashbook is so neat, tied up with some fine thread, and includes all kinds of ephemera, including a piece of Lindt…

I got half a bowlful of beautiful luminous green apples today so the doctor will definitely be kept away! How brilliant is this colour???? Thankyou Judith!