I’ve given up hope for any sort of warm weather this year, but signs of summer are definitely creeping in to some of the mail art I’ve been receiving this week, from heat-waves and sweltering cats to bright blue skies and bikes. Here’s the mail that’s been going from and to my mailbox this week…

OUTGOING

This morning I discovered that this card, which I sent to Lilian Mariutti in Brazil a couple of months ago, never arrived. I hate it when that happens

… Michalis Kotsaris in Greece…

… Anna Micciulla in the US…

… and De Villo Sloan, again from the US.

INCOMING

A really beautiful piece arrived in Marie Wintzer’s unique style, illustrating the poem that can be found on the back…

Haiku of the Bubble Tangerine Soapy burst, no sound No flare as my lungs shout out Swim upstream for air

Beautiful, and a little bit haunting! This came all the way from Japan. When I received this next piece, I had to get my detective hat on (minus the pipe) to find the artist responsible. With only some Russian stamps and a ‘FluxRus’ stamp to go on, I started my search, and with a little help from my IUOMA friends finally discovered that this lovely collection of images and words came to me from Svetlana Pesetskaya.

Harry Lock sent this beautifully grungy ‘Handcoloured Photograph’ Arty Slide. The ‘old and worn’ feel works perfectly with the ‘out of date’ 35mm slide medium. I’m excited to see what he sends as part of the Arty Slides exchange that’s currently in progress, as well as the other 4 artists that will be adding slides to my collection.

Diane Keys sent me $75! Not cash, but a fantastic example of DK trashpo.

A nice surprise card from James Chester in the US, addressed to ‘Susan Churchill’. That must be me!

They don’t make cars like that any more…

Fellow Brit Stripygoose sent me this wonderfully graphical collaged card. When I first saw it, I thought the brick wall had crumbled down, and the buildings behind were peeking over the top. Then, of course, I looked closer, and noticed the tears, and the fact that the signs wouldn’t exactly have crumbled along the same lines as the wall! Duh!

Thom Courcelle sent me this copy of his beautiful sketch from travels to Vernazza, Italy a few years ago, to thank me for the sketch I sent him from my holiday this year. Mr. Courcelle is a very (multi)talented artist – a while ago he sent me an equally impressive knitted card.

Nadine Wendell-Mojica in North Hollywood sent me a rather awesome illustration entitled ‘Heatwave in Cat Kingdom’. Those poor cats look like they’re melting in that heat! Not even the King himself is safe

Finally this week, I received something very thoughtful from M Nidham, who went on a trip from Oman to Indonesia for the World Stamp Championship, and was kind enough to send me this envelope while he was there, complete with Special Edition stamps.

That’s it for this week. There’ll be some interesting ‘Outgoings’ from me next week, as I make the most of a Freepost address in London for Andy Hoang’s plot at the Real exhibition, as I ‘test’ Royal Mail with some unusual items. Well worth a look, I suspect, so see you then!