Plenty of incoming and outgoing postal pleasures to share with you this week, starting with my darling sister, who sent me a very interestingly shaped package with seriously sufficient postage. The obscure dimensions were courtesy of a Kicking Horse Coffee tin that held many thoughtful gifties like epic Canada rubber stamps and a beautiful felt bowl she’d made. There was also a giant bag of decorative seashells (which put my dozen seashells and beach sand that I diligently collected in Mexico, to shame. lol). 
I received my first letter from a longtime and dear friend, Ryan Mathieson, and enjoyed every little bit of it. His handwriting, the topics in his letter, recent photography work and a new adventure in his creative career: coloured resin casting. so awesome. 
Jane Murray had quite the elaborate mail art piece: She wrote her letter on raw canvas and used it as an envelope to hold lots of lovely ephemera like wildlife postcards, screenprints and vintage embroidery decals. The canvas was then wrapped up in purple tissue, fabric bows and sealed with clear tape. 
It’s safe to assume that almost every envelope plastered in bright or cute animal stickers is bound to be from Jenny Cutnam. She filled a handmade greeting card right to the edges with her beautiful printing, and continued onto some other animal themed notepaper to finish her thoughts. 
The above letter was in response to a recent envelope I sent to Jen only a week or so earlier. It was made out of a cardboard cover from a sticker set and featured a cool glassine paw print with which I filled with colorful animal stickers, long typewritten reply, mexican memories and a cute kitty.
Jeannine Saylor (@saylor_made) started a new theme for our mail art & developed an altered postcard exchange. I chronicled this new idea of hers in a previous mail art post, along with the materials she provided me for my first attempt at the project. I’m now able to share the results, as well as the envelope I sent containing it and the materials that I hand selected for her first mixed media postcard creation for this series. 
I wrote back to Nicole Palmer on an old book page from a medical journal, since she told me she likes medical illustrations and ephemera. She also loves zebras, so I took note of that and included a couple along with a memory of mine from my Mexican vacation.
Upon returning from Mexico I wrote a long typewritten letter to Marissa Falco (@czarcastic) thanking her for gifting me a #5 zine. I sent it along with some memories of my trip including hotel stationery, a mixed media drawing on a coaster from my hotel and also a genuine shell and sand from the sunny shores of the Mayan Riviera. 
The beautiful Emily Orpin (@ejorpin) found a badly addressed envelope from me. Ironic that I’d complain about people turning my last name into gRowling when I do the same type of thing to poor Emily… I wrote orpHin. UGH. I hope that the pretty stamps and lovely treats hidden inside made up for my labelling mistake. 
Barbara Wanhill (@2catsandapencil) always gifts me stamps so I decided to return the favor and picked out a really nice set (complete with cardboard cover and all) from my vintage stash. I also owed her a vintage tea card after she gifted me one of an antelope. I typed her a letter and also included some patterned papers and one of my final Mexican seashell and sand packages.
I surprised Anika Starmer (@aisforanika) a week ago when I let her know that our collaboration was already flying back to her with my additions. Check out this recent post which chronicles all of the progress and new imagery inside these wonderfully colorful and inventive sketchbooks. I sent with them a little wiener dog joke and the beginning of a drawing I sadly never finished for a collaborative post Anika did ages ago. 
I made an envelope for the fantastic Helen Young out of a page from an Art in America magazine: it had a guy carrying a cube over his head, wearing a leather vest with an embroidered laser green-eyed tiger on the back. Awesomeness ensued on the inside. 
Mail art unfortunately will not be chronicled next week, as I am travelling back to both of my hometowns (Calgary, AB and Invermere, BC ) to take care of some business including packing, family time, printmaking, bird watching, dinners with friends, walks in the woods and gallery visits. You’ll see in due time though, as I always do my best to bring you along for the ride….
welcomed home by a pile of letters
12 AprI came back from my Mexican vacation to find a stack of letters that my neighbour had collected for me – such a nice homecoming! A few other beauties trickled in this past week since being back, and there are three that I received the day before my departure.
Barbara Wanhill (@2catsandapencil) generously treated me again with a set of stamps for my postal adventures! There was also fantastic alphabet ephemera, vintage antelope tea card, handwritten letter and more, wrapped in an acrylic painted & thread sead envelope. 
As always, Jenny Cutnam wrote me a lovely letter on cute animal stationery and gifted me sweet postcards and these hilarious note papers. 
Charlotte Vallance (@charlsvallance) drew her exhibition for me and described the blue iced cupcakes that she served – Yummy. The queen postcard she included was also delectable, and the cute little labels will be perfect for future postal parcels.
Emily Orpin (@ejorpin) from South Korea sent a parcel filled with sunshine! Inside the large rectangle, there were plenty of papers and mini envelopes to discover and enjoy. 
Other friends who were feeling the sunshine are pals Olivia Delorme (@o_delorme) & Nick Oostyen who have been sending me color themed parcels. This week: YELLOW! 
Marissa Falco (@czarcastic) is a genius, and if you appreciate zines you need to find her and prepare to be amazed. I was honoured when she recently gifted me her issue #5 entitled ‘my sketchbook.’ It literally blew my mind. GET ONE NOW RIGHT HERE… you’re pretty much robbing her, it’s only 4 bucks. 
Kathy Dahl is the mother of one of my infamous mail art friends, who I guess was unimpressed with what her mom had been sending me recently. She ordered Kathy to create a drawing and informed her of my love of animals and nature. Kathy ordered me in her letter to “rip it up after I laughed” but I love it too much. 
My jaw dropped when I saw how creative Hettie Van Riesen’s first mail art reply was! She sewed a custom fabric envelope and even recycled my address from my first envelope to her, by stitching it onto the front of hers. The contents continued to flow with her creative genius as I discovered poems written on birch wood, drawings of flowers & deer and much more. 
Anika Starmer (@aisforanika) sent a package that contained some awesome progress in our collaborative project, which you can read more about here, as well as a gorgeous woodblock print she made years ago and came across in a studio clean up. I love it. 
An envelope addressed to’ jazzy jess g yo’ and sent from ‘veg-e-table fantathy’ could be from none other than my talented pal Helen Young! Inside were gems such as watercolor splotch drawings, gnarly skulls, sweet stickers and prints. 
Jaime Maddellena (@sendmoremail) sent me a little Easter cheer with a painted egg adorned envelope and and adorable little letter in her small print on tiny little print out stationery. Sweet holiday treat. 
Nicole Palmer wrote another long, heartfelt letter and included a few wedding inspiration pages and some beautiful home-made stickers. 
Jeannine Saylor (@saylor_made) started a new initiative for our mail art, which is ironic considering we just hit our “mail art anniversary”: we send each other postcard sized cards along with random materials. the recipient is to create a mixed media piece and is allowed to add up to 3 materials of their choice, and glue is a freebie. I’ll be sharing the results of my first creation as soon as Jeannine gets my return envelope. 
Tomorrow’s post will chronicle all of the beautiful little envelopes (stuffed with ephemera) that I sent around the globe and have been discovered by the addressees.
