Panmunjom

A fascinating card from South Korea of the Korea Peace House in Panmunjom, a joint security area. It is the site of the non-armistice South & North Korea talks.

Au Naturel

Both cards are from Germany. It reminds me that summer is here and the fields are green and lush. 

Parting Shot

This German postcrosser shared his sentiments about his ex-girlfriend. I assume the ending wasn't a pretty sight either.

To Help Mother and Child

A sweet painting by Hendrick Pierson Stichting. These cards are sold to help mother and child. From a Dutch postcrosser who retired from nursing and is now having an enjoyable time traveling the world.

A Pair of Bears

My gallery partner, Matthew just got married to Styn. He celebrated the occasion by painting this picture.

Flowers and Aprons

Here is a sweet Heidi card from Sarah in the United Kingdom. She quotes Johanna Spyri on the margins, " Flowers are made to bloom in the sun and not to be shut up in an apron." The card is a Puffin paperback cover design. How I will send a card to Sarah in return!

Belly Casting

Here's an altered card made from a box of plaster for casting one's pregnancy. It was mailed by a postcrosser in Portugal. His granddaughter is expecting a baby in July and his daughter made a mold of her belly. He's asked for a card in return and I'm sending something this week! 

Blossoms and Kisses

What lovely pink cards arrived in the mail! The cherry blossoms card above is from a Chinese postcrosser. She also included a QR code on her card which plays a snippet of her music. It changes by season! The card itself celebrates the dragon boat festival. The lipstick kisses card is from a South African postcrosser who is leaving Japan after a sojourn. She writes about her ambivalence of leaving. I can understand...many visitors fall in love with my home country....

Back and Front

Here are two examples of cards that are interesting both in front and back. The card on top is from a postcrosser living in Kiev. I love the way he played with the farm produce image in the front by including a whole block of stamps in the back with a farm family theme. The images were self-explanatory - no words needed!

The card below is from friend Sherri in Billings, MT. She used a postcard by Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens and then altered it. The words speak to expecations of marriage, I believe. The back of the card is filled with seal prints from a chop Sherri got made in Hong Kong. I love the beautiful design these chop marks bring to the card. 

Lawrence & Susanna Delgado

I received this card in the mail yesterday from my alma mater, Mills College, announcing an exhibition of their recent acquisition. Was glad to see the Sylvia Sleigh's painting which my organization, Women's Caucus for Art donated in November, 2011. The trustees of the Sleigh estate has been working hard to perpetuate Sleigh's legacy by donating her works to museums and establishing exhibitions in Europe and the United States.

Sewn Card from Trudi

For my birthday, Trudi allowed me to select a postcard from her collection of sewn cards. I chose this lovely peacock feather which incorporates embroidery and fabric pieces. It gets me into the mood to make a batch of fabric cards myself.

Markings

I love the markings and stamp on this card from Russia. The cancellation mark is very clear and compliments the silver ski-jumper stamp. The personalized par avion and postcrosser ID stamps in purple is delectable too.

Hearty Laugh from T-Mobile

Love this Dutch ad card from T-Mobile. The postcrosser explains that if you text a number to them you get your horoscope. The front of the card says, "Meet the love of your life." Well, he might be the life of every party he attends.

A Whale in the Cereal Bowl

This German postcrosser fished out some paper from her trash basket to create this fun altered postcard. I love the German chocolate cakes that are counterpoints to healthier foods (applies and cereal).

Two Hot Places

Summer is here and here are two hot places to visit! Hong Kong, which I visited in April was already hot, and likely much hotter today. The climate is definitely suited to the night life that starts very late and continues into dawn. 

The sand dunes of Saint Brevin les Pins buried the ancient city of Montoise. Over time, the dunes were conquered, and now this area is known for its beaches. 

Illustrated Cards

From a Finnish postcrosser who felt it was wrong to alter a postcard but then decided it was a good outlet for her feelings.

From a Taiwanese postcrosser who loves cute puppies and a band called One Ok Rock.

From a Korean postcrosser who created a handmade card for the first time. Love it!! 

Some Black & White Cards from Eastern Europe & Russia

Retro chimp card from a Russian postcrosser. 

 Fabulous post office card from a Ukrainian postcrosser

 Cat & owl card from an Estonian postcrosser. She altered a card received from a former boyfriend.

A Lithuanian postcrosser found a clever way to incorporate her ID#

May Day Boulevard

A beautiful view of the May Day Boulevard in Yaroslavl from a Russian postcrosser. It took a moment for me to realize this postcard was in color.

Nouvel An Chinois

A beautiful sheet of horse stamps arrived from Rebecca in Mountain View. She purchased these in Paris recently. As she charmingly put it, "I used my Midwestern-accented college French to successfully negotiate the purchase of postcard stamps. At the post office, I noticed these beautiful Year of the Horse stamps and bought them on impulse."

Thank you Rebecca, for sending these fabulous stamps! I also loved the story about your sister and her complete immersion in horses. Although I lived in a big city in Japan, I too, went through a horse period. Black Beauty was one of my favorite reads, as was Flicka. I owned a couple of porcelain horse statues. I studied Japanese picture books on different types of horses.  There was a dairy farm on Mt. Rokko and I took horse-riding lessons for a brief period. I never got very good at riding, but did get to experience a real horse. Then, the obsession passed. 

As for post offices - that obsession stays with me. Traveling in the US and around the world, I invariably visit the post office. Each place is special and each place provides access to unexpectedly beautiful stamps that are lovely souvenirs of the place visited. 

Escape to Paradise

A fabulous postcard alteration through words from a postcrosser in Singapore. An expat, she reflects on her escape from the US to a paradise in SG. I can relate. I escaped too, from Japan to US, my paradise.

Beautiful Already

From a postcrosser in South Africa who didn't feel this card needed to be altered. I agree - it's a beautiful card. The movement and intensity of the dancers comes through.  He says on the card that he is in the creative industry/graphic design.   

Psychedelic Trip Experiment

I have always loved wheel pie charts. Back in the day, we had practical uses for these - like 401(k) savings projections. Sherri sent a rotating postcard that makes psychedelic swirls. It's so much fun that I am considering making my own version. 

Year of the Horse Stamps - At Last!

My mother sent me the annual sheet of horse stamps as a Christmas present. It never arrived. Fortunately, while visiting the main post office in Tokyo, I managed to find a set and here it is! As you can see, there are many ways to write "horse." The more traditional kanji style is the stamp on the middle right. A katakana version is on the bottom left. Other versions include "grass style" flowing calligraphy, pictogram and even a seal.  

Edda van Heemstra

My favorite postcard of Audrey Hepburn. It is going to a postcrosser in Malaysia. Not sure what her nickname means.

Forbidden Books

Postcrossers often mention that they like reading. I do too, and have amassed a variety of book-related postcards to send to them. Of course the best ones are the gaudy book covers of pulp fiction and comic books. For some of my American friends, the books below were "forbidden." I remember doing a book report on a Nancy Drew book in sixth grade - and my teacher told me to please read better quality books. Why? The Nancy Drew series were great page-turners. My mother allowed me to read both Japanese and American comic books. Hence, I amassed a huge supply. My friends' parents did not allow them to buy or read comics. So they came over to my house to read them. Paperback books were just starting to come to Japan when I was in high school. I read a few of them, mostly pulp fiction. By then, paperback Penguin books had started to become available. One couldn't tell which book was exciting and which was not because Penguin book covers were all the same - orange with a penguin on the front. Later, when I moved to the States for college, I was told by friends that all the reading I did growing up was junk. I took a class in remedial "classics." I loved them all, as much as the smut I grew up on. I am still a reader, and an omnivorous one at that!

This one is going to a Chinese postcrosser.

This one is for a postcrosser in Russia.

This one is for a Belarussian postcrosser