More sketches from a day in the zoo - card from Cathy

Today I received this amazing artwork from Cathy on both sides of the card! 
Two "poor beleagured rhinos", safely protected from cruel poachers. They are - like the trees - beautifully drawn by a loose line. I especially like the back of the postcard. The way in which Cathy has composed the watercolors of the five lemurs with the handwriting is very impressive. The design fits well with the lively nature of those primates from Madagascar. I really love them. Thank you so much Cathy for this great piece of art. I'm very proud to have it in my "mailart" collection. (By the way: sometimes I wonder how long our cards are on the way. Cathy's card was stamped on 10th October and it took almost a month till it arrived Heidelberg. ...)

A Christmas Butterfly from Cathy to Desiree

Cathy sent me a double delicious postcard, I do love when both sides are eye candy! The painting side, is of a Boy and Fish Fountain in the beautiful Shepstone Gardens that Cathy visited the other day. She says it has stone houses, walls, temples and paths and was built after the Anglo Boer War from 1,000 tons of rock! Wow, what an amazing place to be able to visit and sketch! But wait, there is more! When you turn over the card it reveals yet another beautiful piece of art, a wonderful butterfly that is safely delivering my postcard! I love your whimsical spirit and with my current obsession with butterflies it is an instant favorite over here! Thank you so much for a wonderful surprise in my mailbox! Oh, and all the stamps are amazing!

This is where the postcard was written, I have erased most all of the written letter but you can picture the text surrounding this wonderful butterfly.

The Emmarentia Dam in South Africa

Thankyou for this beautiful watercolour postcard. Over the exchange I've got to know a little of South Africa and its landscape through Cathy's sketches and its been quite a surprise - not at all what I'd imagined. This view towards the Emmarentia Dam wall includes the Sea Scouts Hut which is rather odd as the sea is many miles away!

I always admire Cathy's figures and this card includes two - man and duck. These add to the atmosphere as do the beautiful greens and the skillful way the water has been painted.

A Fuschia to end this wonderful exchange.

A cold, but sunny afternoon-postcard from Cathy to Ronelle

...a bright splash of colour...camelia..

Our postman complains all the time. First it is about the mailbox not being the standard size. We have an old vintage one from 1930.
Then he complains because the rules say it should be locked. I don't care much for keys.
His biggest complain is probably about the narrow road in which he can't make a U-turn, he has to pull back up all the way uphill in reverse.
So when the postman visits and I'm outside, he recites his whole poem of complaints while handing me the mail. I am then depressed for the whole of the day, because I don't want him to be unhappy, but I also don't want to give in to all his boring demands.

But, according to Hartman who received the card when I was in Provence, on delivering Cathy's card the postman didn't complain a single word, instead, he patati patata'd the whole time about the "jolie envelope"! What a delight for both of us...me and my postman!

...une jolie envelope...!

...A sunny wintry afternoon at Emmarentia dam in South Africa...
watercolor and pen on watercolor paper, 25,5x18cm

..and some detail ...

Thank you for a special card Cathy, with all its snippets of typical South African delicacies...rooibos tea from Eleven o'clock....Jungle oats....and redro fishpaste - how I hated that as a child, well, I probably still do, but now I love the memory of that hate!!

Emmarentia Gardens, Johannesburg

A beautiful card from Cathy all the way from South Africa, and I can almost feel the warmth of that African sun over here in Switzerland! She's perfectly captured the deep, warm colours and intense shadows of late summer and that little bench under the biloba trees looks so enticing!

I have to show the back too because as well as the colourful South African stamps and the stamp Cathy designed for Postcard from my Walk, there is an exquisite little watercolour of a flower growing in her garden. Thank you so much Cathy for this amazing card!

Cathy Gatland's Painted Postcard from South Africa

Pride of India Trees line his neighborhood street
Watercolor on paper by Cathy Gatland

Here is the wonderful painting that Cathy Gatland has painted just for me and sent it all the way from Johannesburg, South Africa.  Cathy covered the card with an overlay and wrote all sorts of notes so I could better understand where she Sketchercises.  Then she popped it all into an envelope so that it would get to me unharmed.  Cathy and I have known each other of a few years now and become dear friends. I found her blog and fell in love with her work, wit and wisdom.  She is a very special lady.

Front with overlay and a portion of the back.

Here is a the back of the card covered with pictures of the front with its overlay on and just lifting.

Aren't these flowers to die for and beautifully painted?