For the love of postcards.
Perhaps it is. You need to read the image above, before anything else here.
And I do love postcards. As a child I loved to receive them, later, visiting galleries, I would seek out the postcards of paintings I loved and still have some pinned to the walls of my studio.
Even when The Lost Words was published I hoped the images might become one of those beautiful boxes of 100 postcards Penguin do so well, and now, well, here they are…..100 cards from The Lost Words and The Lost Spells, beautifully designed, in a box, by Alison O’Toole, and called The Wild Cards ( for who would wish to tempt the fate of a postcard by sending it out into the post and calling it ‘the lost cards’).
The box publishes next month and in advance of that I have been writing cards and sending them off into the wild. I bought 100 stamps ( from the post office, and costing considerably more than the cost of the cards! And, also, who knew you could buy these from so many different places now! I am so old fashioned thinking you can only buy stamps from a post office!) Some have been sent locally. This one travelled across the road from the postbox to my good friend Ffion, of Falcon Boats, who has taken me out on so many boat trips and shown me the shape of water and birds, and seals, and wonders. It’s always good I think to take the time to let your friends know that you love them.
Others have travelled over oceans, to India, Australia, America. They are still on their journeys. Some have gone to bookshops, just to say hi, thanks for being there, bookshops in the UK and abroad. And I have a few still to release into the wild.
I had thought that postcards would be a good addition to The Lost Words. They will be great for using in schools, to inspire creative writing, painting. They will help people learn about the creatures in the books and their names, giving a greater connection to wild things and places. I knew this. What I hadn’t really framed my head around was how they would help to reconnect us with each other.
Over the past year I have seen very little of my good friends. At first I was away from home while my dad was ill, then dying. Then lockdown prevented those wonderful get togethers we have, sharing food, going for walks, coffee. Work became more difficult. Everything took longer, more effort, just to tread water, and afterwards it seemed too much effort to go out, and also, before the vaccine there were worries about needing to keep isolated so I could safely visit my mum, who was living alone. Even when lockdown ended I was hesitant to go out. I guess lockdown appealed to my inner hermit, and the less one practices being sociable, the harder it becomes. I found meeting more than a couple of people exhausting. So I find I have become disconnected, separated. And postcards are helping me to reconnect. Taking the time to write just a few lines to someone, choosing the card for them, drawing the words. And who knows how they are feeling? Some of my friends have long covid, others are dealing with their own bereavements and worries and concerns.
I’ve had some lovely responses to the cards from people. And it does feel like a gentle, simple, beautiful way of reconnecting. Like a simple meditation. Even the walk to the postboxes is good. ( I find myself noticing curious postboxes in odd locations and wanting to put the wild cards in them to see if they can make their journeys successfully)
The very first card I sent was to a young William Macfarlane. I also sent one to his dad, Robert. The furthest travelled has gone to Alison, the designer of the cards, and to Cathy Fisher ( a picture of the gannets to lure her back to Pembrokeshire). One I sent to Tamsin Abbott, but I wrote it from the seals, who have been missing her. She came to stay, as a result of the card, went to see the seals. I played her the new Spellsongs music in the making and she cried, and we drank the most amazing champagne that Robin had been given for his birthday, because it was my birthday and I was sixty years old and feeling lucky to have lived for those years.
At the start of this blog post there is the back of a card, the red fox. Below is the front of this card. I want to send this one out to someone. If you would share this blog post, in a tweet, or on instagram, or by talking to a friend, then leave me a comment below, about postcards, perhaps about a card you received, or one you sent, one found in a book that had been used as a bookmark. Or tell me if you would like to, about receiving or sending cards… and I will pick someone in a few days to send this fox card to. Maybe you have a collection of postcards, or even buy old cards from antique shops, ones with stories hidden in the writing. Happy to add to the postage to send anywhere in the world. And in the meantime I will keep sending out these until I have an empty box.
Because there have been so many comments I have painted a couple of original small postcard-ish sized foxes. I will also pick two comments to send these to, as postcards. The recipients will be chosen, all being well, on Friday, World Postcard Day.
And many of the comments have sent me off on a wanting to see some of these cards. I asked Sandra Lopez if she would send me a photo of the wooden lamp-stand with its postcard patchwork shade. I’m sending her a postcard to say thank you . Isn’t it really rather a fine thing.
If you are an independent bookshop and want to stock the cards please get your order in soon. I have a feeling there are going to be such problems with distribution ahead of us. All being well the cards are being published on 21st October and stock should arrive on the Monday before IF orders are in.
I used to be part of a group that made and exchanged fabric postcards. They were exquisite little works of art, made to a different theme each month, and the quiet thrill of seeing them come through the letterbox eased many a stressful or dull day.
Your post made me go and look at my collection today and remember the known and unknown friends who made and sent them.
Good luck with The Wild Cards, they will be on my birthday wish list.
In an increasingly digital world there’s something lovely about receiving a postcard in the mail: a small vignette in time that says, “Here I am, thinking of you.”
Hugs,
M&M
I looked through my box of postcards for the first time in years just recently and they hold so many memories. The ones I bought with my pocket money every day of my seaside holiday in 1974, the ones sent by uncles and aunts to my grandparents and then given to me, the ones I bought to put on my student walls in the eighties and the ones in my lovely Dad’s handwriting from the trips around the UK he and my Mum went on when enjoying their retirement. So evocative and so precious.
I have a box full of postcards that I’ve collected from being a child, many handwritten from friends many of whom have now passed away. Some that I sent my parents on my travels which they kept and I claimed on my return. Special ones from far away places, that friends have taken the time to write and send to me. I’ve used them many times with classes I’ve taught over 20 years of teaching! Postcard writing is a skill that I still teach children now. I’m sitting here thinking of all the lovely friends I’d send a Lost Words Postcard to….
I have a postcard that my grandpa sent me when I was about 6 years old and had recently lost my mum. I keep it tucked away and just stumble upon it occasionally, often when I’m looking for something else. He called me ‘sweet heart’ all the way through his message. It made me feel loved as a child, and it still does as a grandmother myself.
Oh. That’s rather beautiful.
I never ever throw postcards away. I still have the ones that my grandparents sent me from their holidays in the 1970s. As well as the preciousness of seeing my Nana’s handwriting and feeling the love for me and my siblings, the images on the front are a historic snapshot in time of another world. My sister and I would send each other postcards when I was at university. The deliver everything – images, short and succinct message which requires you to really choose the words you want to say without wasting any valuable postcard space. I have 3 postcards from you Jackie. One is a signed one that came with a book from Sam Reads, ‘The Guardians’ postcard with my Nursery Rhymes book and a Welsh adder that you used as a parcel label which I cut off and kept.
I’m a proud postcard hoarder. The Lost Words postcards will be a treasure but they will come with a problem. Which ones do I keep and which do I send?
How lovely, thank you for creating them. One of the gifts of these past 18 months is granting introverts (like me, and it seems, you) some space to think through how we would like to connect with people we care about. A beautiful postcard brings joy.
Thank you for this beautiful reminder, dear Jackie. I also have a treasure box of postcards received over the years I have been in Japan, and I’ll be opening it today. But first I have some postcards to write, sending love across the miles I cannot yet travel. Diolch, Jackie. A big hug from us here. Eddy XX
Postcards seem like such perfect miniature pieces of art, it’s a tiny joy to send or receive a beautiful illustration or photograph through the post. I also like using them as bookmarks as I get to enjoy the postcard afresh again, each time I read a new chapter. I’m sure this collection will bring joy to so many people.
My mum has recently moved in with me. She has Alzheimer’s, and one of her favourite things to do is look through old photos and letters, all of which are amassed below my stairs now, begging to be more organised. I made a half-hearted start a few weeks ago but made very little headway because I was arrested by so much nostalgia. But most touching was a postcard, from my great-grandmother Ada Laura (my namesake) to her daughter Olive Maud (my Nana). The message was mundane really, and the picture just of a local Leicester building. But at that time my Nana had left home for the first time, to train to be a mental health nurse in Berkshire. She was one of 10 children and it must have been an enormous change for her (for the better? Maybe), whereas her mother was pregnant and raising 6 other children. Still, she took a moment to write, in pencil, to her daughter, to keep her connected. It was both ordinary and precious. It made me cry.
I have many blank postcards, I cannot resist them and so own far more than I send! But you’ve reminsed me what they are really for, and I shall make an effort to send some. Xxx
Dear Jackie,
These postcards are absolutely beautiful. There is something so magical and special about receiving a postcard and then tucking it away safely in a box or a book, like treasure. My gorgeous friend Cate and I, when we were in our late teens/early twenties, would buy packs of blank postcards because they were cheap and neither of us had much money. We would then either draw, paint or stick something on one side and write messages on the other. I still have some of them now, 35 years later. I think it’s about time I did some more.
Best wishes Helen xxx
I think that would be a very good thing to do.
I love postcards. I collect postcards. My hobby is Postcrossing ! through exchanging postcards I have made new friends in faraway places….and even met 3 of them in real life….because of postcards x
Well, you seem to have touched upon a rich seam of memory, meaning making and connection here dear Jackie. My father loved sending and receiving post cards. 30 years after his death I can be somewhere and still think, ‘Oh, I must sent a card to Ronnie from here, he would love it.’
And now as we emerge from Lockdown (and for some of us how we survived it) – the importance of seeing the hand writing of someone you love appear through the letter box remains a joy. And a way to start up a conversation again after our solitary times.
A post card always has an ‘I’m thinking about you’ implicit in its posting through a familiar Royal Mail box – and for the recipient an ‘I love you’ echoes back.
Thank you Jackie for this beautiful blog – in anticipation of those 100 cards, and to whom they may be sent.
These are absolutely gorgeous Jackie, It’s lovely that you are releasing them into the wild. And what a great way to brighten someone’s day!
Like you and many responders here, I too love post cards, both sending and receiving them. I have a large box filled with post cards written to me and my dad from family members over the years. Most of these are just mundane messages sent primarily to keep in touch. While living in in India, back in the old days the post card was the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to communicate. Most of these cards don’t have pictures, they were a standard tan colored card purchased at the post office, you write on both sides, apart from the half reserved for the address and stamp. I recall fondly the many postcards I was asked to write for our gardener to his son. He could neither read nor write, so he would dictate and I’d write and then he’d put his thumbprint to sign off. This was a weekly ritual. When he received a reply, he’d bring it over eager for me to read it out loud to him. Then he’d softly caress the card, fold it and place it in his shirt pocket, his only means of contact with his son. Such precious moments for him. Your post surfaced this memory that I’d long forgotten. So thank you.
I still send post cards to friends and family when we travel and make sure to send one posted to our home address as well, for the simple joy of having it wait for us on our return home.
Nothing like receiving a small hand written note from someone to show that you care and think about them.
Thank you for this lovely post and the trip down memory lane.
Rajeevi.
What a wonderful story Rajeevi. I bet he memorised it as you read. If you can’t read you need to develop such a good memory.
I just found some postcards sent from France during the war 1918 from my great-grandfather to my great-grandmother. They have embroidery on them-its signed somewhere in France. They had been in a box in the loft of my aunt for many years. What a treasure that post cards can be!
A long time ago now, I lived in a student house associated with a university field centre in the middle of no where. Students passed through it, staying for a year or a few at a time. Because it was so isolated it felt like a little community and people would send post cards for years after they’d stayed. When I moved in, there was an enormous wall covered in them and old fashioned biscuit tins full. None of them were beautiful, being mostly rude or the “worst” available because we were students after all! But the collection itself I think was rather beautiful and people who passed through that house all still feel a connection to this day.
I love postcards… I don’t so often send them, I mostly offer them with a small message when I feel someone may be touched by this piece of art or that message from this or that artist. Instagram has helped me find so many talented artists from around the world and this is also a way to connect with them and to help my friends discover them.. I will buy and cherish the wild cards. I so love your art!
These are so beautiful, I am purchasing so me and my children can send them out. My 7 year old and her friend love to send postcards to each other when on holiday.
Her grandparents were very touched to receive one written by her from out holiday in Whitby. Much nicer than the usual Facebook messages.
Can’t wait for these cards to be released. I’m suffering from Long Covid and struggle with all aspects of daily life. My nearest postbox is within reach as I only can walk for around 10 minutes. In March this year I realised I was far more likely to go for my walk if I had something to post – a destination and a purpose to the walk made all the difference. I started randomly sending postcards to friends. Then appealed for addresses via social media. I’m on my second set of 100 stamps now. Life is very restricted but this is the one thing I can do most days and it provides immense pleasure in selecting the card. A bonus has been that writing the message and address has helped with cognitive function.
Occasionally I get a card in return and with a few people I regularly exchange cards which has opened up a different level of connection. Like many others I keep the cards I receive.
As an added PS my granddaughter is obsessed with foxes – on the run up to her birthday I sent a card a week from the wonderful Gaspard series. The fox card from this set is already earmarked for her.
Well I won’t be able to resist these, Jackie! My Mum sews fabric postcards and machine embroiders her message and the postal address, as she says, for special people in her life. They are treasured works of art straight from her heart.
Wow, that sounds amazing.
I have a box full of postcards from various friends and family. The ones I hold dear are a bundle which my mum sent me when I was eighteen. She travelled through Canada and the USA with my relations and she sent me a postcard everyday. When I was 21 I visited my relations in Canada and I also sent a postcard everyday to my fiance back home so he knew I was thinking of him. Sadly both my mum and my husband are no longer with us. I will treasure all those cards forever!
Hello Jackie,
I have been a post card collector from a very young age. They hold so many memories for me. I have also kept ones sent by special people to me such as my grandparents. I have a collection of postcards on my kitchen cupboards places I have been, ones I wish to go to and art I love. So, a postcard of your art would fit beautifully.
Best wishes Philippa x
I still exchange postcards with my three daughters, even though they are grown up. I bought a roll top desk, something I always wanted, and inside a secret drawer were some Edwardian family portraits in sepia on post cards. No names, just nostalgia.
I have hand painted postcard collection from urbansketching postcard group members. It is an amazing project connecting the globe like a web of love and watercolors
Yours are beautiful – I am going to buy them!
We sent an adapted postcard (our own bubble comments and additional drawings) when we got married in 1990. We ran away to Scotland to marry and didn’t tell anyone, but with the cryptic postcard we hoped they would realise our delighted and mischievous deception. They did and threw us a surprise party when we returned. Easiest way to celebrate. I can highly recommend it. Still love postcards and letters.
As a child, postcards were glimpses of the unknown, the exotic. Before this world of instant visual gratification and air travel, when you received a postcard, you stepped into a distant land, a foreign cilture. It contained a message for you that someone had thought of you and wanted to share their experiences. They were an invitation that promised hearing of exciting places and adventures on their return. I still send them, even when not away, as a little hello, thinking of you.
One of the most precious things I have is a postcard which my Mum sent me when she and my Auntie Bridie (Mum’s sister) and their friend Bea O’Hara went to Lourdes about 40 years ago. It’s precious because it has her hand-writing on it, and is written very much how she talked.
I don’t have anything else belonging to her – but I do have a head-full of memories, and her teaching, and guidance, and sayings, and words of songs, and…and…and….
Ah, the post card Era (pre-internet) was glorious! Post cards, COOL Postcards were Every Where, in such a broad & delicious range.
And I loved the experience of Thinking of someone, then rifling through my two stacks of postcards, (vertical & horizontal), waiting for the right one to Zing me: What I wanted to say Without Words. So much joy in that little custom. (HA, ha. And perhaps a precursor to tarot for me.)
I love your work, especially the foxes, perhaps because I also make foxes, in clay, along with hares and other British wildlife. Sadly I found a young fox in a field the other week, not long passed as it’s eyes were still bright and it looked at first like it was resting. My guess would be it suffered a knock from a vehicle and bolted into the field where it succumbed to internal wounds, as there were no other visible signs of injury. It was perfect and so beautiful, I’m sad it’s life was so short. It did give me the chance to study this beautiful creature up close and I took reference photos so that I can hopefully honour it’s beauty and short life at some point. Anyway, I digress. Postcards and letters are such treasures these days due to modern technology and the cost of postage discouraging people from using this almost lost form of communication. Something handwritten has so much personality and thought attached to it, tangible moments in time. I recently found some letters and postcards written by my dad (who died 44 years ago when I was just 7), these helped me know him not just from the perspective of a young child but as him as a person, from the postcard he sent as a young boy to his father for his birthday, postcards from holidays spent with his mother sent by her to my grandfather (I knew neither of them as they were killed during the war when a bomb dropped on their house, my father himself barely escaped with his life), to finally letters he wrote to my mother when I was small. These have given great insight into him as a man and how well he understood me as a person even though I was only 3 or 4. All of these are so special, a message from the grave as they answered so many questions. The words, the marks on the paper/card, I touch those marks and I’m touching him, it’s the closest I can get to him, that and holding his old cameras, which I hope one day to get repaired so I can use them too. All this has even greater importance as my mum is slowly slipping away through dementia, so I only have what has been written and what I can remember myself from stories told, it is now for me to retell and remind her for as long she can understand.
Dear Jackie,
When I went to Italy 6 years ago at age 59, it was my first – so far only – big trip to Europe. I was taken by some wonderful friends, who ignored my fear… I have MS and can only move around with a small mobility scooter, they said it would be fine. I had a few months to be filled with anxiety before we left, so I set myself a task to design and print my own postcards to take with me, which I did. It turned out to be the most magical trip ever.
I filled out those postcards at cafes, and in the countyside while sipping wine or espresso and planning trips to view great works of art. My field of study at university was Renaissance Art History, my home is a tiny town in the rainforest of British Columbia. As an artist, my two obsessions couldn’t be more opposite, but I love them both.
All those cards, stamped and cramped with memories were addressed to myself and put in the post to greet me when I got home, so those humble pieces of mail are some of my most treasured items. Long Live Mail Art, I look forward to buying your beautiful cards.
Postcards are such a simple way to let someone know that you are holding them in your thoughts and sending love to them. I keep mine as bookmarks. One of my favourites is of Positano on the Amalfi coast. Each time i see it between the pages of an open book my heart sings at the happy memories and beauty it evokes.
Hi there Jackie …
I love art postcards & children’s books. I’ve been entranced since I was a child & then a young mom, taking my daughter & son as toddlers to the library. We lived close by & a red wagon served for bringing home our trove of books. The art inside lured me to try my hand at watercolors & to eventually teach watercolor painting at my kids’ elementary school as a volunteer class mom. I learned quite a lot about letting go of watercolor outcomes by watching my young students paint. Some were as young as 5 years old. It really was amazing to see what unfolded!
That led to painting blank watercolor postcards to send to friends. I’m 64 now & still have a few postcards from France, Italy & Greece sent by a childhood friend, Nancy, whose parents took her & her siblings out of school for extended trips aboard. Nancy & I are still close & she’s coming from California to stay with me in Washington next week. Receiving Nancy’s postcards as a child was so exciting. I had fantasies of visiting those places. I just received my very first passport this week & am looking forward to seeing the world & sending friends postcards from abroad when travel is a bit safer.
Still enamored with gorgeous children’s books like yours, I recently ordered The Jackie Morris Book of Classic Nursery Rhymes, The Lost Words, & The Unwinding for my cousin’s daughter’s newborn. She’s a teacher & has been reading to her baby since before he was born.
I’d be thrilled to receive a Jackie Morris fox postcard (if I’m lucky). I’ve added your Wild Cards collection to my Christmas/birthday list. These would be wonderful for writing poems on too, for the annual Poem in Your Pocket exchange.
Warm best to you & yours …
Anthea
I have a very special friend who I met walking over 25 years ago. He lives in the US and every week in those 25 years he has sent me a postcard. Before Coronavirus appeared on our horizon, we had planned to see the Northern Lights together and perhaps become more than friends. Everything has been delayed, but never the postcards. A sign of friendship and love. A handwritten card is so very special and I adore the stamps from a distant land too …
That is quite amazing.
My postcard project: Some years ago I put a sign up in my studio and invited anyone else I thought may be interested to join in. I made and sent each person a postcard. In a separate envelope I enclosed a blank postcard, stamped and self addressed for them to make their own postcard and send back to me. It was lovely to receive so many interesting postcards, all hand made from so many places even from overseas.
What a wonderful and timely reminder of the joy of post cards, I used to buy them when visiting galleries – affordable and portable art. A couple of years ago I bought a postcard size watercolour sketchbook and used it to paint Christmas cards for my family in the UK. I’ll search for this collection and send the cards out into the world with pleasure and I hope many others do the same.
I have a collection of postcards stuck up next to my desk in my workshop – always of birds, trees, reindeer and wolves. A psychologist would have fun working that lot out . They are my grounding. I have also begun to send cards to various folk recently as, well, aren’t we mostly sick of electronic communication, however useful? As the world ‘zoomed’ I turned away with relief to small things – beetles and the like. And I have just sparked the most astonishing connection with someone – previously a stranger – to whom I sent a lovely card of a hare painting rather than an e-mail. Thank you for your art, Jackie, and for the wonderful idea of the postcards.
Dear Jackie, thank you for being so honest about how hard it’s been to create work over these last 18 months or so. As a creative practitioner I’ve felt exactly the same and have more than once ground to a halt. I’m so glad you’ve had the wonderful idea of producing postcards. I have an amazing collection of postcards from WWI – possibly every single one that my husband’s grandfather sent home from the Western Front and then Egypt. I use them in my storytelling work with schools and they bring History to life for them as he chats about the weather, what he’s doing, etc. Pupils are amazed that he once wrote about having ‘a good war’ and that leads to all sorts of in depth conversations about why he might say that. I also have a smaller collection of beautiful, embroidered postcards my beloved grandad sent to my Nana in WWII. He was a quiet man so it is wonderful to get a tiny glimpse of how he felt and his love for her. I think postcards are a bit like a photograph: the words you write on them are a snapshot of your thoughts in time. I look forward to buying the Lost Words postcards and finding ways to use them in my ‘Wild Words’ work with schools.
Dear Jackie, thank you for making these beautiful cards. I can’t wait to be able to buy them. As a child, postcards were unexpected gifts from friends and neighbours, which became treasured bookmarks. As I got older, I bought them at galleries, and still have them around my workspaces as inspiration. Finding one sent to my grandfather from his aunt in Morocco (while travelling from Iraq to England) astonished me, and started me on the journey of imagining and writing their lives. Now, I buy postcards to help me research the places they knew, which I can no longer visit. Kylie xx
I always loved postcards. Going on holiday and sending postcards from the area to friends and family. Receiving one was always amazing so many were so very beautiful. I haven’t seen one in years (the holiday/area ones) does anywhere still do them?
I am inspired by you to buy a box to send to friends (and one to keep!). I, and many of my friends, are housebound so cheerful post is always a pleasure.
In a world of emails and IM’s there is something utterly beautiful about a handwritten note or postcard, both are special in their own way.
Lockdown has been a revelation to me. As an introvert it’s been wonderful in many ways, mostly the first lockdown when there were no planes overhead, no cars and I could breathe so much easier for lack of them, and the peace of it all. A friend (delivering medical supplies at the time) sent me a photo of his van windscreen asking what’s unusual about this? It was all the dead flies on there. Grim perhaps, but a reminder of older days when that was the normal. Reassuring to see nature recover so quickly but then sad as it disappeared so quickly again.
I still have mixed feelings about lockdown. I want the peace and air quality back, but I also want the modern conveniences (I was horrified recently to have my Mum unconscious and to be told by 999 that there were no ambulances and they didn’t know when there would be any. Thankfully she has recovered, mostly unscathed)
This has turned intto a long ramble…
To the people who used to make or still make fabric postcards – that’s one thing I always meant to do. Thanks for the reminder of them, I will aim to make some.
In Northmoor House in Dulverton they have beautiful postcards made for wives, sisters, mothers and sweethearts, all stitched by soldiers. I think it was maybe a hospital in the war.
hello – no need to put me in the pool for a postcard, I just wanted to share. Because so many folks were in need of connection and beauty, every week for a year, I would purchase 15-18 postcards and write poems on them and send them, anonymously to people.
Also, I recorded the Lost Words to my little Nano and lost the ability to copy to that device so I could change that recording. Through the entire pandemic and beyond, I have listened to it every night (I kid you not) EVERY NIGHT to help me fall asleep. The worry and pain of the whole year made it so that I could not sleep. I am grateful for the poetry – that which was provided via Lost Words and that which I was able to send to friends near and far. Many thanks to you for the beauty.
Thank you.
This has unearthed a memory of receiving postcards from ‘older relatives’ when I was young. Grandparents, Godparents, Uncles, friends of the family who had travelled, sometimes abroad!
The stamps were exciting too.
Then my own parents, when I was older, would always send a postcard from their holidays and when they could still travel they would send them to my children.
Happy memories.
Thrilled & excited that I can soon buy the Wild Cards to add to my postcard collection. But this is the problem I selfishly collect them, always intending to send, but then find it hard to part with each & every beautiful one .. but now I will, & promise to share the joy of your art, & also to write down words & thoughts that like my collection remain unshared.
My mother who died too soon three years ago lamented that nobody seemed to send holiday postcards anymore. This saddened her as she felt remembered by the sender, & loved too sharing the news contained on each one when I visited her.
How I wish I could enter her kitchen once more to see the filled notice board & chat with her about where each family member or friend was or had been over the summer, as I unpinned them from the board & read them with her over a cup of tea.
Oh too .. the skill of filling the card with the tiniest, inky writing to cram in all the news often with little room left for the address or stamp. A lost art (perhaps many a lost postcard!).
One consolation is to find some of these long forgotten postcards in her books used as bookmarks & I have returned them to the sender if they are still alive.
I hope your Wild Cards become a source of great joy & memories for many.
I have kept postcards sent to me since I was little, cards from my Granny on her golf trips, cards from family when I moved abroad, I even pick a few up as reminders of my own trips. They are moments captured, reminders of love across a distance. I use them as prompts for my poetry workshops and in my own writing. When I moved to Finland, I was excited to see they send postcards at Christmas, so I save one every year. Throughout the pandemic I’ve been getting back in contact with friends I’ve lost touch with over the years and love the idea of sending out 100 postcards as a reminder that we are still connected. I can’t wait to see the collection.
Postcards, brilliant to send and receive. I have a picture frame with string and pegs which displays 3 or 4 postcards so they can be swapped around, perfect if I’ve bought some postcards from an exhibition and want to keep the experience alive. Postcards are just the right size for so many occasions, the size means that you really have to think about making each word count. And I can’t think of a better present/project for a child than to give them a stack of postcards (and stamps) to send off to friends, family, favourite authors/illustrators/people who inspire them, to send a short message. That’s Christmas presents sorted, then!
These are so perfect! There’s something wonderfully tangible about a postcard – the physical manifestation of love, affection, attention, care. A bookmark, an artwork, to be pinned to a noticeboard or stuck in a frame. A talisman.
Such a wonderful post & the replies are lovely. Like many I’ve collected postcards over the years to commemorate happy trips, experiences etc. I still love writing postcards to family too. My dear father had a severe stroke in 1997 at the age of 74 & had to go into a home for 24 hour care due to his disabilities. My mother visited every day without fail to help feed him & to sit & talk with him even though he couldn’t reply. He was there for 8 years & I visited every school holiday with my children (we lived 200 miles away) and in between those visits I sent postcards of the places my boys & I visited. My Mum put all the cards up on his wall for him to see.
I’m a primary teacher (I qualified just after my Dad passed away) & one activity I always ask my new class to do in the summer holidays is to send me a postcard. I ask them to write about what they’ve done over the holiday even if they stay at home. I put the cards up in the classroom for us all to read.
Sadly this year not all the children participated (despite my handing out postcards for those not going away & postage) but I’ll keep writing postcards & putting any I receive back on my wall. I’ll definitely be getting myself some Wild Cards to send to dear family & friends
Another beautifully inspiring post – we love postcards – always send them to anyone and everyone whenever we go away even for a weekend! Sadly fewer and fewer people seem to have kept up the habit – or maybe it’s just the people we know who don’t send postcards anymore! Just before lickdiwn we joined in a wonderful initiative to send postcards to people living in care homes – your post has reminded me to seek that out and see how it’s going and also to dig out some postcards to send to mark World Postcard Day – thank you!
Since meeting Dinah (THLAS) in August 2019 my passion for handwritten letters and postcards has been reignited, to the point I’ve become a stationery addict! On #WorldPostcardDay I’ll be sitting in the Postal Museum in London with Alison from From Me To You writing postcards designed by my fabulous friend Simon Heath (it’s a woggle-hopper!) to send to people having treatment for cancer.
Your box of cards looks beautiful Jackie
My Dad used to send me postcards. He either chose them carefully or made them himself. A big part of his legacy to me are these postcards. And it’s one of the things I miss the most now that he’s gone. I would love to receive a card from you. Thank you so much for this beautiful post.
What a beautiful web of connection, it’s like the beacons being lit from Gondor – colour and hope and friendship are still here, you are part of a lovely world!
xxxxxxx
Postcards are just the best. Sometimes it is frustrating that they can convey only short messages, but sometimes it is liberating.
My grandfather used to make ink sketches and write poems for a 5 year-old me that first my mother and then I have preserved. Those are my earliest memories of postcards – the anticipation of the mail arriving, the surprise of finding a postcard between more mundane (often more important to the adults, but what would a 5 year old care about bank statements), and the joy of reading and re-reading it, showing it to friends and now, the nostalgia that washes over me everytime I chance upon it in my belongings at my parents’ place – one postcard, with its few words and one sketch, has the potential to bring within me so many emotions.
I carried with me that joy of receiving postcards and went about sharing it with friends and family when I began travelling as an adult. From every city I have been to, family and friends received a piece of me that I would have otherwise left behind in that place.
I collected post cards as a child but haven’t sent or received any for a number of years. Think I will have to buy two sets of these beautiful cards though so I can post a set out and keep a set, with your stunning artwork on, for myself.
This is how movements start… reminding people of delight and pleasure. I will have to buy two boxes for myself, at least – one to send to people and one to keep… I have kept every postcard I ever received, and the ones I treasure particularly are from my brother who doesn’t keep in touch very much, rarely calls or writes, and yet, always sends a postcard when he’s off on an adventure. I think the brevity suits him. Treasured.
Dear Jackie, as with all your ideas this is wonderful on so many levels. For one thing the various and varied messages above have been fascinating to read, almost like receiving postcards from people you don’t know but share so much with. I love the idea of a web of connection, making contact with others somehow, when you can’t do it in a physical way, has become so important. I must revisit my personal hoard of postcards, I can never throw them out and collect more wherever I go (or went!), though receiving one is a rare event these days. But if we all send some out who knows, it could start a new trend!
I adore postcards; these are so incredibly beautiful Jackie!
During lockdown I also turned to postcards as a way of connecting people I loved, and also people I didn’t even know! The ‘Words on the Wing’ migratory arts project that I came up with (and that ACE kindly helped us to do) was all about making and then posting an original, bird-inspired work of art, painting or sketch or collage or poem or all of those, on a special Words On The Wing postcard – perhaps to someone you knew or someone who just needed one, or someone who heard about the idea and asked for one – along with a blank card or two and a little inspiration for creating and sharing your own bird-inspired work in turn with someone you knew who needed it. In this way, bird inspired art cascaded out from Cornwall to many other places, all over the world in fact! I think postcards can help connect us in such a simple and generous way and help alleviate the worst things about life at present. I would be overjoyed to receive one of your cards, it would make life a little more magical! xxx
Your artwork is a favourite of mine for stories and inspiration. I have postcards in my studio and I send them also randomly out to the world. Art is to inspire and to share, to be limitless and loved.
I used to collect postcards as a child. I’m not sure if I was more entranced by all the exotic (and not so exotic) destinations they depicted, or the little snapshot insights into the sender’s life contained in the messages on them. My favourites were a bundle of vintage Edwardian postcards from a great-aunt’s sweetheart, sent during his time in India.
Omigosh Jackie, a hundred post a card from Lost Words? That’s so amazing. I keep going back to the book and the other one when I’m stuck and need to feel inspired to print again. Just so in love with your work! I’m sharing this on my Instagram.
I love postcards too, always have done – enough space to say what really matters, not enough to waffle! I love your postcards & look forward to getting some soon. What a lovely idea for these strange days – snail mail still has a place in this mostly online world we live in In these difficult times some simple can be so uplifting
The last time I sent a postcard was about a month ago, after visiting the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, sent back home to an Idaho friend. He had said with a grin when I left, “Send me a postcard!” He said it jokingly, because who does that these days? Me! It arrived well after I got home, but it was a lovely surprise. I would love to purchase the wild cards but don’t see them available in my country, sadly, and shipping across the Big Pond is rather expensive. But I love to receive them, and would especially one from you! xx
What a wonderful idea. We all love to receive a post card from friends and family who are on holiday, but just to send one, just because you can is a beautiful way of remembering, connecting and sending a little message.
When my Aunt was a little girl she made postcard for her Grandparents who she was missing, they lived in Cornwall, and she just drew a stamp on and put “To Grandna & Grandad Duck” the village name and Cornwall and do you know, it got there! One of the delightful things about postcards is that they often move or cheer all those who help them on their travels.
I can’t wait to start writing on and sending these beautiful cards!
I love the thought of the cards you’ve posted already. There is something special about pictures and personal messages sent without a paper wrapping.
My first memory of postcards were the fancy ones my Nan collected on her travels. Some ordinary, like the ones she’d later send to me. Some were fancy, with embroidery or other embellishment, these were the precious ones, always the highlight of perusing.
When I send them I end up with tiny writing, crawling round the edge.
A postcard quilt and sleep snuggled in the warmth of the comforting words from family and friends far away..holding them close.
I love to send and receive postcards. Used to spend hours, especially when camping, in the evening trying to think of something witty to write. Sometimes signing it in code to get the receiver guessing who it was from. My Dad used to call me the Fox or Foxer when I was a child. I had a reddish ponytail but liked to think it was because I was cleverer than my siblings. So I would be mega chuffed to receive a card from you. Thank you.
What a beautiful thread of conversation you started. I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s comments immensely. My favourite postcards and ones we have which were sent by my father to his mother when he was a teenager and cycling through France with a tent. This was after the war. Sending postcards while on holiday was a highlight with time spent considering which postcard matched the recipient.
It’s wonderful that you are helping to revive the art of postcards.
Many thanks for your wonderful books. I love the anticipation of the books via Unbound.
Such a lovely post ❤️ I love postcards and have saved so many throughout the years …sometimes they fall out of books , have been long forgotten and a smile and a heart tug comes as memories flood back . My favorite postcards I have kept are from my grandfather who wrote to me many moons ago when I was overseas in school in England ☺️
These postcards in themselves were little treasures, as they had been gathered years before even being sent to me, on trips my grandparents had made to Europe , there were cards from Paris, Stockholm, Munich, London and other special places they had visited ..made me feel extra special receiving them as if they had been saved all those years just for me ❤️ Even more dear was the messages my grandfather wrote… sometimes telling me how beautiful the Harvest moon had been of an evening or how the Cardinals were stocking up on sun flower seeds due to the frosty days they were having back home . That’s what I’ve always loved about postcards …not a lot of room to write but so few words can convey a lot of sentiment ❤️
I travelled for a year back in my early 20’s and sent postcards home to my folks. They kept them and gave them to me on my return and now I have a wonderful reminder 30 years later of the places I went and the things I got up to. Somehow I don’t think emails now sent by travellers will have the same effect. Progress is not always a good thing.
I love to send a postcard to my niece and nephews when I am away on holiday, as I think it is so nice to receive a physical item through the post (definitely nicer than bills).
I remember having a list of people I needed to send a postcard to when I went away with schools or scouts…
Love & miss postcards. I have saved many over the years and it’s a delight to reach in the basket &;pull one at random for a bookmark. These are too lovely to use and deserve to be framed. Love that such old paints used.
Write me a postcard
A card from the heart
Tell me your story
Don’t wait to start
Wonderful post Jackie. Such beautiful cards spreading joy.
I love postcards, I always have. Aside from sending them to friends and family while on vacation, I also send them to myself. Everyday on vacation I write a postcard with my thoughts and what we did that day and post it. When I get home from my travels these cards arrive and I can relive the trip and include them in my travel sketchbook.
This past year I have participated in the wonderful #oneofmanypostcard initiative here IG. Artists create postcards, people request them, artists send the postcards free of charge to the requesters who, upon receipt donate what they can to a charity of their choice. I did an etching of a hare and sent out the cards. I had an extra one so I sent it across country to a friend who I hadn’t spoken with for a long time. She’s was over the moon to have received it and it made her day. She was having family and health struggles and the card brought her joy. This, of course, made my day. I hope postcards never disappear as they enlighten, bring back memories and spread joy in an ever challenging world.
Dear Jackie,
I adore your foxes and your postcards and in fact all you work! My mum gave my girls Lost Words and since then I have bought your other books as pressies for us new we have a lovely collection.
We too love postcards the first postcard I bought was a 1920s old fashooned posed fairies dancing in the woods faded brown and cream – I found it on the 20p table at the village hall, I must have been about 7 + I still have it.
Since then I have gathered a little collection I used to buy a postcard of a painting I had loved at a gallery, but recently we have as a family, me ans thr girls bought postcards from artists we love. I can never quiet afford to buy big paintings but me and the children buy an orginal postcard whenever we travel to a new place, its lovely to see local astists work and we have a wall in our little cottge covered in all small art from our travels it gives us such joy at dinner to talk over all the different pictures and the stories they hold.
I love the Wild Cards they look wonderful, congrats, and I agree they will connect with lots of children! wonderful they will certainly be on our Christmas list! Thank you so much so sharing you work and wonderful creativity with the world ❤
These cards look beautiful.
I will always use postcards in my teaching – just the right amount of words to practise writing, just the right amount of space to design, draw and paint, and the formality of an address, to practise a life skill too.
A perfect package of intention, communication and illustration. Individual and perfectly formed.
From the hearts and hands of little minds in my care.
Neat and sweet.
I adore receiving postcards and those people who are kind enough to send them see I will keep their postcard on my fridge for a year or more! I try to send them when I travel and I love coming up with that perfect description of our trip to fit in that postcard space…
I used to love buying two postcards of pictures I really liked so I could send one and then keep one for my pin board, where I keep beautiful pictures.
This has made me think I will start writing postcards to my friend who has had a rough couple of years after losing her mum and brother. We email regularly but beautiful pictures can cheer up your day unexpectedly.
I used to collect postcards as a kid. I had a huge box full of them, and they transported me from where I grew up in Doncaster to more exotic places. Even now, with the collection long forgotten, I can’t help picking up postcards when I visit the seaside or a museum. My favourite ones are beautiful photographs of beetles, which were part of an exhibition at the Museum of Natural History in Oxford a few years ago.
What a beautiful opportunity to exchange nostalgia found in delivery of post, with someone’s distinct handwriting, conjuring all that words do, combined with the feeling your art evokes. Including the sweet and special postcard stamps. All of it, a feeling, an experience, different from all others. Thank you for the opportunity and offering of this experience, that whether i am chosen or not, feel rekindled to seek out my post cards in drawers that will inevitably lead to sending more postcards, letters, and all the other connection that will follow. Thank you. I think I will be sharing them back and forth with my friend who introduced me to The Lost Spells and The Lost Words, which has brought such treasure and imagination and escape, with also returning, to my life. All my best.
I was reading this blog post while snuggling my littlest to sleep. She noticed the beautiful fox and started giggling and making the sign for cat. She is delighted to see it and reminded me of how she used to (and still does) love to listen to Spell Songs. Your words have made me think of being a child myself and sending postcards to my grandparents telling them of holiday highlights, who then kept them on their notice board for years and years. So precious. These postcards have since turned into emails, which are still saved and precious but I think maybe you have persuaded me to return to the humble postcard and spread joy with kind words and beautiful artwork.
Postcards have punctuated my life in many ways. My Grandad who served in the war, and passed away some years ago now, collected postcards his whole life, mainly of royal mail post boxes (he worked for Royal Mail and started Parcel force). My Nanna who passed last year, who I miss every day, always sent me a post card whenever she went away and even when she didn’t. I kept them, so the comfort they bring now is unexplainable. Little messages of love, of interesting facts of what she had been up to that day. Little notes of magic.
And thirdly, my home is littered with postcards each one I have purchased from somewhere I have been, so that wherever I look, I am reminded of that visit and the fun had there.
Postcards are moments in time, captured for ever, sent with love, purchased with love and treasured. Something so small brings so much happiness.
With love
Lu.
Years ago, when I left my 23 year marriage – my (then) 20 and 18 year old children were plunged out into their adulthood at the fail of their parent’s partnership. During that rocky time, I had (what may be described as) a mystical experience in Nature. I was sad and feeling alone and went deep into the woods where I felt most ‘held’. It was there that Nature spoke to me through the faces in the surrounding trees. I heard a voice clearly stating that I was ‘not alone’. From that point on, it was my call to share this ability to see Nature in this (re)new(ed) way with my children first, then with others. Since then, I have continued to do so through my photography of the Nature Beings I meet on my journeys, and sharing Nature with family and friends via online, guiding wooded walks, leading workshops and pilgrimages. One very special thing I have begun is sending postcards to my first grandchild, Charlotte (now almost 4) Mostly, they have been of places I have visited. I live in Scotland and she lives in Texas. It was my original hope that they would inspire the spirit of adventure in her. When I saw your postcards, I jumped with joy thinking ‘Yes!’ now I can also send these to her in hopes of inspiring creativity of art, spirit, and continual nurturing of her innate love of nature. I look forward to one day sharing your beautiful creations with her. – Many Blessings on you and yours!
In deep gratitude, Denise
As recent college graduates in 1988, a friend and I decided to take a roadtrip through Death Valley, CA. We were ill prepared for the trip, with only a small tent and flashlight, a road atlas, and a mini cooler with a couple bottles of water, a pound of red grapes, 2 candy bars. We also carried a bw postcard of a very young Al Pacino. The one where is fingers are on his open shirt and he looks gentle and vulnerable. We photographed Al all around Death Valley. He was an essential part of the trip as company & as comic relief. I see postcards as a way of communicating big feelings in a small amount of space. I love them for their limitations, their presence, for everything that can’t be said in a small rectangle, and everything that can. Best to you and many thanks for your beautiful endeavor that helps us re-see and re-feel vital parts of the living world that require our attention and care.
I too have many rectangular, brightly coloured memories squirrelled away in a special box.
However I do like old postcards found in flea markets and bric a brac shops. They are like mini mystery stories, who were these people, were they related, friends or lovers..My favourite one lurks between the books at my bedside. A cheery red velvet dog that my husband rescued from a skip 20 years ago. Most of the writing has faded away but it was to Sarah from Sirdees Xmas 1919. I wonder what they did and where they were through World War 1? I have to create my own story to the card. It is also a happy memory of my husband who always managed to come back from the skips with more than he took especially if it was animal related! Postcards, a small thing that can bring so much joy judging by all the comments
I would love to either receive or for you to the foxy card to one of the wonderful people I have met on social media. Your work is so utterly beautiful and I was touched to receive the Lost Words from my gorgeous daughter having nagged/dropped hints about the book for a few years. During lockdown I found myself reading one of your posts that you had typewritten on a beautiful cursive typewriter. It was that which reignited my long lost passion for typewriters. I bought myself a cursive typewriter which fuelled a lockdown passion and new friends around the globe because of #typewriterpoetsofinstagram and #typewritersofinstagram. Social media, your work & writing really helped me connect at a time when I was locked down and away from being social. Thank you for your creative gifts that you share with us and for reigniting my creativity once more
Thank you x
So much love for postcards here, and so many lovely stories. As a teenager I started to collect postcards, and covered my bedroom wall with them. Recently, I discovered them in a box, and was transported instantly back in time. I’ve started to use them as notes to my children who are/were away at university; it seems a nice link with my youth and theirs.
After reading your Instagram post a few days ago, I dreamt of writing postcards and sending them out to friends and distant family members that I’ve lost touch with. I wrote them using the ink pen that my mum bought me for my 21st birthday, and since the dream have been searching for it… When I find it, I shall buy your beautiful cards and a new bottle of ink, and turn my dream into reality.
After my dad passed away one item I inherited was a beautiful wooden lamp but no shade. I had it rewired and searched for a perfect shade but none was found. So I decided to make one myself. I don’t know what made me think of using vintage postcards cut into small 1.5″x1.5″ squares to use to make my shade but that’s what I did. The postcards had to have writing, that had to be part of it, so that the inside was just as interesting as the outside. It turned out way better than expected, it looks great whether the light is on or off. A different take on the giving or receiving of a postcard.
I can’t wait to add this beautiful postcard collection to my stash. I have loved dropping postcards to my close friends during quarantine – even (especially) the ones I speak to regularly… It just feels like we’re cozily together over tea when I’m writing them.
The last year brought me a wonderful gift as postcards and letters go. I had thought a portion of my family history was lost to time but unearthed a trove of correspondence from my great grandfather to his five children he managed to resettle outside of Austria during WWII. I’ll need to learn German to really appreciate them but the amount of his fine, meticulous cursive he could cram into a postcard or on that gossamer air mail paper was really remarkable. Even found a typewritten copy of the letter he left with a neighbor detailing who had their few remaining possessions and who to repay for the help they had offered in the event that they didn’t return (they didn’t). I connected with my last living great uncle on that side before he passed away to learn the little intimacies that define a family I thought I’d never know.
So my appreciation for the postcard definitely flourished during the pandemic era – little 5×7 portals across states and generations that made the time so much less lonely.
I love postcards too. I have one my great grandad sent to his wife – also a Jane – from the trenches.
I buy watercolour postcards and my son and I paint them and send to family and friends when we are by the sea, or during lockdown from home.
Yes, to snail mail and painting and making connections.
I love postcards too. I have one my great grandad sent to his wife – also a Jane – from the trenches.
I buy watercolour postcards and my son and I paint them and send to family and friends when we are by the sea, or during lockdown from home.
Yes, to snail mail and painting and making connections.
I have a collection of posts cards which my great grandad sent his son (my grandad, who would have been 10 at the time) from the trenches in WW1. They’re quite difficult to read, chipper but full of underlying fear, and heavily redacted in parts. Thankfully he came home safely in the end but they do make you think about all those who didn’t.
What an amazing thing to have.
These postcards are absolutely beautiful. The sentiment sent along with a postcard is so magical. My mother in law regularly sends cards to my children and they absolutely love receiving them. The excitement as they get home from school and see they have post of their very own. They both read their cards privately then bring them to me and tell me all about them. I don’t know how nanny does it, but she has never sent the same one twice! I’d absolutely love a fox card so we could surprise her and send this to her as a huge thank you for being an amazing nanny xxx
I used to send postcards to a housebound friend, so that she could travel in spirit with me wherever I went. My favourite postcard is one my Granda gave me. He was on the first scheduled plane to fly from Newcastle to Paris. It was a biplane.
I’m glad you’re keeping up the postcard tradition so beautifully.
In a time of instantaneous communications and busy lives, sending beautifully written, heart-felt words on gorgeous papers, cards and postcards is becoming a lost art. Perhaps considered ‘old school’ by some, a postcard through the letterbox never fails to bring a smile. I’m always on the lookout for great cards to send to loved ones for no particular reason but must confess I also hang selections on the wall strung on ribbon with mini-pegs to create the most gorgeous, ever-changing, seasonal bunting. These will definitely adorn our walls as well as being used as bookmarks and greetings cards. Thank you for creating them.
My great aunt, who lived with her twin sister – my Granny, was an artist. As well as making her own beautiful cards, she used to buy postcards and embellish them. I remember two vividly. One was a very simple photograph of an ancient wrought iron railing with the addition of a little Robin bringing it colour and charm. The other was a picture of geometric shapes where several of the sides had been cut to create doors which opened to little messages underneath. They were very simple, but utterly delightful to a child. I fell in love with the Robin on the fence and magically it appeared as a present for me that Christmas.
I live a long way from all of my family, and like everyone my normal pattern of visits has been completely disrupted by the pandemic. It has been particularly hard not to be able to see my older relatives, including a much loved uncle, who died very recently. He followed in his aunt’s footsteps, making magical cards for us each Christmas. They were all photographs, of great variety, imagination and colour, with the words ‘Happy Christmas’ hidden somewhere in the image. Leaves, frost, branches hung with baubles all featured and I have kept them all, his writing increasingly spidery as the years passed.
In these last, hard months, receiving a card, with the familiar writing of someone you love upon it, knowing it has been held in their hand a few hours before has been one if the most precious gifts of all. I will treasure them.
There are many wonderful storires in these comments – thank you for sharing them
I used to collect postcards from trips and from friends and I hope they are still in my stash of “things” somewhere. Letters, notes andlittle missives that show you care, and someone cares for you, can bring a simple joy and happiness. Nowadays, I send them mainly to my mum, whos a few hundred miles away and my daughter at University.
I have shared this lovely blog to Twitter, Faceback, Instagram and even LinkedIn, because I couldn’t resist – and I look forward to buying a box of these WIld Cards (or I might ask for them for my birthday…)
At a time when species are fading in the blink of an eye this is such a heart warming reminder of the beauty that we are all blessed with. Writing a postcard is as wonderful as receiving one. The immortality of memories captured with art, words and love.
This is a great idea, can’t wait to get my box of postcards!
Dear Jackie
You’ve spawned yet another lovely idea and reminded us of the power of the handwritten words on a chosen image simply sent . Thank you. Such a delight in these tiresome times of double speak and selfishness . And while I’m at it , I love the Lost spells posters – one is going to be the welcome present for the next grandchild in November ( Finn got a pair of otters that proudly tumble on his wall ). All the best , Pen x
Dear Jackie, in the lockdowns, the thing that sustained me was sending and receiving through the post. Many books were exchanged and I had the idea to do a #tinyboxswap. It was simple, I asked friends who would like to do a swap to let me know and I matched women to swap a tiny box of treasure. In total 26 women opened tiny boxes of love – micro paintings, special stones, treats and a postcard. I love postcards and I love this inspiring blog post. Thank you so much ! I will search out 100 postcards and send them. With love, Tara
What can I say, Jackie? Once again, you’ve struck a chord – I’ve always collected postcards and sending them links back to memories of wonderful family holidays and the often generic, badly-photographed locations; sending silly messages to friends away at college and having to wait days for their equally daft responses and my early romantic relationships where I used to make and design my own postcards, just for the beloved’s benefit.
I’ve kept all of the ones that have been sent to me over the years – and there have been many. They really are an accessible springboard for memories, especially as some of the senders are no longer here, like my own Mam and Dad.
I look forward to getting this latest collection from you – with hopefully many of my favourite foxkin tucked inside!
Thank you for your lovely woodpecker card, dear Jackie! I don‘t know how to post a picture on here, or I would.
I used to collect postcards, the free kind and from all over. I gave a lot away but I‘m going to have a look for what‘s left of my collection.
It’s inspiring to hear about the first wild postcards, I can’t wait to get a box myself and share the beautiful images with loved ones near and far away. My daughter is 4 and this summer we enjoyed writing postcards to her friends, and even sent one to herself which was a lovely to find on our arrival home. I hope she feels the love of written tales on postcards as I do. My grandad, who I didn’t perceive as a sentimental man, had saved all the postcards my mum and I had sent him over many years. We discovered the box after he passed away.
My just-turned four year old daughter LOVES getting post (even ours!) She loves watching out for the postman and always chats to him – she literally runs to our letterbox when she hears a rustle and whoops with delight at even the junk mail! I love her sense of wonder and awe that something from so far away can be addressed and put in a red box, for it to be transported potentially hundreds of miles to get to exactly the right person! And if it’s from a friend or relative it’s even better, like a long distance hug! It was particularly important for us through covid when my mother-in-law was shielding and would send us beautiful cards and letters so we could connect, even though she was only the other side of the village. My mum used to send me all kinds of little parcels, packages and letters when I was at uni to connect me with home, some 280miles away, and continues this for my daughter now. It may only be a little note, detailing her latest comedy escapade or some pretty buttons or sparkly beads for her to play with, but each one bridges those miles and I feel like she’s there with us. They really mean the world.
There is something special about the time it takes to hand write a post card that passes from one person’s hands to their loved one’s. The contemplation involved in the spacing, the careful legibility, and in my case, extra doodles! makes it very special indeed.
One of the first things I received from my now-husband was a postcard featuring a stunning natural landscape from his home country, the Grand Canyon. We had never met in person, but connecting remotely over months was what drew us both closer to each other, and eventually led to us meeting in person in a whirl of romance. While digital communications are easy, his cards featuring nature from his life-changing travels at the time were something I cherished. To touch what he touched, to feel what he felt – these are unique experiences that connect us with one another.
Art has always been an extra medium of communication for me – it goes beyond the words I can choose. Art evokes feelings and those who are drawn to similar art often share deep connections, whether they knew each other before or not. This is what excites me about your postcards; that potential deeper connection between me and the recipient. I have just purchased one of your prints because it reminds me of my younger self and who I really am. I bought it as a private celebration of a recent life milestone, a diagnosis that is better described as a lifelong gift of greater self-knowledge. I could have purchased a cake, but rather than a quick sugar rush, I wanted something lasting, that evokes memories of who I am within and therefore why I’m celebrating. This is what the milestone was about, and this is what your art (and a select few others’ nature-inspired art, of many forms), offers to me.
Postcards may be relatively small, but they’re deeply personal messages of art. Thank you for reminding me of the power of connection they bring.
I had a best friend at university who came from America. We were friends for a year at university together 27 years ago. We haven’t seen each other for about 20 years. It was the time before email, so we just started writing letters to each other. Pages and pages. Cards and post cards from all over the world. To receive something written in someone’s handwriting is to have something of the essence of that person with you. We still write today.
It has been lovely reading all of the comments on this post. They are testament of how handwritten postcards and greeting cards connects us to family and friends in a way that electronic text cannot match. The shape of a persons handwriting is as unique as their finger prints. My most valuable possessions are of no value to others, they are cards written with love
Sandra’s lampshade is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing the photographs.
Two wild foxes.
Oh Jackie we love Mr foxy,
Even more than we love chocy,
We love his red coat
We know he must gloat,
He’s so dapper, the tipper most topsy.
He’s socks make us giggle.
His tail flick makes us wiggle,
He’s the very best animal we know,
We dance in the garden and leap like him too,
pouncing and prowling till we are wet through,
Mum doesn’t like it,
she says “now you two, you are not little foxes,
come in is what you’re to do”
That just makes us giggle, coz everyone knows,
Wild foxes are wild – so be on your toes,
We run and we shout, we’re fierce and bold,
Wild foxes never, no never do as they’re told,
Wild foxes do as they like.
By Eden and Robyn Green (ages 11 and 8)
Fantastic x
I’m sending emails to the three people, so check your junk mails.
Thank you everyone for making this a beautiful collection of memories.
Fox Eyes Postcard goes to Allison, who spoke of postcards sent from France during WW1.
Fox and Feather goes to Bernie Bell, who spoke of postcards and memories
Fox curled sleeping goes to Sheridan, who dreamed of postcards.
As I say, thank you. It’s been wonderful reading all of these. When I am home I will begin sending another 100 out into the wild.
How wonderful to stumble across this during a search for postcards. Like Andrea I’m using the joy of writing postcards and walking to the postbox to help me recuperate.
Beautiful cards deserve fabulous stamps too. I have a selection of old and new commemorative stamps for mail to friends & family. Perhaps Royal Mail would be interested in producing Lost Words/Lost Spells stamps Jackie? That would be amazing.
It’s lovely to think that postcards are having a renaissance. When my Grandmother died, we discovered that she had all the postcards I’d sent her in her handbag. They are now a rather lovely memory of both my travels over a twenty-year period and of my grandparents.
Jackie thank you for this wonderful reminder of travel & using words to capture special moments. I have always loved receiving & sending postcards & the challenge of filling every space with story. I have kept all the ones I have received & when my mother had to go into care with dementia, I found all the ones I had sent her from all over the world so I have taken them again, all those memories of moments in so many special places. I particularly remember arriving at Pwll Deri youth hostel in 1988 – it was shut during the day – & sitting on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the sea, among the thrift, watching the seabirds swooping & diving & calling & writing postcards back to Australia with the sense I was in one of my perfect places. The challenge of writing so much then going to buy the stamps & discovering they are so big or you need so many there is not enough blank room to stick them on. One thing I do love about postcards is writing from the place, capturing the sense of that place in that moment & communicating that to the recipient – & I love that so many of my friends & family have my postcards on their walls & frigs – a little bit of me & my special places & moments all over the world.
I love sending and receiving postcards…I love the thought that the postie could have spied the message too!
These are so beautiful and I feel Santa will be popping a fair few into stockings this year!
Lovely blog post, thank you.
Jen x
Love postcards! I wish I could have a box shipped to the US.
Just popped to my local bookstore to pick up my Wild Cards…so beautiful…love the box and the blue ribbon too!
Thank you so much… will savour them before the writing begins…
Thank you, Jackie, for all the beauty you create and send to the world! <3
My favorite postcard story: As a Christmas gift to me one year, my husband painted golden postcards and then created "5 Golden Rings" around the United States – choosing towns and cities that fell closest on the compass circles he drew on a big map and then addressing and mailing the postcards to the post offices in those towns. He also included any friends and family that were on or close to the circles' routes, including one mailed to me! The messages on the postcard wished the receivers' a Merry Christmas and told them they were a part of 5 Golden Rings across the country.
Love to you and yours!
Janis