Belarus, map and stamps

I struggled to know what exactly was meant by folk art, where to draw the line between it and "fine" art. Wikipedia defines it as art used to decorate useful objects and the art in itself is not a source of income, though even they say the lines are blurred.

It was on this map card that I first saw one of the Belarusian decorative applied art series of stamps.  In fact, even though the card is cartoon style, it appears that the woman is holding a cloth decorated with embroidery, the skirt and hat too.

The top stamp illustrates satin stitch (and comes from a minisheet, while the second is cross stitch.  There is a third which shows counted satin stitch.

They were produced by the Centre for Belarusian culture, language and literature research.  this is a picture of the three mini-sheets :

From Kiev Philately Club

N is the surface mail rate for postcards going abroad, M is the air-mail rate for a postcard abroad, and H is the surface mail rate for a letter going abroad.

Now that I had the idea of folk art in my mind, I saw several other examples of folk art:

Batik from Indonesia. Batik Basurek is produced in the province of Bengkulu on the island of Sumatra.

A joint issue between Serbia and Algeria showing what I take to be a carpet from Algeria.  The minisheet shows an alternative design for the same postage rate but the stamp is in Cyrillic script.

From Post of Serbia

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National Trust landscapes

The National Trust looks after 985 square miles (or about 2550 square kilometres) of countryside in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  There is a separate National Trust for Scotland and it was in 1981, the 50th anniversary of its foundation, that the Royal Mail issued a set of stamps and the PHQ stamp cards shown here.  The stamps were designed by Michael Fairclough in a mildly abstract design.  I didn't like them at first but they have grown on me.

Of the five landscapes shown on the stamps, two are UNESCO World Heritage Sites: St Kilda and the Giant's Causeway.  The Lake District, including Derwentwater, has been added to the Tentative List.

There is often confusion about the differences between the National Trust and English Heritage.  The National Trust is run as a charity while English Heritage is 70% funded by the government.  The National Trust does look after some buildings but English Heritage doesn't look after landscape. Occasionally the two overlap, for instance at Stonehenge where English Heritage has the main monument and visitor centre, while the National Trust has the land all around it including many of the other monuments on the UNESCO WHS list (which most people ignore).

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Pet dogs

By great coincidence I bought this set of PHQ stamp cards just a few days ago.  Although they are titled "Dogs" as a series, they are all oil paintings by George Stubbs, an 18th century English (Liverpool) artist probably better known for his paintings of horses.  The stamps were issued in 1991.

Early last year two of his non-horse paintings, one of a kangaroo and another of a dingo, were "saved for the nation" after they had been sold to a buyer outside the UK.  Donations and lottery funding resulted in enough funding to allow them to remain in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.  Stubbs didn't visit Australia, then known as New Holland, but created his paintings from sketches made on Captain Cook's expedition on HMS Endeavour.

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The Åland Islands

The Åland Islands are a region of Finland but autonomous.  They lie closer to Sweden (38 kilometres or 24 miles) than to Finland and the official language is Swedish.  Interestingly, I live even closer than that to France.  Should I be speaking French?  It was tried in 1066.

In 1984 The Åland Islands issued their first stamps and here they are on this postcard which arrived over New Year from Finland.

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Games - Olympic and others

During 2012 (I nearly said last year) when the Olympics were in London I had more commemorative cards and stamps than I knew what to do with, so of course I sent them to people who showed an interest in the Games.  As a result I have very little to show of that time but I did receive a lovely card of the Rocky Mountain National Park with a Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games stamp.

All that I have from 2012 are these "left overs", for first class domestic mail and worldwide up to 20g.

I'm including a commemorative card and stamp mini-sheet from the 2013 University Games held in Kazan in Russia because I was so delighted to receive them very recently.

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A child's Christmas

Christmas really only became a festival where children were included during the Victorian era.  Before that, in Georgian days and earlier, it was very much a celebration for adults. I think especially the 26p card illustrates the fantasy side of Christmas for children.  These are the only two of this 1987 issue which I have.  The full set includes a snowman looking through the window and a child reading with the characters coming to life.

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Robins at Christmas

Robins frequently feature on Christmas cards and often on Christmas stamps.  In 2001 the Royal Mail issued this set, here as the PHQ stamp cards.

Robins have been associated with Christmas in the UK ever since the mid 1800s.  Postmen used to have a red uniform (in fact they still do to some extent) and became known as robins.  The robins on Christmas cards symbolised the postmen delivering the mail until they became associated with Christmas in their own right.  I'd be interested to know if other countries also associate robins with Christmas.  I know you have different birds called robins in north America.

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Hyvää joulua!

My first Christmas card of the season turned out to be a stamp card from Finland showing the 1987 issue while on the reverse were the latest irregular shaped ones.  They are of a very traditional style apart from being cut to shape.

Also from Finland came a shaped Moomin stamp accompanied by a shaped Moomin air mail sticker

Then three larger-than-normal issues, one goes without saying - the Postcrossing issue, and the other two are paintings by the Finnish artist Eero Järnefelt: Burning the Brushwood and Forest Landscape.

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Carollers and waits

I couldn't find anything showing people singing apart from these two PHQ stamp cards, and that only after hearing someone bemoaning the fact that they had just heard their first Christmas songs.

The top shows 16th century carollers singing the Boar's Head carol, a Yuletide tradition that may date from much earlier.  It continues on today in the form of the Christmas ham.

The second shows a band of musicians known as a waits or waites. They were traditionally a band of pipers employed by a town or city.

There was originally a set of four in the series, "Joyous Carols of Christmas", designed by artist Faith Jaques.  Her original art features on the First Day covers.

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Boring

I have, or had (I think I managed to get rid of one), a complete set of these PHQ stamp cards featuring British conductors.  I find portraits tend to be boring at the best of times unless the artist is especially gifted or the face has plenty of character.  But these could have been so much better if the conductors had been shown "in action".  I would have shown you the rest of the set but I was just too bored.

The second I show is a stamp which arrived from Germany just the other day.  It looked as though it might have been interesting but I needed a magnifying glass to realise that the script was Gothic and virtually unreadable.  So it probably isn't boring but I don't really know. Secretly I rather like it though.

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River Patrol

From a set of four stamps issued in 1979 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Police.  This PHQ stamp card shows the River Police Thames patrol launch in what must be the Thames estuary because there is no land in sight.  It was the designer, Brian Sanders', first set for the Royal Mail.

Another set he designed, in 1981, is equally good for this week's theme, features the fishing industry.

This, again one of four, shows cockle dredging.  Cockles are small edible shellfish.  There are many different species but most live in sandy beaches between low and high tide levels.

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Arctic and Antarctic

Some years ago I received  a card from Chile but at the time didn't notice the stamp which I came across just the other day.  It commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of the Antarctic 1959.

The postcard above shows the way the Antarctic is divided up with the Chilean claim being to the left. I have another very similar one of the Arctic region.

I've previously posted two other Antarctic stamps, one from Port Lockroy and the other from Monaco.

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Pre-history

I used to live not very far from the fossil laden Jurassic Coast in Dorset in the south of England, passed by it regularly, but needless to say all the good intentions of stopping for a proper look never happened.  I saw it from a distance but I have no postcards of the area at all.  Then we moved to another part of the country and lost my chance to see for myself.

The lack of postcards has now been addressed because I was delighted to receive the one above just the other day, and on it was - very aptly - one of the new issue of dinosaur stamps.  The card itself shows Ladram Bay which is in Devon rather than Dorset but just along the coast.  The rock formations are from  the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods but the whole is known as the Jurassic Coast.

I have been to the post office and bought myself the full issue of 10 stamps with the matching PHQ cards which you can see above.  They don't seem to call dinosaurs by the same names I learnt when my sons were in their dinosaur phase.  Or they're different dinosaurs.  Whichever, they do make attractive stamps and cards.

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Cars

I was so pleased with the "map" showing Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay because it arrived with one of the five Road Trip Australia stamps first issued in September 2012, this one showing Phillip Island which is best known for its penguin colonies.  I'm always delighted when the theme of the card has some connection with the theme of the stamp.

I also do have these PHQ (Postal Headquarters) stamp cards but I seem to remember Bob Scotney showed them as stamps a while ago.

And I also have a stamp booklet from the British Design classics series:

There were several in the series illustrating such icons as the telephone kiosk, the double decker bus and the London Underground map, but this one shows the Mini (the car not the skirt which was also in the series).

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Industry

I was intending to illustrate the motor industry until I read next week's topic so I hastily changed my mind.  This stamp card shows a stamp issued in 1999 as part of the twelve series that celebrated the millenium.  It was one of four illustrating "The Inventor's Tale", and shows an industrial worker and a blast furnace to represent the discovery of steam power by James Watt.

It's a strong image, one that I like, and it reminds me of part of the opening ceremony during the 2012 Olympics in London.

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A London Transport diesel-engined 97-horsepower OM-NI-BUS!

I have to assume that I bought the card for a reason, but it has been languishing in my "postcards to be sent" drawer for a long time.  Then, as I was looking for something completely different, I found the following mini-sheet with its se-tenant stamps (issued 2001).  I have no idea whatever where they came from but they do suit the card very well.

The reason for the title of the post is a song known probably only to UK residents of a certain age but it too fits very nicely with the theme so I couldn't resist:


I had intended to show something completely different which arrived in the post yesterday from the Royal Mail.  Two of them in fact so I suppose they must have a surplus.

It's an attractive design though it looks as if it's been cut off on the left.  In fact it continues over on the envelope flap.

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Postal services

Marjaliisa Pitkäranta (1941-2003) was a prolific Finnish artist and illustrator and her works include about 2000 postcards.  The one above of a Finnish post office, had this lovely stmap on it.

Another I found on a different card would have been appropriate too:

And while I was on a roll, I also found one from the Netherlands and another from the Czech Republic:

The text on the Czech card translates (according to Google) as, "Get your own stamps".

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