Deanscape

From the most In Seine Dean (who ran the NY marathon in a banana suit!!) here is his latest collage.

Front

and back

Sunday Stamps - Farming

The brilliant set of Earthscape stamps is set up in three rows - nature, rural, and urban.

There are three stamps in the rural row that feature farming, even though they seem rather abstract at first.

Center-pivot irrigation.

Cherry orchard.

Cranberry harvest.

I have these stamps, just haven't brought myself to use them yet.

For more farming and farm animal stamps, visit Sunday Stamps and click on the links.

Artist in Seine in America

Dean, who resides in Paris, sneakily sent a card from his trip to the US. There is always a lot to look at on his mail art and I almost didn't notice the stamp - it is from one of my favorite sets, EarthScapes.

Envelope 285 - Go Green Line & Sunday Stamps

Cathy's green lettering made me think of this one to send in return.

I don't have any trains or trams for today's Sunday Stamps theme - the best I can do is fake it with the bus on the green line of this envelope (and even the green line is a fake).

!Update!

Ignore that bit about not having any trains or trams....I had a rummage through mail sent to me last year to find several.

Here's a toy train stamp from the US, Christmas 1992.

Royal mail issued this stamp featuring a Hornby miniature train in 2003 as part of their Classic Transport Toys special issue. This one didn't scan too well, unfortunately - in reality it is a crisp, uncluttered design.

And a fantastic ghost train stamp from the Haunted Canada set issued in 2014. These stamps have some reflective coating on, so they are really impressive to look at in person - the scan doesn't do it justice.

And here's one I haven't sent. It is one of the Earthscape stamps, from the row of Urban images, and features an aerial view of a roundhouse. The initial concept of the Earthscape stamps, according to an interview on USPS with the stamps' art director, was to take a set of aerial images of 1 square mile and turn them into stamps, however that dimension was too restrictive.   They certainly give a unique perspective on urban, rural and natural landscapes.

Bonus stamp, just received on mail this week. It was issued in 1991 to celebrate DC's bicentennial. The image is a vignette from the early 20th century, with streetcars running down Pennsylvania Avenue. The last streetcar ran in DC in 1962, the system having been replaced by buses. Streetcars are being re-introduced with the first line nearing completion, with expected opening later this year.

Envelope exchange from Alyce, plus bonus envelopes

This came from Alyce. Color pencil added to some of the letters and loops is so effective in the right hands, i.e. Alyce and Jean. I doubt I could pull this off even half as well.

When I turned it over to open it, this line was mysteriously written on the back.

And inside was, as advertised, the exchange envelope.

Turns out the post office had delivered it straight back to Alyce - I guess the sorting machine must have read the return address on the back, even though the zip is larger and clearer on the front.

As a thanks for the bonus envelope, I sent Alyce #279, another one from an old Rothko calendar.

I even brought myself to part with the second of my sheet of Earthscape stamps.

Simple address.

Envelope 102

I was leafing through the envelopes to send Jean a better one than last time, and came across this.

This stamp, one of 2012's Earthscapes, ended up being a perfect match. I was really surprised that an envelope made in 1992 would, 20 years later, match a stamp almost perfectly. Jean liked it, and called it 'whirl-badger', which I like.

I decided to let the stamp be the focus, and went with simple addressing. I do like how nice this font (Gill sans) looks on the envelopes, this may end up being my default.

And, as always, the back. I like how 2 of the flaps were dark, and 2 (mostly) red. Unintentional, as always.