woensdag 24 december 2014

In: Coffee!



This beautiful drawing has been made by Eva, and she is right: I like coffee (with milk, no sugar), on both rainy and snowy days and any other days.



The cup of coffee came along with this owl, made of two coffee cups and a lot of coffee beans.
And with the explanation about different kinds of coffee you see below. Although I like coffee, I am not familiar with different tastes other than 'koffie verkeerd' (= 'cafe-au-lait' = 'cafe con leche') so to me the postcard / dictionary below is welcome study material :-)



Thank you very much, Eva!

zondag 21 december 2014

Sunday stamps: December stamps

After 200 editions of Sunday Stamps hosted by Viridian, Viridian passes the baton on to Violet Sky, so fortunately the Sunday Stamps continue. This Sunday's theme is 'Christmas / Hannukah stamps'.

There are many Christmas / December stamps issued by the Dutch post, and I've received several beauties from overseas. However, this time I'll limit my contribution to one stamp I received from Spain (thank you, Eva!), and two I received from the United Kingdom (thank you, John!).

This Spanish one has been issued in 2013 and is multilingual: Gallego, Catalan, Basque and Castellano.



And these English two show what many people also in the Netherlands do: take a Christmas tree home, and send cards to family and friends (speaking for myself: I safe the christmas tree, but I do send cards, so I do not safe other trees...).


zondag 14 december 2014

Sunday stamps: art on stamps

On 8 January 2011 Viridian started 'Sunday Stamps'. Almost four years later, today, it's time for number 200 which is the last one hosted by Viridian. Fortunately she will pass Sunday Stamps on to Violet Sky.

I joined rather late, with my first contribution 24th November 2013 (in two parts, to the theme 'singers'). Since then I posted stamps on an irregular base. And every time when choosing stamps to post, I felt and feel it's a joy to do.
It makes you regarding your stamps with different eyes. I've seen things I wouldn't have seen if I weren't 'forced' to search and look close by the challenging themes Viridian provided to us. And it was and is a joy to see what other people, from all-over the world, have found and shared via Sunday Stamps!
So I want to say a big 'Thank You!', to Viridian for hosting 200 extraordinary blog posts! (Each time that I'll see minerals or geology on a stamp, I will think of you (and not only then! :-) )
And also I want to say a big 'Thank You!' to Violet Sky, for giving us the opportunity to continue searching and regarding our stamps in this special way.

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is 'Art on stamps'.
Although I consider each stamp as a work of art, I went through my stamps searching for 'official' art.
The Dutch post has issued many stamps on art, for instance last year a stamp sheet themed the Rijksmuseum (National Museum in Amsterdam), and a year before for the Stedelijk Museum (Municipal Museum of Modern Art). And I see that Eva has posted some wonderful Dutch stamps today (as many snail mail lovers do, also I love the paintings of Johannes Vermeer on letter reading / writing women!).

Out of many Dutch art stamps I chose just the following two, because they show both the art work and the artist.

Judith Leyster is a 17th century painter. History sometimes seems to exist of men only, and I didn't know that there were female artists before, let's say, 1900. So I was happily surprised when I learned (thanks to Viridian!) about this Dutch female painter by this self protrait on a stamp, issued in 1999.



Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is a Dutch graphic artist. Sometimes there is discussion about whether his works are 'art' or 'craft'. I think they're both. Anyway, his works are amazing, with some impossible constructions or 'infinite' patterned pictures.



From the Netherlands to Brazil.
The Brazilian painter Cândido Portinari (1903-1962) has made thousands of paintings, of which about 200 have been lost, and/or are inaccessible to the public, kept in private collections. One of the goals of the 'Projeto Portinari' (Portinari Project) is to locate the missing paintings of this painter who is said to have, throughout his life, movingly expressed the soul and the people of Brazil. To not have him forgotten, the Portinari Project was founded in 1979. And in 2004 the Correios, the Brazilian Post, helped to this search by issuing a serie of five stamps. This is one of them, named 'Marcel Gontrau', which has been painted in 1960.


maandag 1 december 2014

Sunday stamps: Birds



The Sunday Stamps theme of the last day of November is 'Birds'.
The Dutch post has issued a serie of Dutch birds stamp sheets in 2011. Among them the Grutto, or Black-tailed godwit (see above), and the Koolmees, or Great tit (see below).



One of my most favourite birds picture is the illustration of two sea gulls by Sieb Posthuma.
He created these as part of the 20-stamps December stamp sheet of last year.
Every year an other illustrator or design bureau is asked to design the December stamps, and the new - 2014 - December stamps already have bene issued, created by other illustrators.

Sad to know that the famous children's book writer, illustrator - and designer of my all time favourite December stamps (an other of this sheet is the postman!) - has passed away last August.