Sunday Stamps: People at work

Yesterday was First of May and yesterday was a Sunday. So this Sunday Stamps theme is 'People at work'.

Both Brazil and Singapore have issued stamps in honour to trade / craft, and I happened to have received these two stamps, both showing a shoemaker at work:



A 'wooden shoe' maker can be seen on the stamp on the right on the following sheet.
Dutch post issues limited edition 'post sets' at a regular base, containing three postcards and one (cancelled) stamp sheet.
The pictures on this sheet have been made by the late illustrator / artist Rien Poortvliet. Many know him for his creation of David the Gnome (how coincidentally, Eva: thank you for your recent mail!), but I am more familiar with his other works: nature, farmer's life, life in the past.
For instance also these peopple at work, in former times.
Of course the mailman still is here and might be a favourite of many of us!



On the left, outside the stamps themselves, you can see an other trade, which not has to do with the human feet but with the horse's feet: the shoeing smith, also at work.

Which brings me to the last stamp for today. This stamp from the United Kingdom shows two hard working horses, and if you look close you can see also one person, 'following' these working horses:



See more great stamps to this subject on Sunday Stamps and via the links mentioned below the blog post.

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.

Sunday stamps: professions

This Sunday Viridian choose 'Professions and trades' as theme for Sunday Stamps.

The Brazilian post has issued beautiful stamps on professions in 2005 and 2006. Here you see the manicure (manicurist), sapateiro (shoemaker) and costureira (tailor).



In our country there's a nation wide 'flea market' on King's Day in April. On this day everyone can sell his/her old stuff, and of course buy, too, all for small amounts. Last April I was looking for something else, when I suddenly found an old stamp collection book. With many empty pages, and I bought it to use it to have my own stamps organized. But I also was happy to find some old stamps in some of the pages. Among them this one from former West Germany. It has been issued in 1971 to pay attention to safety measures (you can see seven others from this serie here). And the profession shown is an important one. Thanks to construction workers we have warm houses, roads etcetera. While their hard work isn't that easy nor safe.



Also in this old album I found this stamp from Indonesia. I'm not exactly sure what kind of fabric she is making, but I think we humans can't live without the beautiful products made by fabric / textile workers.



And an other old stamp has been issued in Romania. Concerning Post, one of the most important workers for us snail mail lovers :-)



Last month the Dutch post issued a so-called 'postset', containing three postcards and a special issued stamp sheet called 'beroepen en ambachten', which means 'professions and trades'. How coincidental!
The stamp sheet shows a beautiful compilation of illustrations of professions: a blacksmith, postman, hairdresser (barber) and wooden shoe maker. The illustrations have been created by Rien Poortvliet (1932-1995). He was famous for the general public for his beautiful illustrations of animals (among them horses), old Dutch sceneries and 'drawn stories', for instance about gnomes. However, there was dispute whether his creations were 'art' or not. He finally found recognition as an artist when a museum of his works was opened, in 1992.

In: from Morocco / United Kingdom / Brazil

Twee mooie ansichtkaarten in één envelop, met brievenbussen, dus altijd mooi! Eva stuurde me deze vanuit Marokko.
Boven zie je Engelse brievenbussen op een postzegelvel. Deze is uitgebracht door de Royal Mail in 2009 en in hetzelfde jaar afgedrukt als ansichtkaart. Onder zie je een antieke brievenbus uit Brazilië (rond 1900).

Two beautiful postcards in one envelope, showing letterboxes, always a great subject!
Sent by Eva from Morocco.
The letterboxes above are from the United Kingdom. This stamp sheet has been issued by the Royal Mail in 2009, and printed as a postcard in the same year. Below you can see an antique letterbox from Brazil (about 1900).
Thank you very much, Eva!

Sunday stamps: Clocks

This Sunday stamps' theme is open: 'anything you wish'.

Some time ago I had the theme 'Clocks' in mind, but due to the fact that I'm too busy these weeks and there's only little spare time, I initially thought to skip my contribution this time. However, I happened to have received mail art from Romania yesterday, and the stamps showed, besides flowers... Clocks! No coincidence, I suppose, and thanks to the Romanian (mail) artist Mariana Serban I tried - and succeeded - to find some time to scan these and some more clocks-on-stamps.



One place where clocks are important, is the railway station. You can see the clock on top of this railway station in Brazil:



And in 1989 the Dutch post issued this stamp for the 'Nederlandse Spoorwegen' (Dutch railway company), which were a national company for 150 years then. The stamp shows a clock (and train), too:



A wellknown clock stamp is of course the American clock:



A clock on an other building is this one, on the Beurs van Berlage:



At the end of the year, of course all of us are watching the clock.
In the Netherlands:





And in Spain, where it's tradition to eat a grape every time the clock strikes at the turn of the year:



And for the ones who like technics (among them, I do), the inside of clocks is very interesting, too. 'Uurwerk' means 'clockwork':



Check for more contributions to this Sunday's Sunday Stamps via Viridian's Postcard Blog. Various and very interesting themes!

Sunday stamps: musical instruments

Today's theme of Sunday stamps is a very favourite of mine: Music and musical instruments.

Spain has issued several wonderful music stamps. My most favourite instruments are string instruments, so I was very happy to receive these guitar and violin stamps, which were issued in Spain in 2011:



The ones above belong to a serie of four; the others are the lute and mandolin. You can see the complete serie here.
A year later, the Spanish post published the harp, balalaika, sitar, banjo and rebec on stamps. Thanks to Eva I received several of these beauties, but alas I didn't find sufficient time to scan them and post them in this blog now. However, the complete serie you can see in this interesting blog.

From string instruments to percussion instruments.
These were also issued on stamps in Spain, in 2013. More information on the five stamps (of which you see four here) you can read here.



In the Netherlands there has been issued a stamp serie with illustrations by the late Dutch painter Anton Pieck.
One of them shows a man with many instruments, of which the drum is most prominent:



And he plays an accordion-like instrument. There are many other musical instruments who create their tones by air: aerophones or wind instruments.

There's a wind instrument maybe many of us might have tried when we were young (or maybe even have made one!?). It's from all times and all-over the world. You can find pictures of this curious instrument for example here, and here.
On stamps I happened to have received this one from Lituania. Initially I didn't notice that these were musical instruments. But when I looked closer, I read the words 'muzikos intrumentai', and by looking up the words 'molines svilpynes' I learned that these animals indeed are musical instruments: clay whistles.



Other wind instruments are woodwind instruments (like the flute and clarinet), and brass instruments.
The Spanish post also has issued a stamp serie on brass instruments. One of them is the (French) horn:



From Brazil I received this trumpet:



And an euphonium (or tuba?) is shown on a stamp sheet issued by the Dutch post as part of a serie on Dutch cities, in this case the city of Sittard:



(You see I've used the other stamps already...)

A large wind musical instrument - and a typical Dutch one - is the street organ.
The Dutch post issued this Europa stamp in 1981:



Thirty-three years later, in 2014, this stamp sheet has been issued, which is also proposed as entry for the PostEurop 2014 stamp contest.



Many more beautiful stamps on music and musical instruments you can find in Viridian's blog and all links shown there.

Sunday stamps: Public Transport

I just added my belated contribution to last week's Sunday stamps, # 163: Farm animals, showing Dutch cow stamps.

Hopefully I'm not too late for this Sunday's Sunday Stamps # 164, themed 'Buses and Public Transportation', as I like a lot to travel by bus, train and tram and 'thus' love to see - and share - stamps showing public transport.

Here are some train (respectively train station) stamps which I received by postcrossing:

From Finland:



From Brazil:



From Taiwan:



From Ukraine:



From Latvia:



And one I've sent out some time ago, from the Netherlands:



By the way, the last shown I've sent to Ravindra in Sri Lanka. He is collecting postcards showing trains. And besides train postcards, he receives a lot of train stamps, too. You can enjoy marvellous stamps on his blog 'Discover the World on Trains'.