Donald Duck

Saskia from Germany sent me this nice card. I have always enjoyed cartoons by Walt Disney. Thank you Saskia.

Summer Cat

Buoyant, energetic, sly and pleasure seeking. Ammi Krogius’ animals always have human qualities. On this year’s summer stamp, Ammi has featured a cat with a fishing rod, fishing for dinner. 

"This motif came out of a sensation of sitting on a rock, angling. I was thinking of how much I enjoy the Åland archipelago”, Ammi explains.

Ammi Krogius is a trained ceramist and, together with her husband, she previously ran a pottery for 25 years in Provence. Since 1999, however, she resides in Mariehamn, and the animals that previously took form in clay can now be seen in her paintings.

"I find it difficult to limn people. Instead, I feature animals and give them human qualities,” Ammi explains. She sees her style as somewhat naïve and finds inspiration using her own imagination.“I want my paintings to tell a story, but it must be a positive story, not a sad one. This time, I chose a cat; I like cats. They are bon vivants, sly and wise, indeed, many of their qualities remind very much of us.”

Thank you Ella, for this lovely maxicard from Aland.

The Moomin's

Thank you Dear Ella for this lovely card with the famous Moomin family by Tove Jansson. A lot has been mentioned already about the Moomin's on this blog.

100th anniversary of the Finnish artist and writer behind the Moomins

Tove Jansson, world-famous for the Moomins, was a versatile artist who completed many paintings, works of graphic arts and public works of art during her career. In addition to the Moomin books, she received recognition for her short stories and novels. Tove Jansson was a prolific artist whose career started in the 1930s and continued long into the 1990s.

An experimental artist and a writer with an eye for details. As an artist, Jansson mastered many techniques and held exhibitions that took her art into new and sometimes experimental directions. In addition to paintings, her works include a lot of works of graphic arts and public works of art from murals to mosaics. Throughout her life, open-mindedness and the pursuit of freedom were among Tove Jansson's strengths.

Tove Jansson also became known as a writer who put her mind to writing with the utmost meticulousness. Her short stories and novels are known for minimalistic narration and careful composition.

The Moomins remain popular from generation to generation. The first time Jansson drew the Moomintroll character it was for Garm, a liberal and satirical magazine that sniped at the world of global leaders during the Second World War.  The Moomins and the Great Flood, published in 1945, was the first in a series of books that became the most visible and best-known part of Tove Jansson's career. The third Moomin book, Finn Family Moomintroll, was published in 1948 and increased Jansson's fame outside Finland and Sweden.

In the 1950s, Tove Jansson started to draw and write a Moomin comic strip for the most widely read evening newspaper in the world, Evening News, which was published in London. Soon the comic strip was read in more than 20 countries.

The popularity of the Moomins has continued from generation to generation. The Moomin books have been translated into more than 30 languages and the Moomins have become familiar figures on television, in films, on theatre stages and in opera, too.

Thank you Ella for these lovely maxi cards depicting one of my favourite author and artist and the other showing the popular characters she created.

Bugs Bunny

I was just thinking of posting something which would make all of us laugh a little, when the postman came to the rescue with this delightful card. Bugs Bunny is an American animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic grey hare or rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most notably the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of theatrical short films. His popularity there led to his becoming a corporate mascot of the Warner Bros. Company. Bugs has appeared in more films than any other cartoon character and is the ninth most portrayed film personality in the world.
According to Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare, Bugs was born on July 27, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York in a warren under Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. In reality, he was created by many animators and staff, including Tex Avery, who directed A Wild Hare, Bugs' debut role, and Robert McKimson, who created the definitive "Bugs Bunny" character design. According to Mel Blanc, the character's original voice actor, Bugs has a Flatbush accent. Bugs has had numerous catchphrases, the most prominent being a casual "Eh... What's up, doc?” usually said while chewing a carrot. Thank you Barb for starting my day with Good Ole Bugs!