27 August 2019
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Once again the Finnish archipelago province of Aland have revealed their Christmas stamp designs well in advance, whilst the rest of us are still clinging on to the last days of summer.
This year’s pair of festive stamps from Åland Post explore the magic of snow crystals using watercolour images, and are set to be issued on 24 October.
Stamp artist Anette Gustafsson said: ‘I worked with the illustrations for many weeks and experienced a great challenge as I had to adapt my style to the expectations on the illustrations. I usually seek out my paintings, scrubbing for light and expression but, now, more contrast, colour, detail and an entirely different composition were required. In the end, I was very satisfied with my paintings!’
Charity release
Released on the same day, the annual Christmas seals this year feature a picturesque winter scenery and are sold in sheets of twenty. Issued by Åland Post since 1993, Christmas seals are labels used as decoration on Christmas cards and parcels. The profit of the sale is a welcome and important contribution to non-profit Åland projects.
This year the charities to benefit from the sale of the seals will be the charities Foodbank and the Cat Care Association. According to Aland Post the donations will help to finance a castration project, which is based upon the TNR program (trap-neuter-return) and aims to sharply reduce the population of feral cats which currently counts thousands: ‘TNR involves the live-trapping of feral cats in cat colonies around Åland. The cats are ear-tipped, desexed and dewormed before being released back into their territory.’
(images courtesy of Aland Post)
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