STOP PRESS: Asiago Award Winners

Top left: Shailesh Khandeparkar, top right: Gail Armstrong, bottom: Russell Fei

Watch Gail Armstrong create her stamp

We are delighted with the news that three of our illustrators have won the prestigious Asiago International Award for Philatelic Art.
Commissioned by the United Nations Postal Administration, Gail Armstrong, Shailesh Khandeparkar and Russell Fei were asked to create stamp designs to mark the UN's Conference on Sustainable Development which took place in Rio last year. Along with some background material on the conference, each artist was given the theme of either Land, Sea or Air and encouraged to go and create something beautiful.
Gail, Shailesh and Russell have not only achieved this but have been crowned with an award which is given annually under the patronage of the President of Italy.

UN Stamp

Launched in June, this wonderful stamp has been created by Gail Armstrong for the United Nations.  The job was to create a paper sculpture based on the theme of 'land' to mark the UN conference in Rio, Brazil for the International Summit on Sustainable Development. It has been high-profile and also hugely successful leading Gail to put together a movie showing how the piece was made, giving an amazing insight to her creative world! Watch it here.

Charles Dickens Bicentenary

detail

Caroline Church has completed a glorious job for Royal Mail. Commissioned by Adam Giles at Interabang, Caroline has created the artwork for a presentation pack of stamps to commemorate Dickens's Bicentenary. The copy on the pack was written by Dickens's great great great granddaughter Lucinda Dickens Hawksley and the illustrations on the stamps themselves are by Joseph Clayton Clarke 1890. For more information and to see the stamps go here.

Gymnastics Stamp

More Olympics stamp work comes from Katharine Asher with her kinetic gymnast. The run up to London 2012 is an exciting time and to celebrate with books of illustrated stamps adds extra weight to the event. Katharine is amongst other very fine talent in producing these, commissioned by Studio David Hillman.

Olympics Stamp

Matthew Hollings is one of thirty artists to be asked to create a stamp to commemorate the Olympics. And his stamp, which is now on sale focuses on the paraplegic sport of wheelchair rugby. Matthew says " It was an honour to be chosen alongside such established artists as Julian Opie and George Hardie!". The stamp was commissioned by Studio David Hillman.

Penny and The Dragon

 Keith Robinson's second book on the adventures of Penny the Postie is out now.

 'Penny and the Dragon'  finds Penny on the trail of a dragon that has been wreaking havoc through the enchanted forest. Created for Guernsey Post, Keith has also illustrated a special souvenir set of forest-themed stamps, included free with the book.  Keith says "The stamps are woven into the story, but they are also issued separately in commemoration that  2011 has been declared International Year of Forests by the U.N."  More information on the book here.

UN Stamp

If you’re sending a letter this month be sure to brighten it up with Christopher Corr’s latest stamp commissioned by the United Nations.

Chris’s unique style brings alive this stamp, illustrating in bold and bright colours the diversity of people and architecture in New York and the United Nations. A special first day cover issue of the stamp has also been produced.

The Adventures of Penny the Postie

Watch out this month for Keith Robinson’s latest offering, "The Adventures of Penny the Postie: Penny and the Pirates".

These enchanting illustrations can be discovered within the pages of his latest book which he has both written and illustrated. Keith was commissioned by Guernsey Post to create a children’s character which has featured on stamps together with a series of books, this being the first. For a peek click here.

Pennie The Postie Stamps

The magnificent Keith Robinson has produced yet another set of stamps for Guernsey Post, celebrating the theme of Children’s books.

Keith created a children’s character called Pennie the Postie for the commission aswell as a fully illustrated book which he has also written. Says Keith "The intention was to create an image that works as a whole but contains within it the images for the three stamps." The stamps are for sale now and the book is out soon.