[press release]
Canada Post sweetens Valentine’s Day with new flower issue
Fragrant gardenias mean “I think you’re lovely” in the Victorian language of flowers
OTTAWA – With so many of Canada Post’s annual flower stamps found on wedding stationery, it seems fitting that this year’s featured flower has had a long association with love and romance. The delicate, creamy white gardenia, with its heady fragrance, was a 
traditional choice for wedding bouquets, corsages and boutonnières. In the days of the Victorians, the gifting of a gardenia conveyed a tender message to one’s beloved for those too shy to do so in person.
The two stamps feature different views of the Cape jasmine gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides), the most commonly grown variety, so named for its jasmine-like scent. A member of the coffee, or madder, family (Rubiaceae), the flower’s white blossoms were traditionally seen as a symbol of purity, a connotation that may have led to their choice as a wedding flower.
For added convenience for use on wedding invitations and stationery, the stamps are available in booklets of 10, with five of each design, or coils of 50 offering 25 of each design. A two-stamp souvenir sheet is available for collectors, along with strips of four and 10 stamps from the coil. An Official First Day Cover featuring both stamps is cancelled in Flower’s Cove, N.L. The stamps were designed by Andrew Conlon and Lionel Gadoury of Context Creative, with art by Chantal Larocque, inspired by a photo by Natasha V. The booklet, souvenir sheet and Official First Day Cover were printed by Colour Innovations and the coils printed by the Lowe-Martin Group.
The stamp comes in a booklet of 10 and is available at canadapost.ca and at postal outlets across Canada.
[en Francais]
Postes Canada égaye la Saint-Valentin grâce à une nouvelle émission de timbres sur les fleurs
À l’époque victorienne, les gardénias servaient à dire « Je vous trouve adorable » 
OTTAWA – Étant donné le nombre de timbres floraux utilisés par les futurs mariés sur les faire-part, il semble tout indiqué que Postes Canada ait choisi pour son émission annuelle une fleur traditionnellement associée à l’amour. Portant un parfum enivrant, le délicat gardénia blanc crème a longtemps orné les bouquets de mariage et de corsage ainsi que les boutonnières. À l’époque victorienne, les grands timides l’offraient pour exprimer leur tendresse à la personne aimée.
Les deux vignettes sont agrémentées d’images différentes du gardénia appelé jasmin du Cap (Gardenia jasminoides), la variété la plus cultivée, dont le parfum rappelle celui du jasmin. Membres de la famille des caféiers ou des garances (rubiacées), ces fleurs blanches symbolisent la pureté, ce qui a peut-être joué dans le choix des futurs mariés.
Populaires pour les faire-part et la papeterie de mariage, les figurines florales sont offertes en carnets de 10 (5 de chaque motif) ou en rouleaux de 50 (25 de chaque motif). De plus, les collectionneurs peuvent se procurer un bloc-feuillet de deux timbres ainsi que des bandes de quatre ou de dix timbres de rouleau. Un pli Premier Jour officiel est également proposé, mettant en vedette les deux images et rehaussé d’un cachet d’oblitération portant la mention « FLOWER’S COVE NL ». Les timbres ont été conçus par Andrew Conlon et Lionel Gadoury, de Context Creative, illustrés par Chantal Larocque et inspirés d’une photo de Natasha V. Le carnet, le bloc-feuillet et le pli Premier Jour officiel ont été imprimés par Colour Innovations et les rouleaux, par le groupe Lowe-Martin.
Le timbre est offert en carnet de 10 à postescanada.ca et dans les comptoirs postaux partout au Canada.
From Canada Post’s Details magazine:
Issued on the day of the year devoted to love and affection, these stamps showcasing the elegance of the Cape jasmine gardenia ( Gardenia jasminoides ) will add a romantic touch to your mail or collection. The newest addition in our annual flower series, this popular variety is named for its sweet perfume, which is reminiscent of the heady fragrance of a jasmine blossom.
Many wedding invitations are mailed with our flower stamps, so the much-beloved, creamy-white beauty seemed an ideal choice for a stamp design – especially since gardenias in Victorian times would suggest “I think you’re lovely.”
Designed by Andrew Conlon and Lionel Gadoury, of Context Creative – with artwork by Chantal Larocque, inspired by a photograph by Natasha V. – these delightful stamps will pin an attractive corsage on your next piece of mail.
The Happy Birthday stamp joins the definitive Greetings stamps, which are also issued in the My Own Stamp sheet format.
Science-Oriented Youth is an enrichment program operated in universities and other academic institutions in Israel with the support of the Ministry of Education. The program began offering expanded knowledge of science to Israeli youth at the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1964 and at Tel Aviv University in 1969 and currently operates in a number of additional institutions and units throughout Israel.
The lavish banquets hosted by King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther are well documented in the Book of Esther. The events that led to the Jews being saved occurred during these banquets. The Jewish wise men emphasized the importance of drinking wine during the Purim celebration and the Amora Rava even asserted that people must get drunk on Purim. This mitzvah is represented on the stamp by Queen Esther. The feast to which Esther invited Ahasuerus and Haman brought about the downfall of the Jews’ enemy.
The Jewish wise men learned from the words “sending gifts (plural) to one another (singular) that everyone must send two types of food. A bowl of oznei haman, one of the symbolic foods of Purim, is shown in the hands of one of King Ahasuerus’ horseman, whose role was to deliver the King’s decrees throughout the kingdom.
emphasized that “it is preferable for one to give numerous gifts to the needy than to expand his feast or increase his gifts to peers”. This important mitzvah is represented on the stamp by Mordecai who, according to the Book of Esther “was highly regarded by the Jews” (10:3).
Leonardo had little access to human material when he first started to study anatomy. But in 1489, he obtained a skull, which he cut in a variety of sections to study its structure. In this drawing, he shows the skull sawn down the middle, then across the front of the right side. This beautifully lucid presentation, with the two halves juxtaposed, allows the viewer to locate the facial cavities in relation to the surface features. Leonardo wished to determine the proportions of the skull and the paths of the sensory nerves, believing that they must converge at the site of the soul.
A beautifully rendered study of guelder-rose (Viburnum opulus) has been drawn in red chalk on paper rubbed all over with powdered red chalk. Although it may be connected with Leonardo’s Leda and the Swan, it is far more detailed than necessary as a study for a painting; indeed, it surpasses anything found in contemporary herbals. The leaves are shown curling and sagging, for Leonardo was interested not merely in their shape but also in their living form when subject to the natural forces of growth and gravity.
Leonardo’s studies of sleeping cats are among his most sensitively observed drawings and must have been done directly from life. His appreciation of the animals’ lithe forms had a scientific basis, for elsewhere on the sheet he wrote: “Of flexion and extension. The lion is the prince of this animal species, because of the flexibility of its spine.” This suggests that the drawings were made in connection with Leonardo’s proposed treatise on “the movements of animals with four feet, among which is man, who likewise in his infancy crawls on all fours”.
Leonardo drew plants and flowers as studies for decorative details in his paintings and probably also in the process of working towards a systematic treatise on the growth of plants and trees. His finest botanical drawings were executed for his painting Leda and the Swan, which was to have a foreground teeming with plants and flowers, thus echoing the fertility inherent in that myth. The focus of this drawing is a clump of star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum), whose swirling leaves are seen in studies for, and copies of, the lost painting.
Leonardo was fascinated by the mechanism of the shoulder and by how the arrangement of muscles and bones allowed such a wide range of movement. Here he analyses the shoulder and arm in a series of drawings at progressive states of dissection. He begins at upper right with the muscles intact and then lifts away individual muscles, such as the deltoid and biceps, to reveal the structures below. At lower right, Leonardo demonstrates the articulation of the ankle with the tibia and fibula lifted away from the foot.
Over the last 15 years of his life, Leonardo worked on a painting of the myth of Leda, showing the queen of Sparta seduced by the god Jupiter in the guise of a swan. The painting was the highest valued item in Leonardo’s estate at his death; it later entered the French royal collection but was apparently destroyed around 1700. In this sketch, Leonardo expended little effort on Leda’s demure downward glance, devoting his attention instead to the most complicated of hairstyles – throughout his life he had a love of personal adornment in both hair and clothes.
Leonardo was fascinated by the male profile, both the divinely beautiful and the hideously grotesque. Such heads are found throughout his work, from paintings such as The Last Supper to quick doodles in the margins of his drawings. Towards the end of his life, Leonardo made many carefully finished drawings of classical profiles, exercises in form and draughtsmanship simply for his own satisfaction. Their features – such as the dense mat of curly hair seen here – were inspired by ancient coins and medals of Roman emperors.
Leonardo’s most brilliant anatomical studies were conducted in the winter of 1510–11, when he was apparently working in the medical school of the university of Pavia, near Milan. He may have dissected up to 20 human bodies at that time, concentrating on the mechanisms of the bones and muscles. This is his most complete representation of a skeleton, seen from front, side and back in the manner of an architectural drawing. Leonardo aimed to compile an illustrated treatise on human anatomy, but his studies remained unpublished at his death.
Leonardo’s greatest completed work was The Last Supper, painted in the refectory of the monastic church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan and now in a ruined state. The mural shows the reaction of the disciples to Christ’s announcement of his imminent betrayal. Few drawings survive of the hundreds that must have been made. This study for the head of St Philip, leaning towards Christ in devotion and despair, was probably based on a live model, but Leonardo has idealised the features, taking them out of the real world and into the divine.
Two of Leonardo’s favourite devices – a mysterious smile and a pointing hand – are combined in this ethereal drawing. It shows a woman standing in a rocky, watery landscape, smiling at us while gesturing into the distance, her arms gathering her drapery to her breast. The most plausible explanation is that this is the maiden Matelda gathering flowers, as she appears to Dante on the far side of a stream in Purgatory, the second book of his Divine Comedy. However, the purpose of the drawing is unknown.
Ludovico Sforza, ruler of Milan, commissioned Leonardo to execute a bronze equestrian monument, well over life size, to his father, Francesco. Leonardo’s early studies show Francesco on a rearing horse over a fallen foe. Over the next five years, Leonardo built a full-sized clay model of the horse and prepared a mould for the casting – a huge technical challenge. But in 1494, Ludovico requisitioned the 75 tonnes of bronze for the cast to make cannon, and the monument was never finished. Invading French troops used the clay model for target practice, destroying it.
During the 1480s, Leonardo began to assemble material towards a treatise on the theory of painting. His own paintings, such as the Mona Lisa, were noted even in his own day for their sophisticated treatment of shadows, and here he sets out the geometrical principles of light and shade. The diagram and notes (in mirror writing) explain that where the light falls at right angles on the face, the face will be most strongly illuminated; where it falls at a shallow angle, the face will be less strongly lit; and where no light is received, under the nose and chin, the surface will be completely dark.
“The Postal Service honors the nation’s brave and loyal military working dogs with this new booklet of 20 stamps. Each block of four stamps features one stamp of each of the following breeds — German shepherd, Labrador retriever, Belgian Malinois and Dutch shepherd — that commonly serve in America’s armed forces. The background of each stamp features a detail of a white star. A star appears in the center of each block. The stylized digital illustrations are in red, white, blue and gold to represent the American flag and patriotism. The art was created by DKNG Studios. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps.”
The Postal Service™ honors the nation’s brave and loyal military working dogs with this new booklet of 20 stamps. Each block of four stamps features one of each of the following breeds serving in America’s armed forces:
The Digital Color Postmark measures 2.57″x1.41″ 
The B&W pictorial postmark measures 2.93″x1.48″
“This issuance honors artist Ellsworth Kelly (1923–2015). Kelly pioneered a distinctive style of abstraction based on real elements reduced to their essential forms. His artworks include paintings, sculpture and works on paper. The 20 stamps on the pane feature 10 pieces, each represented twice: Yellow White (1961), Colors for a Large Wall (1951), Blue Red Rocker (1963), Spectrum I (1953), South Ferry (1956), Blue Green (1962), Orange Red Relief (for Delphine Seyrig) (1990), Meschers (1951), Red Blue (1964) and Gaza (1956). A detail from Blue Yellow Red III (1971) appears in the selvage. Derry Noyes served as art director and designer for this issuance.”
What:
The B&W pictorial postmark measures 2.61″ x 0.88″ 
“This issuance honors extraordinary tennis champion 
What: 
The Digital Color Postmark measures 2.82″x1.49″ 
The B&W pictorial measures 2.98″x1.04″ 
The “special” postmark, for use by other post offices, measures 2.88″x0.88″
“The Postal Service issues Star Ribbon, a stamp designed to meet the needs of business mailers. The artwork features a digital illustration of a star made of red, white and blue ribbon. The white space in the middle of the ribbon creates a second smaller star. The tri-colored ribbon, folded into a patriotic symbol, is intended to evoke the connectedness of the American people. The stamp will be sold in coils of 10,000 and in panes of 20. Greg Breeding was the art director. Aaron Draplin designed the stamp and created the artwork.”
This pictorial postmark measures 2.66″ x 1.36″.
On March 22, 2019, in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, the U.S. Postal Service will issue the Star Ribbon stamp (Forever priced at the First-Class Mail rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 120600), a PSA coil of 3,000 stamps (Item 759900), and a PSA coil of 10,000 stamps (Item 760500). The stamp will go on sale nationwide on March 22, 2019, and must not be sold or cancelled before the first-day-of-issue.
Three new stamps in a pane of 18 mark the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, a massive engineering feat that reduced travel time across the country from as many as six months to about one week and made the American West an integral part of the nation. Two different stamps feature the Jupiter and the No. 119 locomotives that powered the trains carrying the officers and guests of two train companies to the “Golden Spike Ceremony,” held when the two rail lines were joined at Promontory Summit in Utah. A third stamp portrays the famous golden spike that was a prominent part of the ceremony. Art director Greg Breeding designed the issuance. Michael J. Deas painted the Jupiter and No. 119 stamps. Kevin Cantrell illustrated the stamp depicting the ceremonial golden spike and did the border treatments and typography for all three stamps.
