New Zealand

I have this card thanks to my friend Susan. It shows an actress Hera Tawhai-Rogers, who played Hinemoa in NZ's movie (1914) with the same name about the famous Maori love story of Hinemoa and Tutaneki. Thanks, Susan!

Chinese painting

I received this card from Xu. She is a big sports fan, just like me:) (though she is supporting FC Barcelona, and I am a fan of Manchester United; just saying:))
I've never received cards with Chinese painting, so it's something new for me.

Painted seal from Poland

Thanks to Natalia for this card! I haven't received art cards for a while:)

Belarus

And this is a card from Katya. An art photo made by one of the photographers, as I understand. Nice.

Swiss addict

this awesme card came to me from Pierre. It's RAS card. Usually I don't like to get RAS cards, because I feel like I owe something to somebody. It's just me, never mind. But this card is so good! I mean, with few things the authors shown Switzerland! Chocolat, cross like on Swiss flag. So simple, but so perfect! Love it!

Tulips

I LOVE tulips! My favourite flowers. And that's why I like this card very much. Unfortunately, the scan is pretty bad, so you maybe can't see that this card is really nice:( But it is! I'm even not sure is it photo or painting:)
Thanks, Samantha!

More Inge Look cards

Now I have 2 more Inge Look's cards:


This card is from Eva.



And this - from Nunne.
Thanks!
Again, Finnish people are very creative with their postcarrds.

The panther is resting (2007)

New Kaj Stenvall's card:) I wish I can get a full (of large) collection!
Thanks, Merja!

New Kaj Stenvall's card

Born sinful (2002)

This card is from Marja again. Thank you!
Interesting card, eh?

Inge Löök's art

I like many kinds of Finnish postcards. I think that's a great idea to publish cards with paintings of Finnish artists like Kaj Stenvall and Inge Löök. It's very interesting for people who receive the cards. It's like a piece of something specially Finnish:)


(card from Tanja)

I've already shown my Stenvall's cards. And now it's time to show "Old Ladies". Finnish artist Inge Löök created them:) And I like it! I'd like to be like these ladies when I become old:) They are funny and optimistic.
Unfortunately, I didn't find anything about her:( But I know she draws not only old ladies, but also many other different and interesting pictures. If you know something about her - please, let me know.


(card from Tiina)

A cow

Interesting cow, eh? The card came from Michelle.
I like art cards. Because every art card is always untypical. But I have no many art-cards, just this one and a card with a picture from Russia (I've posted it earlier). Hope to improve this situation soon;)

And new Stenvall card!

So, not duck, but cow:) Interesting:) The picture has a name "Handshake from the microcomputer" (2005) Even name is interesting:)
Thank you, marja2006 (sorry, I don't know the real name - it was written on the card and I didn't make out), for made my collection bigger:) !

A very familiar-looking ducks

I am a fan of Finnish paintner Kaj Stenvall (does anybody know how to pronouce his name in English?). One day I received a card via official postcrossing (this card is above, named "To be enjoyed in good company and candlelight" (2006), from Heli) and, to be honest, I thought: "Ummm... What?" And only when I became a postcrossing forum member, I found out more about him and his art.
Here is my second card, "The after glow" (1991), from Sari:



So, Kaj Stenvall first came to the attention of the Finnish art world about ten years ago when he began to paint a very familiar-looking duck in a variety of settings. Stenvall asserts that this character has been developed by himself, even while acknowledging its similarity to the most famous duck in the world. The scenes in his pictures are from the world at large and his duck often appears in absurd, if recognizably generic, settings. There really is nothing in his paintings that one can put their finger on to connect them to any particular corner of the world, especially not to Finland, except perhaps a specific intensity of angst and foreboding. [...]
[...] Stenvall insists that his images do not have any connection with his own life, stating that:

"The duck is more of a symbol; the material of an intermediary; and a symbol of Man. The character illustrates the dilemma of being human. The duck, as such, doesnґt symbolize anything to me personally. It is used as a catalyst in the process of how it will be interpreted in the eye of the beholder."

My third card, received today from Essi ("With one touch" (2007)):



I love this, the idea is very creative! I deceided to gather my own collection of the "familiar-looking ducks":)

When every day is caturday!

Well, time to show you my cats-collection, more precisely - her Finnish part.
I made a big, huge mistake - I wrote in my profile, that I "love cats". So... So I began to receive only cat-cards:)) But well, I was glad. I can't resist - I love cats! :) But in one moment I understood that enough, I don't want more kittens. Now I want buildings, landscapes and famous places:)))
Anyway, my collection is not so big, but very... different:)
So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Finnish cats!



(this cat with nature at the background:)) is from Tuovi)



This lovely one - from Emma. I like it, I collected a small calendars when I was a child (who didn't:)?) and still have one with this picture.



This cat (he is a hunter or just scared:)?) - from Juha



And this is a very interesting cat. It's not just a postcard with cat, it's a postcard in a shape of a cat! Very interesting and good idea! From Touvi (but another Tuovi).



And this one (from Maarit) reminds me my cat. Yeah, I had a cat and loved her very much, we have lived together about 16 years, but last year she dead:(( I'm still sad because of that:( And this cat looks similar to my, so I like this card a lot.



This one blue-eyed young cat - from Suvi.



This pretty funny one - from Seija (She has about 5000 (!!!!!) postcards, 'cos collects it during all her life).



This painted cat - from Airi.



And another cat on a graas - from Out



Well, another one hunter. Or he (she?) just enjoing peacefull and fresh air:)?



And the last one, A-Kitten-With-Flowers. From Tiluski.

Which one of my Finnish cats do you like the most;)?

Picture

2 more postcards today:)) And both from Russia. It's funny, but this is my only 2nd card from Russia (and the first one from Moscow). I mean, yeah, I received many New Year's card (thanks to my LJ-friends:)), but never the viewcard. This one is from Liudmila. She wrote, that I've probably already have a lot of Moscow's viewcards, so she decided to send me this one, with a reprodaction of a picture of Karl Briullov. This picture is called "Dance". You can see more pictures of this great painter here or read and watch here.

Poland postcards set

Few weeks ago a received a fat letter from Poland. I was confused, because the address was written in Ukrainian! And I remember, that I wrote my address on postcarossing site in English. Maybe, I forgot something:)? Or, maybe, it's my ex-compatriot decided to send many postcards and words to native land:)?
And I was soo surprised, when I saw, that I was wrong:)


It was letter from Ksenia. She is Pole, but likes (even loves:)) our counrty and culture very much. She sent me 5 absolutely beautiful postcards. They all different, but very nice and interesting, as you can see.And multiview, and art...


and single view...


and even sports;) (for Euro-2012, which will be placed in our countries)



Ксюша, якщо ти раптом це читаєш. Хочу ще раз подякувати за чудові листівки! Вони прикрасили мою колекцію. Сподіваюсь, ми зможемо підтримувати зв'язок і надалі!

My first Norwegian postcard

Today I received my first postcard from Norway. It's from Stine, I met her on Facebook. I think, this postcard is very beautiful. I just love art postcards, and this one is especially nice. Thank you, Stine!
Do you know, that Norway is one of the most clean and good-to-live countries in the world, with beautiful nature, fresh air and friendly people? Because we usually say: "Scandinavian countries are interesting, but very cold and snowly". But we forget about other aspects and do not know almost anuthing about these countries. Here you can see few short films about Norwegian nature. There are also many good photos. I'm almost in love:))