The 2011 pack of exhibition cards will be available from 2 December. The theme for the 2011 exhibition cards is pastry, and artist Alexander Lindén made all the illustrations.
Åland exhibition cards are issued with a specially designed exhibition stamp and cancelled with the relevant exhibition cancel. The 2011 pack costs €22.80. Also available from 4 December at the price €81.60 is the 2011 Exhibition Stamp Pack holding all 12 mini-sheets of exhibition stamps.
“I googled for pictures, studied Wikipedia and read various bakery pages on the Internet. I even contacted a local bakery in Helsingborg, Sweden, that made a special piece of pastry.” Alexander has not previously designed motifs for postcards; he has primarily been working with graphic art for computer games.
One year ago, Alexander Lindén had not yet cooperated with the Åland Post. H e is now of great immediate interest with quite a few and very different projects for the Post. Exhibition cards, christmas decorations, stamps and an animated film.
Alexander was first contacted as potential artist for this year’s exhibition cards on a pastry theme. He was commissioned with the task of designing 14 cards featuring pastry local to the cities where exhibitions in which the Post participates in 2011 are arranged. “It was quite a lot of work to figure out which type of pastry should represent each city”, Alexander describes his first commission. Certain types of pastry had been predetermined by the Post’s Stamp Committee while others were developed on the proposal of Alexander.
PONDERED BEFORE FINAL TOUCH
“This job was quite different; I now got the chance to dwell on a design. I had time to ponder before putting that finishing touch to my designs, a fact that I was quite comfortable with”, says Alexander, alternating his work on the exhibition cards with other jobs.
Åland exhibition cards are issued with a specially designed exhibition stamp and cancelled with the relevant exhibition cancel. The 2011 pack costs €22.80. Also available from 4 December at the price €81.60 is the 2011 Exhibition Stamp Pack holding all 12 mini-sheets of exhibition stamps.
“I googled for pictures, studied Wikipedia and read various bakery pages on the Internet. I even contacted a local bakery in Helsingborg, Sweden, that made a special piece of pastry.” Alexander has not previously designed motifs for postcards; he has primarily been working with graphic art for computer games.
One year ago, Alexander Lindén had not yet cooperated with the Åland Post. H e is now of great immediate interest with quite a few and very different projects for the Post. Exhibition cards, christmas decorations, stamps and an animated film.
Alexander was first contacted as potential artist for this year’s exhibition cards on a pastry theme. He was commissioned with the task of designing 14 cards featuring pastry local to the cities where exhibitions in which the Post participates in 2011 are arranged. “It was quite a lot of work to figure out which type of pastry should represent each city”, Alexander describes his first commission. Certain types of pastry had been predetermined by the Post’s Stamp Committee while others were developed on the proposal of Alexander.
PONDERED BEFORE FINAL TOUCH
“This job was quite different; I now got the chance to dwell on a design. I had time to ponder before putting that finishing touch to my designs, a fact that I was quite comfortable with”, says Alexander, alternating his work on the exhibition cards with other jobs.
“The pastry designs were like dessert; a dessert that I could work on in peace and quiet.”
Producing graphic art for computer games also included designing icons depicting fruits, but that was as close as he got to food and pastry designs prior to his exhibition card task.
PYRAMID CAKE MOST DIFFICULT
“I realized that there was a risk of creating something unappetizing. Designing whipped cream was particularly difficult. At first, it simply looked as if it were cast in cement and, when I attempted to obtain a more creamy look, it turned out more blurred”, reveals Alexander, who edited the images in Photoshop.
Even so, he found the pyramid cake illustrated on the exhibition card for Svedala most difficult.
PYRAMID CAKE MOST DIFFICULT
“I realized that there was a risk of creating something unappetizing. Designing whipped cream was particularly difficult. At first, it simply looked as if it were cast in cement and, when I attempted to obtain a more creamy look, it turned out more blurred”, reveals Alexander, who edited the images in Photoshop.
Even so, he found the pyramid cake illustrated on the exhibition card for Svedala most difficult.
“I believe I made five attempts before I was satisfied with that particular image. I first shaded every thread of pastry, but it didn’t turn out well so I had to rethink. Instead, I painted a cylinder sculpture in which I punched small holes.”
MIND-TWISTING DOUGHNUTS
The motif for the Nordia 2011 card, the “grismunk”, a Finnish type of doughnut, was another mind-twisting motif.
“I was quite pleased with my doughnuts until my uncle saw them and found that the sugary surface looked odd. As a result of the extra time I spent on them, I discovered a new way of painting sugar that also came in helpful when I edited the other images.”
TRICKY BALANCE
Another project of immediate interest is this year’s Christmas decorations.
“I had my hands full with other jobs at the same time, so I worked with that commission on weekends.
It proved difficult to create all the frills that I wanted on my Christmas decorations. Finding a balance between all the gaps was tricky”, remembers Alexander, who had made pencil sketches of the motifs before starting.
“But it all became easier when I simplified the design. I realized that the thin lines would not appear anyway, when the decorations were finally punched in brass.”
BUSES TRUE TO REAL LIFE
Alexander is also the artist behind two stamps featuring buses to be issued in 2012.
“I made my fi rst sketches when I had just become a father and I was a bit stressed. My basic idea was to create the buses in an isometric perspective with a touch of console game. But the Post’s Stamp Committee asked me to rethink the design.”
Instead, Alexander made the buses more authentic.
USED TO SMALL FORMAT
Many new stamp artists are unaccustomed to create paintings in a very small format; however, Alexander is not.
MIND-TWISTING DOUGHNUTS
The motif for the Nordia 2011 card, the “grismunk”, a Finnish type of doughnut, was another mind-twisting motif.
“I was quite pleased with my doughnuts until my uncle saw them and found that the sugary surface looked odd. As a result of the extra time I spent on them, I discovered a new way of painting sugar that also came in helpful when I edited the other images.”
TRICKY BALANCE
Another project of immediate interest is this year’s Christmas decorations.
“I had my hands full with other jobs at the same time, so I worked with that commission on weekends.
It proved difficult to create all the frills that I wanted on my Christmas decorations. Finding a balance between all the gaps was tricky”, remembers Alexander, who had made pencil sketches of the motifs before starting.
“But it all became easier when I simplified the design. I realized that the thin lines would not appear anyway, when the decorations were finally punched in brass.”
BUSES TRUE TO REAL LIFE
Alexander is also the artist behind two stamps featuring buses to be issued in 2012.
“I made my fi rst sketches when I had just become a father and I was a bit stressed. My basic idea was to create the buses in an isometric perspective with a touch of console game. But the Post’s Stamp Committee asked me to rethink the design.”
Instead, Alexander made the buses more authentic.
USED TO SMALL FORMAT
Many new stamp artists are unaccustomed to create paintings in a very small format; however, Alexander is not.
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