This one is special. I was asked by the American First Day Cover Society in 2006 to design the Christmas issue for them called the Court of Honor Cover. Each year the Society asks one cachetmaker to produce the Christmas issue cover, and it is sold as a fund raiser for the society.
When I was asked, I looked back at all the Court of Honor covers from the past and I realized there had never been a religious theme for the art. I decided to do a Madonna and Child, and I knew where to find a good model.
The church we will be attending on Christmas Eve, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Black Eagle, Montana, has stained glass windows that are well over a hundred years old and which came originally from a church in North Dakota. They are beautiful, and have been beautifully restored and cared for. My art is not EXACTLY what is depicted in the glass, but because I needed to fit the art work on a number six envelope, I had to move the Christ Child up a bit further. The text is my own.
Be sure to stop by Marie Reed's The French Factrice blog for more Yule memories!
Inspired!
ReplyDeletelove your envelope art-- do you know about Ray Johnson and his mail art?
ReplyDeleteOh, WOWOWOWOW! Wonderful and what an honor! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThat truly is special. Congratulations and Happy PFF!
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful !!! I wish to collect one :)
ReplyDeleteYour design is lovely.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful... congrats on such an honor. TFS
ReplyDeletePFF
Breathtaking! What an honour! I've taken to bringing binoculars to churches lately so that I can really see all that lovely stained glass detail!
ReplyDeleteLove this, especially the halos!
ReplyDeletefantastic...and your Madonna and Child worked out beautifully with the stamp issue too!
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful! May I ask what mediums you used? Ah--this beautiful piece just fills my eyes. I can see why it is so special.
ReplyDeleteYou did a beautiful job of coordinating your choice of art with the postage as usual.
ReplyDeleteI see you into old paper art. Cool! Check out my blog... that's all i do!
ReplyDeleteGreat work!
That is a beautiful piece.
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays to you and your family. :-)
A great fundraising idea too. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteTom
Very nice! Happy Holidays and belated PFF!
ReplyDeleteHi Dave - it's been an age since I came to say hello! Sorry about that. As you know, it's crazy times all around the world with this xmas lark. I've only really had time to breath - and even that's pushing it, lol! Well, yet another fantastic piece by you! I've yet to read the posts I've missed, so will do that next. In the meantime, have a magical, merry xmas and I hope 2010 is just extraordinary for you!!
ReplyDeleteWell, this is about as nice as it gets. I really like your work on this and the others I have seen were good too but this is special.
ReplyDeleteI'll echo Abraham's comment! Simple and lovely. I hope your cover raised a bunch for the Society!
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