This is a piece of mail art for a couple that were subscribers to my First Day Covers in the 90's. They also purchased a number of Russell related covers from me. I have no idea how many of these I did, nor the number of Russell images I produced in miniature. The Reinke's are more than generous patrons. They are friends. They hung my "art mail" on the wall and made me feel like family. They still do.
The envelopes were produced in 1989 with two runs through the press: The first run was the frame, and the second run was a colorized (by me) version of the stamp in the upper right corner, which was from a C. M. Russell painting entitled "Jerked Down". Some of the envelopes from the first run were reserved, and the one above is an example of an image that I did twice - hence the number 2 behind the title in the lower corner.
This one includes a little extra line treatment on the basic frame by way of the crown, and the color of the frame is different. One of these days perhaps some more of these will see the light of day.
Memories are made of this.
