Four nostalgic yard and garden scenes from Finland 8.9.2014

This year, the traditional fall stamps will depict nostalgic Finnish yards and gardens. The stamps are the work of Urpo Martikainen, who many know as an anchorman and whose watercolors are the basis of the stamps. The handy self-adhesive booklet called Autumnal yards and gardens, only the size of a credit card, contains four 1st class stamps.

Urpo Martikainen painted ten drafts, of which two scenes from Mikkeli, one from Helsinki and one from Kristiinankaupunki were selected for the booklet. Martikainen took into account the small size of the stamps by eliminating small details from the paintings and by sharpening the colors.

Urpo Martikainen has painted watercolors since the 1960s. When he retired in May 2010 from his 28-year-long post as an anchorman, there was suddenly more time left for painting. He has had various exhibitions and organized watercolor courses in Finland and Italy, among other places.

On the cover of the stamp booklet, Martikainen painted a small tractor, a traditional milk platform and mailboxes. "The image contains all the distinctive characteristics of countryside life in the 1950s. Many have nostalgic memories about fetching the mail in the countryside."

Thank you Ella for this FDC with the lovely stamps.