A Kaj Stenvall Postcard from Finland

My first Kaj Stenvall card comes to me

as a 'thank you' from Johanna Jokela.

I had sent a postcard to her little daughter.

Kaj Stenvall is a Finniah artist who has become quite famous for

his paintings, each of which includes 'a very familiar

looking duck'. As you can see on the card above, he is sitting

on a flag-draped couch in this picture. Many see a likeness

between this duck and Disney's Donald Duck.

Kaj Stenvall maintains a gallery of his work in Helsinki, Finland.

Three more samples of his work are below.

Thank you, Johanna, for the great Stenvall card!

There were four (or, maybe, five) stamps on Johanna's

card. I like the bears with the snowy trees because,

when I think of Finland, snow always comes to mind!

And, of course, lighthouse-hugger

that I am, I always like the

lighthouse stamps. I believe

this one is the Gustav Dalen

lighthouse west of the border

between Aland and the Finnish

archipelagos. It was built in 1947.

This is a double stamp, joined at the corners.

I have always been fascinated by the Northern Lights, which

are shown on the left stamp. And there is a beautiful

snowflake on the stamp on the right. They are joined to

each other by a silver 'sparkly' snowflake in the corner.

The little cross-shaped stamp in the lower right corner seems

to have trees on it, but I can't tell for sure because of the

postmark.

I think Finland has some of the most beautiful and

unique stamps of any I have seen!