Postcards and letters can now be finished off with impressive postage stamps featuring floral arrangements that resemble 17th-century Dutch still-life paintings. The stamps were designed by artist Kreetta Järvenpää, who is known for her abundant floral artwork in wallpapers, advertising, postcards and paintings.
Kreetta’s illustrations are based on photographs. “I use the camera and natural light for painterly photography of flowers. I post-edit the photos with image-editing software. Arranging the flowers is an important part of the work before shooting them. I pay particular attention to the shapes, size, texture and colors of the flowers.”
According to Kreetta, flowers are a versatile and timeless material. “They adapt and change over the course of their lives, just like we humans do.”
In her flower works, she uses flowers grown in Finland whenever possible. The stamps show, for example, Persian buttercups and tulips. “I wanted to make the postage stamp images airy and at the same time full. Not the easiest idea, but very rewarding when I finished them.”
The graphic design of the stamps is by Ilkka Kärkkäinen. The Language of Flowers will be a 10-stamp sheet containing two different domestic no-value indicator stamps.
