Riding

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking at Colourful Vehicles

Everybody Razzle Dazzle 2015 -  Design - Peter Blake

The 2015 Liverpool Biennial used the centenary of WW1 and its theme. One of the pieces of art was the transformation of the Mersey ferry Snowdrop.  It was pop artist Peter Blake's riff on the black and white dazzle painting of boats in WW1 intended to confuse the enemy. Although the Razzle Dazzle was only originally to last for two years it has become an attraction in itself. When I was last in Liverpool a couple of years ago she was still carrying its colours as passengers travelled across the Mersey from Pier Head to Seacombe and back. (Short video of the painting)

The more muted tones of of a London tram built in 1911 and modernised in 1938 in the Depot Yard of the National Tram Museum part of Critch Tramway village. As they say 'a grand day out' with tram rides, woodland walks and a historic pub. The Palm Toffee on the advert board was a break your teeth slab or bar of hard toffee with various flavours running through the middle, one of these being banana, the colour as vivid as the banner. They stopped making it in the 1970s.

Southern Railway 4-6-2 'City of Wells'

Still on the rails of a different kind the City of Wells built in 1945 and withdrawn from service in 1964 and rescued from the scrap yard by the  Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in 1971. Following restoration work it return to the rails in 1979 as seen here in West Yorkshire, or as they like to advertise it 'A Journey Through Bronte Country'.  Not all hyperbole as a package was dispatched from Keithley Station in 1847 to a publisher in London resulting in the publication that year of Jane Eyre.

Settlements

 

1996: Mankind Inheritance of Culture and Nature

The Old Town (Alstadt) Hamburg where three of its main churches are located

2003: The 1000 Anniversary of Kronach

The historic old town of Kronach, referred to as the Upper City which is located on a mountain spur (felssporn).  It was the birthplace c1472 of the painter Lucas Cranach the Elder.

1979: Landscapes

The island of Samothraki in the Northern Aegean. I think this may be Chora,the islands old capital nestled  on the slopes of Mount Saos. Samothraki's highest mountain,Fengari is where, according to legend, Poseidon watched the the fall of Troy.

Sunday Stamps theme - Cities/Urban - See It On A Postcard

Home Sweet Home

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking at colourful buildings

The Kadriorg Palace in Estonia, built for Peter the Great in 1718 but after his death as my sender says it "fell to bad times... but a century later its situation changed and the Russian royals started to use it during the summer". When the daughters of Tsar Nicholas I visited in 1832 an illuminated road connecting the palace and the beach, a boat landing, and a bathhouse were built for the occasion.

A more humble abode in suburban Melbourne resplendent in sunshine yellow. The Maxi Card celebrates the art of Howard Arkley (1951-1999)  who was fascinated by the colourful postwar suburbs of Australia.

2003: Australian Paintings

This one even has a lovely patterned wall.

Shields

 

1899-1903- Defintive

Allegory of seated Liberty and shield with the Argentinian sun on the sea's horizon

1988: Living Together

An Aussie kangaroo and New Zealand emu carrying a sedan chair. It will be a bouncy but fast ride

1978: Arms of the Communes

Say cheese we are in Gruyeres.  In history the name Gruyere could come from 'Grand Gruyer' which means forest ranger, someone who would manage a region.  Their flag and shield feature a crane (French - grue) so this could be the result of a love in heraldry of a pun however in legend it is said the founder of Gruyeres captured a crane and chose it as his heraldic animal. All is lost in its long history of settlement

1941: 750th Anniversary of Bern

Masons laying a cornerstone and of course every knight should have a shield although this one is not holding the Bear of Bern but an imperial eagle of the Holy Roman Empire.

1977: Stamp Day

19th Century Post House sign, Hamburg 

Sunday Stamps theme this week - shields, crests,heraldry - See It On A Postcard

Colourful Animals

 See It on A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is searching for Colourful Animals

The elusive lynx in the colours of the forest by the textile designer Saara Kurkela

Here's looking at you

Japanese porcelain seated tiger c1700 (Bowes Museum)

An alert tiger with some fine stripes.

Golden Hour

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking at Colourful Skies

Dog Walk on a Wet Beach (2014) - Mark A Pearce

Printmaker and landscape artist Mark Pearce lives in Ravenglass so this will be the estuary on his doorstep where three rivers, the Esk, Irt and Mite, reach the sea.

St Petersburg. View at the Kunstkammer

The Neva reflecting the sky by the Kunstkammer (Museum of Anthropology and Enthnography)

Take a Seat

 

1989: Royal Visit

A Queen's chair

1997: Danish Design

The Faaborg chair of 1914 design by Kaare Klint (1888-1954)

1999: Furniture

An uncomfortable chair

1996: Endre Nemes (1909-1985)

A surreal chair - "The Baroque Chair" painted by Endre Nemes.  A Hungarian Jew living in Vienna he fled to Sweden (via Finland and Norway) during WW2 and would become a Swedish citizen.

Sunday Stamps theme of - Furniture - more at See It On A Postcard 

Tree time

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking for colourful trees or flowers

The Memorial and Square, Broughton by Martin Collie (1945-2007)

The artist's paint has magically disappeared all the cars that usually park here. The sky is clearing after rain and the chestnut tree is changing into its autumn colours. (Happily we are in May and the chestnut trees are in full flower at the moment). This 18th Century square was built by the Lord of the manor, Gilpin Sawrey influenced by the fashion for squares at the time.  The obelisk was erected in 1810 for the Jubilee of George III.  The yellow building is the popular Manor Arms. A warm log fire in the winter and drinks outside in summer and also today with its pleasant 18℃

The start of autumn by Coniston Water in the Lake District

The Summer Garden, St Petersburg

Golden autumn in Russia

A magical Christmas forest in Finland imagined by Sanna Annukka