Postman has been again

 WHEN YOU WANT AN AUSTRALIAN CHRISTMAS CARD, WE LOOK TO  ANIMALS AND SUN TO DEMONSTRATE PLACE OF ORIGIN. Here are some more cards from the last two decades that take up these themes.

The illustration is by Marg Towt  and dated 1991. At the time, Towt was a freelance artist working in Melbourne. She had trained at RMIT and her special love was conservation and so wildlife drawing. Her work has featured in Rivers and Parks promotional publications, stamp design and children’s books.

The top flap of leaves lifts up and the koala and greeting folds down leaving about 20 cm of blank space for a message. The card looks like it was intended to be sent to a distant friend or relative.

We have out more about Towt online. Here is some information about her success as a greeting card illustrator, her awards include:

“Best Australian Card” (Australian Greeting Card Association – AGCA) 1993, 

Winner “Best Australian Seasonal Card” (AGCA) 1994

Winner “Best Card Range” AGCA Design Award 1994

Winner “Best Christmas Box Set” cards AGCA Design Award 1997.

Find out more about Towt.

This card was published as a fund raiser for the Red Cross. There is nothing about Christmas or New Year that we can read into these images. The text ‘season’s greetings’ is of course not religious. We really like the stylised animals, birds and landscape; would have liked to find it in the letterbox. We have dated at about 1990s – but would gladly consider advice on that point.

We thought this was a Christmas card because of the shape of the tree and the ornament like birds and flowers – but maybe its not.

We looked up Christopher Vine and found this information:

Like all the finest things in life, Christopher Vine Design happened organically.

As a young student at the Art School of San Francisco, Christopher’s creative mind and entrepreneurial inclination found him filling in time between classes by developing a capsule range of greeting cards. Happy with the result Christopher pitched his range to a well known Department store in Australia, his works were praised and he was commissioned to create a full range exclusively for the chain. From here the idea grew, Christopher soon found himself traveling and painting the skylines of the world and expanding on his original range.

What started as mini artworks made to fit neatly inside an envelope soon made their way onto canvasses, tabletops and even people, in the form of a jewellery line.

This might be more than you want to know!