Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Artist Station Postcard


Whenever an artist designs a U. S. commemorative postage stamp, they have a unique opportunity to work with the U.S. Postal Service and their local post office to design a special cancellation called an "Artist Station" cancellation.

The design can be used only on one day and in one place, the hometown of the artist. When I designed the World of Dinosaurs stamps, they asked me if I wanted to do an Artist Station cancellation. Here is the hand-lettered and drawn pen and ink art that I created. The Postal Service scanned the art and made a rubber stamp out of it.


Here's how the actual cancellation looked on one of the stamps. The designers make a few slight changes, making the "W" smaller and moving the date to the top of the circle.


And here's a one-of-a-kind postcard with a scene from Dinotopia: The World Beneath.

I would like to give this special signed gift to a lucky blog reader from anywhere in the world.

Here's what you have to do to win it. Just be the first person to leave a comment on this blog post after 5:00 PM New York time today (Wednesday). The winner will be the one who leaves the first comment to be posted after 5:00 Eastern time (or 17:00 on the 24 hour clock). My computer is logged to Apple time. You may comment more than once.

ADDENDUM: Daniel of Florida was the winner. Congratulations, Daniel, and thanks everybody for entering.
---More about World of Dinosaurs


127 comments:

Sharyn said...

I will be back at 5!!!

Unknown said...

Ohhhh a good timing competition? Looking forward to it!

Unknown said...
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Eileen Keelan said...

Wow James! I would love that!! 5pm in USA? Its 3.50 here now in Ireland at the mo - am I early or late for it???

traumador said...

Darn that's 5am in Hong Kong :(

Anonymous said...

I'll be back!

Cory said...

Soon... Sooon.... *strokes the head of a microceratops cradled in his arm*

Janet Oliver said...

I will lose. I'm old and I'm slow.

James said...

Time to wait till 5!

Teresa Rodriguez said...
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Teresa Rodriguez said...

Oh, boy! I'll be here at 5! :)

Unknown said...

Sweet!

Ronnie said...

Oh YES!!!! Thank you.

oh_susieq said...

Ooooh what a TREASURE -- hoping, hoping, HOPING! :D

Matthew Meyer said...

I have no idea what time it is now, being on Japan time, but good luck to everyone! That is a true treasure for whoever wins it. I am jealous!

M. Marie said...

Beautiful work....

Anonymous said...

Test comment!!

Kurt said...

Alas I will be at work and not able to respond. My Congrats to the lucky winner though.

Soh Fia said...

wow a hand lettered and drawn rubber stamp design, looks amazing! Sweet postcard too... I'll be back at 5!

DPetersen said...

Any reason they made the modifications? I like the balance of the arched lettering the way you had it and I think the larger W was classier and more interesting.

Lester Yocum said...

Great concept, Jim. Great traffic driver, as if you needed it. :-)

MrCachet said...

Right up my Avenue, James. I've designed several for the USPS, including the MT State Flag issue. They're fun to do.

Matthew Zikry said...

Good luck everyone :)

Daniel New said...

oh god the anxiety!

Anonymous said...

Good luck everyone!

Lisa said...

Awesome! I'll be back at 5!

Andrés Carrandi said...

What are these cancellations used for, sir?

Anonymous said...

I absolutelly wanna try!

JonInFrance said...

It's past. Who won?

JonInFrance said...

+ Wow, six attempts to enter those awful antispam characters!

James Gurney said...

Jon in France. My computer registers 3:53 Eastern right now, so we still have a little over an hour until the moment comes.

JG

Rattlesnake said...

Can't wait... :D

Kim said...
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Tyler Davis said...

Totally wicked!

Tyler Davis said...
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Unknown said...
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James said...

so nerve-wracking!

Unknown said...

Good luck guys!

Anonymous said...

warming up =]

Ronnie said...

just testing

Rattlesnake said...

Not long now.... ;)

Rick Hansen said...

I've never heard of this done by the post before. I wonder if they have this in Australia...I'll have to look into it.

kay eneim said...

Thanks, James!

Unknown said...

I wanna win!

Tyler Davis said...

Ok, so how about now?

Unknown said...

I wanna win too!

Tyler Davis said...

How about now? Did I win?

daryl said...

hmmm 5:00 or 5:01? the posts won't show if i'm one second after 5 will they

Yoav said...

In case your clock is off...

Rick Hansen said...

I just realised what the time was, and I wasn't even expecting to try and win this comp. No doubt there's hundreds waiting with a timer to hit the send button lol!

Kyle Miller said...

Here's hoping I make it.

yoav said...

another one just in case

Koonal Rajguru said...

your blog is one of my favourite blogs.... I am reading your blog everyday from last 4yrs...Hope i do comment on time..


keep writing
thanks

koonal

Anonymous said...

Hi!

Kyle Miller said...

If nothing else, this will test the servers at blogger.

Rick Hansen said...

Almost there! :D

Unknown said...

1st one! I win =]

Yoav said...

*holding fingers*

Lisa said...

crossing my fingers!
so very nerve-wracking!

Amelia said...

Oh boy . . . was it me?? Did I get it?!!

Unknown said...

did it work?

Rattlesnake said...

Am I first???

Unknown said...

must be a real ego boost to see all these comments :)

Gina Florio Sous said...

Here's my entry!

Rattlesnake said...

Am I the first???

Unknown said...

ooo sweet postcard!

DanielCabrera said...

First?

Daniel New said...

here goes...

-daniel

Mike Garvey said...

The stegosaurus is my favorite dinosaur, love it!

Evan Boucher said...

did I make it?

Ronnie said...

oh please =)

Andrew said...

I still have the world of dinosaurs book that was put out showcasing all the brilliant stamp art made for it, along with little factoids about each dinosaur species that was in it.

I think my mom picked it up for me sometime after I had devoured both Dinotopia and the World Beneath, or maybe inbetween them...in anycase, all it did was stoke the flames of my dinosaur obsession.

James said...

hi

Ray Greaves said...

I like Dinosaurs and stamp artwork. Cool stuff.

Tyler Davis said...

Ok, one more time!

Rattlesnake said...

Am I the first???

Unknown said...

Surely it's too late

Koonal Rajguru said...

your blog is one of my favourite blogs.... I am reading your blog everyday from last 4yrs...Hope i do comment on time..


keep writing
thanks

koonal

Unknown said...

This is the last post that I've prepared for this competition. Good luck to everyone else who entered and congratulations to whoever won :)

kay said...

... hoping!

Unknown said...

Well, here goes nothing. Did I win?

Anonymous said...

Such a great stamp! And very cool to hear about the artist station cancellation stamp.

Unknown said...

It's a shame these comments aren't real time, we won't get a good idea of who is actually winning...

Unknown said...

Did I make it?

Cory said...

Who could be the winner? I do not know yet, but I'm going to try this once and bless these packets of information to be delivered by the internet gods! And congrats on whoever wins.

Rattlesnake said...

Am I the first???

Gina Florio Sous said...

Trying again

Teresa Rodriguez said...

Yoohoo! Did I win? :)

daniel cabrera said...

t2

Sean Diggity said...

It sure would be nice to win something like that. That's very generous of you James. Thanks for the opportunity! :)

Anonymous said...

hoping for the best

Kiri Østergaard Leonard said...

Uh oh, is it time yet?

daryl said...

i like steak

Rick Hansen said...

This is hilarious.

Cory said...

Who could be the winner? I do not know yet, but I'm going to try this once and bless these packets of information to be delivered by the internet gods! And congrats on whoever wins.

Anthony Wallace said...

Mr. Gurney is there anything you can't do?

sohfia said...

5!

Kyle Miller said...

Okay. :D

Cory said...

Who could be the winner? I do not know yet, but I'm going to try this once and bless these packets of information to be delivered by the internet gods! And congrats on whoever wins.

Cory said...
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Matthew Zikry said...

And so it begins

Tyler Davis said...

Wow, that was a lot of people who hit send at the exact same time.

Anonymous said...

Here I am!

Teresa Rodriguez said...

Ha! Got an error because everyone posted at the same time. Congrats, Daniel.

daryl said...

hmmm

Kim said...

comment!

M. Marie said...

Attempting to win...

mdmattin said...

I just got my copy of Color and Light and have been digesting (photosynthesizing?) it with great pleasure.
Thanks,
Matthew
P.S You have the hardest Captcha I've ever used!

Ray Greaves said...

I feel like a dummy. He said AFTER 5. lol

Angel Lopez said...

Woo, looks great, James!

Ronnie said...

I hope I won for my daughter but congrats to whom ever it is. Mr. Gurney - I do hope you come out to the Bay Area. We will be first in line =)

Best and be well. Ronnie & Amelia

Paul Cisco said...

Home from work late, stuck in traffic.

James Gurney said...

Daniel of Mims, Florida, You are the winner. Please email me your mailing address. My email is at the bottom left of the blog. Thanks everyone for trying.

P.T. Waugh said...

5:00, Yeah I made iiittt...ah rats..

Anne said...

Aw, shucks! I read your blog a little late- but what a fun contest. I enjoy your sketches most of all- but also have fun with your art notes and musings.

Neurolinked said...

Great Idea! i love it James!

ricardo said...
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Kathrybn said...

How very fun.

jeffkunze said...

First?

Oh, no I guess not. Maybe I should read instead of looking at the art next time.

JPK said...

I too, will be back at 5...;-)

JPK said...
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JPK said...
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Nhu said...

I wish I can win that postcard because I'm a fan of your blog and works for many years!

JPK said...

Love your blog and your artwork Mr Gurney....

have i won!?

;-)

JPK said...

ah ha!

I am a day late!!!

;-(

next time....

James Gurney said...

JPK--Sorry, it was yesterday!

JPK said...

thanks james....

although i didn't actually get sent the email until 22:00 on the 22nd.....

I'm in the UK....

;-(

JPK