Off-the-Wall Sheep Art

Yep...literally off-the-wall.  This is NOT a painting.  It's a stamp.  It comes from an engraving by Czeslaw Stania and is probably his most famous stamp and masterpiece.

Gotta love the internet.  Today while I was trying to determine if sheep had wool or fur, I stumbled across this beautiful Faroese stamp from 1979.  Ever hear of the Faroe Islands? Well they are an archipelago approximately halfway between Norway and Iceland.  They are a self-governing country within the Danish kingdom.  The name of the island, Faroe, actually comes from the Old Norse word, faer, which means "sheep." Thus the Danish name translates as "the islands of sheep."

As for Czeslaw Stania...Well he is one of the most prolific stamp engravers with over 1000 stamps to his credit. He was born in Poland, the son of a miner. During WWII, he forged documents for the Polish resistance.  Afterwards, he entered the Krakow School of Fine Arts, a renowned graphic arts center.  He worked at the Polish Stamp Printing Works and his first stamp was issued in Poland in 1951. Later he moved to Sweden and made stamps there. His work was of such detail and quality that he made stamps for 28 other countries.

So there you have it...just a little bit of totally worthless trivia.  Ahhhh...maybe not. It IS beautiful art, is it not?

PS:  Oh by the way...some sheep varieties have wool and some have fur.  It depends on the kind of sheep and whether they are "hair" sheep or wool sheep.