All the cachets are totally handmade, worked under the magnifying glass with nibs and brushes. Pigments used are inks and gouaches. In the darkness some features are photoluminiscent (glow in the dark pigments). The postmarks and stamps are originals from the respective period and places. Actual covers size are approx. 16.5 X 9 cm (6.49 X 3.54 inch). Click each image for detailed view.
Romanian Alec Bartos is an award-winning philatelic designer and accomplished painter and designer. A lifelong artist, he discovered his fascination for space and paired it with an interest in philately at a young age. A member of the Romanian Philatelic Federation since the age of seven, he has designed all space-related stamp issues of the Romanian post since 2007, as well as postcards, postmarks, airmail labels and other stamps related to wildlife, natural history and Youth Olympic Games. Bartos is currently President of the Commission for Astrophilately of the Romanian Philatelic Federation.
Recently, Bartos received the Gold Award with jury felicitations and “Best in the Class” award in Astrophilately at the “Venezia 2011” exhibition held under FIP rules. In 2010, he won first prize in the Romanian National Painting Contest; the theme was “art as a means of communication – in the footsteps of Joan Miro” and his winning painting was featured on Official Romanian Postal stationery. He has been featured in articles in several astrophilatelic publications, including Orbit (ASSS), Astrophile (Space Unit), and ASITAF’s Ad*Astra and Nieuwsbrief Netherlands, the quarterly publication of the Ruimtevaart Filatelie Club Nederland.
A mixed-media artist, Bartos also creates abstract paintings in oil, or combines different techniques from ink gouaches and aquarells for graphic works, favoring the Italian sgraffito techinique for the murals. He lives in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, where he was born into a family of artists. His father is a teacher of drawing and painting, his mother has a bachelor in textile arts, and his brother and sister are also artists.
We are proud to be the exclusive North American representative for Mr. Bartos.
