Sandy Waters
Sandy
Waters
and
Flying
Rabbit Postcards™
Flying Rabbit postcards were produced between 1992 and 2004 in editions, plus a Special Anniversary Set in 1995, and additional sets entitled The Heirloom Collection in 1995 and The Jubilee Collection in 2001. These almost instantly collectible cards were cheered as the cards collectors of the future would be seeking. Just below you will find a narrative by Sandy herself that gives you a privileged and finite insight into her work.
There are 114 Flying Rabbit cards illustrated on the following pages.
The inspiration for Flying Rabbit Postcards™
My
Flying Rabbit Memories I established Flying Rabbit Postcards™ in 1992 to offer something unique to the hobby of postcard collecting. The hand-coloring I did on each individual postcard added a new dimension to the common understanding of hand-coloring done in the early 1900s. Originally I wanted the effect of coloration to be similar to the soft tones of M. M. Vienne. But it was not possible, and as time progressed Flying Rabbit took on its own color tones and unique style. An interesting outcome of having professionals do the art work for Flying Rabbit Postcards was receiving from them the originals, which in essence were line drawings that I would hand-color. This often resulted in full-sheet pieces that many collectors like for the art alone, foregoing the concept of collecting postcards. Rather than discuss each individual card, I would rather write about the sets. When I am asked, "What is your favorite set," I really can't answer. But first, let me mention the Flying Rabbit logo and thank Samantha Carol Smith, the artist who created it.
The First Edition consisted of seven individual cards by Samantha Carol Smith that celebrated the five major holidays of 1992 and 1993: Christmas, New Year's, Easter, July 4th, and Thanksgiving, plus a special 500th anniversary card showing Christopher Columbus Bear, and since I tried to do subjects that postcard collectors like, Felicity, the Good Luck Pig was included. I love good luck symbols, therefore Felicity's outfit is covered with mushrooms, ladybugs, wishbones, money and four leaf clovers. Over the years, I colored the First Edition Santa differently, offering a "by special invitation only collector's special" to only sixty of my mail order customers. In all there were four colors, but there was always interest in my variations. The final color change was made in 2005, just before retiring. I colored thirty five of the first edition Santa in Blue. Samantha Smith signed every one. To see the First Edition cards click here.
Second Edition Ferebe Streett created our first installment set: the Samurai Pumpkins, a three-part Halloween card. Also part of the Second Edition were two single cards, one of a vampire and another of a witch on a motorcycle with President Bill Clinton hitchhiking a ride. I went to the Morlatton Postcard Show when these were ready to be released and offered them for a very modest charge. It seemed like every dealer bought them, and I kept stuffing dollar bills into my purse! It was very exciting! The coloring was not complicated like later editions, but orange is a hard color to paint and whenever I colored pumpkins I needed repeated applications of orange for intensity. For Second Edition cards click here
In 1993 I created my own Victorian Christmas Tree. This three part installment set shows a Victorian tree laden with intricate ornaments. I dusted these cards with crystal sparkles that gave each one an illusion of freshly fallen snow. This edition was limited to 300.
Our love for all living creatures led to the creation of this three part installment set by Charles Hazard entitled Preserve the Beauty.
Fifth Edition The Fifth Edition came together in the usual way, but for the first time multiple artists participated; Ferebe Streett, Jeff Mezick and Charles Hazard. The pumpkin in Charles's two-part Halloween set needed at least three to four coats of orange paint. When you are doing 300 sets, that is a lot of time. Charles, himself, colored the owl for me to copy. Jeff's Uncle Sam was an instant hit as was Ferebe's Krampus/Christmas Tree.
Because winter can be so harsh and bitter cold, having a sense of humor can help us through the long gray days. With this in mind, the artist, Ferebe Streett, designed a three- part installment commemorating Groundhog's Day. I had fun coloring the sky and adding green sparkling paint to highlight new grass peeking out of the ground. Sorry to say, this wasn't as popular as some others, so there will be fewer in circulation.
In
1995 I wanted to do a Special Anniversary Set, so Charles Hazard created
a four part set that was inspired by two things; an antique blotter of geese pulling
a sled on a mattress and Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
In Merry Christmas Santa sits in a goose sled that is being pulled by six
Canada geese. Those geese were difficult to color because
of the wing tones.
The Seventh Edition starts with a single card entitled: Our Guardian Angel by Samantha Carol Smith. It is colored in soft pastels of a sunset. The tops of her wings are gold and the muted colors of her garments are gently brushed on the top of her wings. Ruth Leavitt, my neighbor, was a pioneer in the field of computer art. It just seemed natural that we do something very different. I love legends of the moon and have researched them. She picked the ones she wanted to illustrate and her husband, a poet, wrote a summary for the bottom of each of the four individual cards. I am especially pleased with the one, Frog on the Moon's Face. The coloring of the crescent moon is iridescent silver with pink cheeks and lips! I love this set.
Ferebe Streett returned to Flying Rabbit Postcards in 1996 and created a three part installment set entitled Halloween Cats. "Swing your Partners, Studs and Queen, Have a Happy Halloween!" The second part of the Eighth Edition was a special piece preparing for the year 2000. I have a large collection of Year Dates, so it was logical that for the new millennium I had to do postcards. I felt very apprehensive as to what we would face in the new century, hence the little pigs and the wolf. Charles Hazard told me to color the snow with blue tones, and I added a lot of the iridescent touches.
This special four part collection contains sixteen cards; four individual cards with a golf theme and twelve more in three installments sets of four cards each. Because of golf's popularity, Jody King designed four cards with an Aesop Fable theme. There was much less shading in this set, so the coloring was more difficult to get the effect I wanted. Jody suggested colors for each card using colored pencils. Heirloom Collection - Part I - Golf [Heirloom Collection - Part II - Greetings from Father Christmas.] Heirloom Collection - Part II - Greetings from Father Christmas [Heirloom Collection - Part III - The Birthday Party.] Heirloom Collection - Part III - The Birthday Party Jody's The Secrets of Halloween is dominated by a large raven, perched on a tombstone, silhouetted against an expressive full moon. That raven has several layers of iridescent paint - green, blue, purple and gold. It really gives the effect of the shine on a raven's wings. If you look closely, there is a witch flying on her broomstick. To get the look I wanted to achieve in the sky, I used washes of magenta, purple, and turquoise. There are lots of special details colored intricately so look carefully! Heirloom Collection - Part IV - The Secrets of Halloween
Charles Hazard had such a vivid imagination that when I told him of my thoughts of combining my love of carousels with my delight in fairy tales, he immediately came up with the idea. This four-card installment was probably my favorite set to color, along with his Dog Bakers. I once had a contest with my mail order customers, The Fairy Tale Carousel won first prize!
Charles Hazard's Dog Bakers is pure fun! My Shetland sheepdog, Lucie, is the first dog on the left. The next dog is Hazard's beagle and for fun we added a bulldog and a west highland terrier. Resting on a dachshund is my own dog biscuit recipe that I used to bake for my dogs! There are festive Christmas decorations. I love this four part set.
The Cat's Meow, a Valentine card by Jody King, was colored in two versions - one in blue for a woman to give a man and one in pink for a man to give a woman! Look at that cloth rug; that was tricky work!
Pumpkins and Friends (AKA All Hallow's Eve) by Brenda Hazard, sold out almost immediately. The iridescent ghosts are irresistible and the three separate pumpkins are really orange.
Hazard's daughter Brenda created a most unique set of snowmen paper dolls for the new millennium. Sitting next to the first snowman is my sheltie pup. This is a 4" x 6" set. I love the effect of the sunset. Each snow-person has its attire for the big New Year's party. The blue sky has such consistent color. Just like in the vintage years, the old year of 1999 is being cast away on the baby snowman's scarf.
Celebrate in the Joys of Spring by Jody King
In 2000, Brenda Hazard did the wonderful four part installment entitled Vegetable People Trick or Treat. There are lots of little silver spirits in the evening sky. I love the decorative wings on the fairy carrots - they almost glow. The order is "green pepper, carrot, corn and tomato.
The Halloween Magic-Maker of the purple witch with red flowing hair holding her crystal ball has been a favorite of many collectors. This is Jody King's work and was featured on the cover of Postcard Collector magazine in 2002.
The Uncle Sam Santa by Jody King in the seventeenth edition is reminiscent of the work she did in 1996 when she included greetings from Father Christmas in the Heirloom Collection. This is another favorite.
Dolores Davis made her Flying Rabbit debut in the eighteenth edition with a three-card installment entitled Tea Party for Janet. The set was designed to honor Janet Baer who collects tea party cards. I love teddy bears and the artist loves fairies - perfect together!
From mid-2001 and through 2002, the work at Flying Rabbit Postcards centered on a collection we called the Jubilee. In total fifteen cards were created by three different artists; Jody King did the art for Part I, Dolores Davis did Parts II and III, and Paula McBeth created Parts IV and Part V. Part I is The Halloween Harvest; the Corn Goddess. Part II is a three card set featuring Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, and St. Nick. In card one, Santa is holding my dog Nora, who looked like a Corgi but wasn't. In the next, Nora sits next to St. Nicholas; and in the last we see St. Nick in his workshop where Nora is asleep under the table and there are lots of elves and a great Noah's Ark. Part III was a pleasure for me because my two granddaughters are depicted as the dish and spoon waltz around in the Hey Diddle Diddle rhyme. Part IV is the Green Man's Halloween. Part V is Santa's Surprise.
Since there is much interest in mermaids, Paula McBeth created a mermaid postcard with a young Marilyn Monroe face. Those reeds were difficult to color due to all the different tones of tans and browns. Look at the intensity of blue water colored around lots of details. Wow, that took lots of time. All those scales in her tail took lots of different colors with a wash of iridescent paint - one of the most time consuming card ever.
For the twentieth edition we called upon Gretchen Krans to do a three part installment entitled Father Frost.
The last set was done by Paula McBeth. It was The Halloween Wedding of the Owl and Pussy Cat and was suggested by Pamela Apkarian Russell. This set will be the most difficult to find due to the limited quantity colored. My hands wouldn't work anymore; they got stiff from holding paint brushes. A real beauty to bid farewell to Flying Rabbit Postcard™. Enjoy these postcards as they were a real labor of love for the postcard collector of today and tomorrow. Sandy Waters, proprietor | |||||
